Implementing social and emotional learning--Where, when and how often?

Editor's Notes

• #2: Hello and welcome back to the Learning to Get Along course, module 2. Now that you have a good idea of what social and emotional learning is. together with the skill areas this type of learning seeks to develop in children and young people, it’s time to bring up of the practical issues teachers face in planning and implementing SEL in schools, classrooms and other places of learning. That is, the where, when and how often of implementing SEL in different educational settings.
• #3: We start with the premise that social and emotional learning can only be accomplished in safe and supportive learning environments, and that implementation of SEL helps to improve certain aspects of these environments. The philosopher and educational reformer, John Dewey, put it this way (read from slide).
• #5: Huda is nine years old but she has never been to school. Last year, she fled with her family from her home in Syria. For many nights, the bombing was so loud that Huda huddled with her brothers and sisters the middle of their small apartment, unable to sleep. They rarely left their home during the day, and sometimes they gathered underground in a shelter with their neighbors. Finally, her father called the family together and told them to pack their things. ‘It is time to go,’ he said sadly. Today is Huda’s first day at her new school in Lebanon. She must go to the afternoon session with 700 other Syrian children because there is no room for them in the morning shift. She does not mind, though. She is happy to be in a safe place and be able to learn to read and write like her older brother. Some students wearing special badges are waiting in front of the school to meet the new children. One of them takes Huda’s hand and leads her to her classroom. “Don’t worry, little sister,” she says. You are welcome here.” Inside the classroom, children are sitting in a large circle on mats on the floor with their teacher, Mrs. Nour. When she sees Huda, she smiles warmly and welcomes her into the circle. The walls of the classroom are covered with colourful pictures, charts and number games. In the corner, there is a huge bin filled with books. Mrs. Nour introduces Huda to the group, then asks each child to say her name and tell something about herself. Some of the children in the class are younger than Huda, and some are older. One of them is blind, and another is in a wheelchair. Huda notices that all of them have something nice to say. Mrs. Nour assigns one of the girls to be Huda’s special friend for the afternoon and to guide her through the classroom and school routines. She tells Huda that if she has any questions or problems, she should not be afraid to ask for help. Huda smiles shyly and whispers “thank you, teacher.” Her special friend then guides her to a table and shows her where to store her backpack. She sits down and picks up a pencil.
• #6: Any place where learning happens is a learning environment, so might be a classroom, a laboratory, a shady space under a tree, or the kitchen table. Wherever it is, a learning environment is made up of both physical and psychosocial factors, each of which interacts with all of the others. Physical conditions, for example, include such things as architecture, construction, and learning space design, while psychosocial conditions are the elements of the learning environment that are created by, for example the school management structure, the quality of the relationships between teachers and students, and among all of the members of the learning community. The psychosocial aspects of a learning environment are sometimes called the classroom or school social climate. Because they are not always visible, many of these components are barely noticed until something goes seriously wrong, such as an increase in dropouts, outbreaks of violence, evidence of substance abuse, health problems and/or a serious dip in test scores.
• #7: Learning environments are like living organisms that can and do change from day to day. Some components of these environments are natural, while others are created by people, most often by people that have a stake in the education system; these stakeholders include everyone from parents to bus drivers to guidance counselors and coaches to principals and politicians–all have important roles. In the implementation of social and emotional learning, however, it is teachers who create optimal conditions for SEL to occur, even though some aspects of creating the learning environment may be outside of their control. For example, teachers are, unfortunately, not often included in decisions about the architectural design of schools and classrooms, but can do a lot to make the interior of the teaching space supportive and welcoming.
• #8: The answer is, rIght at the heart, in the place where the physical and psychosocial conditions of the environment intersect. But SEL does not occupy that space by itself. Learning of academic knowledge and skills and SEL are both strongly influenced by all components of a learning environment--by the way the learning space is shaped, what kind of visual aids and pictures hang on the walls, by the way teachers relate to their students, by the tone of voice a principal may use to speak with a parent. In a supportive and welcoming learning environment, SEL can be integrated into daily classroom and school interactions in ways that are both meaningful and sustained. This means that teachers, administrators, counselors, safety officers and lunchroom staff all need to be on board, using consistent approaches to dealing with students on a daily basis, and especially when problems arise.
• #9: The simple answer is ‘everywhere’. As we pointed out in Module 1, it is already there, to a greater or lesser extent, but it is not usually visible or systematic. Instead, SEL competencies and skills often lie buried in the ‘hidden’ curriculum, where they can easily be overlooked and not taken very seriously, especially as students transition into middle and secondary levels. Until recently, there have not been many attempts to integrate SEL into official school curricula in a coordinated, sequenced and explicit way. SEL competencies consist of skills, knowledge, behaviors, values and attitudes that can be learned and strengthened over the course of schooling from the foundations of early childhood and early grades upward through the middle years, where the focus may shift more to individual subjects and skill areas, and on to higher levels of the curriculum, where the focus may shift again to real world applications. Embedding SEL skills from lower to higher levels is called vertical integration, but integration also happens across levels, or horizontally. This means building and reinforcing generic skills like focusing attention and resilience across learning areas and contextualizing skills such as teamwork, caring for others, and resolving conflicts as they apply to learning within subject areas like language arts, science, mathematics, social studies, and physical education.
• #10: Of course not, but neither can any single course of action, and many factors that shape the learning environment are outside the control of teachers and parents. SEL cannot, for example, change the physical conditions of a school or prevent attacks in situations of armed conflict, or eliminate the threat of mass shootings by deranged individuals with guns. As with many aspects of the learning environment, school safety is determined by many contributing factors, both internal and external. Legislation, law enforcement, school architecture and security protocols all have an important role.
• #11: Different rules apply in different situations, but it is safe to predict that certain SEL skills generally do enable students to act calmly and effectively in the event of accidents, natural disasters or other threats to students’ safely and well-being. For example, if children are able to self-manage their emotions, it is more likely they will be able to stay calm and communicate effectively in situations of emergency. The sample illustration here integrates SEL into a supplementary reading lesson for Ugandan primary school children by including simple instructions on what to do when a friend is injured. It is also important for children to build on core SEL skills by gaining specific knowledge of how to recognize warning signs and to act in the types of emergencies that are most likely to occur in their area, which is to say where the likelihood of certain types of natural disasters—earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami, lightning strikes—and, sadly, how to prepare for and protect themselves and others in the event of terrorist attacks or mass shootings.
• #12: Only partially, and not by itself. Yes, SEL does have a strong role in creating inclusive school cultures, and we will explore this topic in much more detail in Module 5. BUT, SEL does not and cannot replace individualized and specialized instructional support for students with special needs.
• #13: As the saying goes, “the walls have ears”. Yes, the physical components seem to absorb the voices of the living beings within them. It is even more evident, though, that the walls (and what we put on them) are capable of sending strong messages, as are the shapes, colors and other interior features of learning spaces. The children who created this wall poster had a clear message in mind for new students. Messages of this kind may be fixed or temporary, as transmitted by electronic signs, loudspeaker announcements, bells and bulletin boards. What kinds of messages are transmitted by components of the learning environment at your school?
• #14: As in Module 1, look over the list of examples of SEL strategies from around the world. Could any of these be adapted for use in your classroom, school and community? Add to the list with some of your own strategies with the same or similar objectives. If possible, share your ideas with colleagues and write them down in detail. Encourage others to try them out and report their observations. As the practice grows, you may want to design a simple method for collecting, filing and storing copies of SEL strategies by (1) level and (2) objective for easy access by all teachers.
• #18: Self checkout answers: emotional awareness a supportive school climate integrate SEL into subject based lessons all of the above sharing of locally produced teacher resources Yes, to some extent