I have always wondered why SEL is not approached from a whole school perspective. Schools have growth plans for academic areas (such as literacy and numeracy), but I have never worked at, or had friends who worked at, schools that had growth plans for SEL and school culture/connection. I don’t understand why this would be the case. If a whole school approach was taken with SEL, then children would be receiving common learning and language, and it could be built upon year-to-year, rather than having SEL addressed inconsistently throughout the school years. Teachers in similar grades could collaborate and develop common approaches, programming, and goals for the students in those grades; this could extend from kindergarten through grade 12. Older students could also take a leadership role and work with younger students to teach and role model SEL skills and strategies. A side effect of this approach could be a school with a solid sense of student connection, and of collegial community- which would only benefit and reinforce a sense of community for the students. Further, I believe that both students and teachers should belong to the whole school. By this I mean that all teachers in a school should be responsible to connect with all students, not just the ones they teach. I know this would likely be easiest in an elementary setting, but efforts could still be made in high school- even a “Hi” and a smile is connecting. This connects teachers and students to each other and the school as a whole. That would create a foundation of school connection, which the SEL skills could then be built upon. School connection + direct and purposeful teaching and attention to SEL = more resilient students. And that is exactly what we are striving for.
Everyone knows that education is in a funding crisis- there just doesn't seem to be enough funding to best support our students. So how can we traverse this hurdle using the resources we have? I believe that if schools implement the integration of SEL in each class, and students learn better self-awareness, better awareness of others, how to better regulate themselves, how to handle interactions with others, how to handle frustration, anxiety, and other stresses, and how to be more empathetic, that Educational Assistants (EAs) and Learning Support Teachers (LSTs) would have to spend less time dealing with these issues, and can better serve and target the higher needs students. This would mean that we could better serve our students within the constraints of funding that we currently have. It’s worth a try.
In BC, this September marks a shift from curriculum and content based learning with numerous Prescribed Learning Outcomes, to a model based on 3 Core Competencies (each highlighting essential learning outcomes): Communication Competencies, Thinking Competencies, and Personal & Social Competencies. So for us in BC, SEL fits cleanly into the Personal & Social Competencies category, but also into the Communication one…they are linked, as communication skills are critical to our interactions with others and how we express ourselves. But Thinking (both creatively and critically) also impacts our ability to problem solve, to understand the perspectives of others, and to understand our role in any given situation. Also SEL related. So as I see it, if we teach SEL, we are targeting different aspects of each of the Core Competencies. Besides, if someone can’t self-regulate long enough to interact with another or to focus on a concept/idea, how can they practice their communication skills or learn to creatively/critically think? We must first lay the foundation so that kids can learn. What is the point of trying to teach or facilitate learning when half of the class is physically and/or emotionally unable to learn because they are anxious or unregulated, or highly stressed? It’s futile. Just as we have to prepare the soil before we plant the seeds, we have to prepare the student for learning before we ask them to learn.
I returned to the mainstream class after three years teaching alternate education- I was now teaching a primary class, and I was committed to integrating SEL into each day. As is the case with most classes, there was a definite need, and from my experience, I felt every student could benefit from it. SEL is one of those things that like academic learning needs, the SEL need slides along a continuum, but all gain value from it based on where they are, so it is important for all students. What is good for the neediest is good for everyone. The challenge I faced was how I was going to integrate SEL into an already very full curriculum- my biggest hurdle was time. I was no longer in a situation where SEL was the primary outcome and academics were secondary. I felt I had to give up curriculum if I wanted to teach SEL. This made me really nervous, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it or if I even could make it work. It took a lot of trial-and-error and a lot of flexibility/willingness to change the game plan. But I soon realized that if I approached my teaching cross-curricularly, I had more time. I also found that a direct focus and integration of SEL in my class decreased the amount of time I spent on classroom management. So not only was I integrating learning concepts across the curriculum (which can make learning more meaningful), I was spending less time dealing with unregulated behaviours. I was making it work in spite of the time and content hurdles. I’m not going to lie, it took time and perseverance. There were days that I felt it wasn’t working. There were days I wanted to throw in the towel on the whole thing- anything new and different takes time and can be exhausting. But then I started to see a gradual shift in the classroom environment. Things were calmer. I was spending less time dealing with behaviour issues, less time dealing with peer-to-peer issues, and more time connecting with and teaching children. The kids began to get along better and show more empathy towards one another. They were better able to take responsibility for their actions, or re-direct themselves. Many started to recognize when they needed a body break, and would ask. They were developing the capacity to be more self-aware and more aware of others. Not only that, I began to see increased growth in their academic learning. Assessments were showing that kids were making gains in learning and rated feeling more confident. The transformation was awesome.
The critical nature of SEL was never more apparent to me as when I taught alternate education; the kids who many regarded as "unteachable". These students were non-attenders who did not teachers or school. In reality, they had not failed the system, the system had failed them. They needed connection, and they needed to feel as though they mattered and belonged. These students did not care at all about what I knew, until they knew that I cared about them. So, I had to earn their trust by showing them that I cared, that I would genuinely and actively listen to them, and by authentically understanding that we are all humans with emotions, different experiences, needs and wants, before we are academic learners. Being able to hear them and to show empathy and understanding, to help them attempt to understand themselves and their own social and emotional needs, and then to articulate those needs, benefitted me as much as it benefitted them. This ignition of the deep sense of empathy within myself helped me better support my students. I was then able to understand where each of them were at, what they needed and did not need at various times, and my role in it. I began to understand that some days a student’s life was not conducive to finding meaning and purpose in schoolwork, and that it was my job to honour that and to attend to their social-emotional needs. My perspective as ‘teacher’ was altered, and the importance of social-emotional learning was highlighted- I attended to my students as people, before attending to them as students. This quote I found in my research speaks to this: “A teacher will never succeed in giving proper guidance to a child if he does not learn to understand the psychological world in which that child lives” (From Kolb & Kolb, 2005, p. 201, as cited in Cartwright, 1951: 62).
References Kolb, A. & Kolb, D. (2005). Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: Enhancing Experiential Learning in Higher Education. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4(2), 193-212. I have always said that if everyone was just nicer to each other the world would be a better place. As cliche and simplistic as it sounds, I believe that it's true. In a world where children are increasingly under stress- whether it be because they feel different/like they don’t belong, or stupid because they don’t learn like other kids, or alone, or angry, or anxious, or have stressful home environments- how do we reach them? How can we teach them strategies and coping skills to deal with the issues they have, so that they can mange their emotions, feel good about who they are, and grow into resilient and contributing members of society? How can we teach them tolerance, and to feel empathy, compassion, and kindness towards others? I believe that consistently and purposefully addressing children’s social-emotional learning (as early in life as possible) is a positive approach to putting them on the path towards becoming more self-aware, more aware of others, and better able to cope with whatever life demands of them.
As teachers, we know that children today are coming to school with needs that are far greater than academic learning. They come with their own unique social and emotional needs that silently scream to be addressed. These silent screams are disguised behind behaviour issues; anxiety, ADD, ADHD, inattention, anger, and bullying. I am reminded of the idea that "all behaviour is communication". As people, we know this- we all convey how we are feeling through our behaviours. Why would this be any different for our students? We all go through rough times, we all have bad days...and we all need validation and understanding, and this needs to be a part of the learning day. I feel that I have always considered the importance of the social and emotional well-being of my students. Having the tendency towards empathy, I have always wanted to be someone who would try to help. Further, I have always placed great emphasis and priority on the building of relationships, connection, and positive communication in both my professional and personal lives. Teaching, from my perspective, is grounded in developing relationships with students, and attending to their social and emotional needs along with their academic ones. This is an investment of time and energy that I feel I have to make. From my perspective, we connect by communicating and by sharing who we are, and that builds trust. Trust and sharing lead to positive relationships, which in turn can nurture the seeds of a willingness to engage with learning: engagement is necessary for meaningful learning to take place This cannot happen without relationship, connection, communication, and purposeful attention to the social and emotional needs of our students. This image is not THE reason I so strongly believe in SEL, but for me, this is validation for my strong belief in it.
In one of the alternate programs I worked in, I was very lucky as a teacher in that I had the freedom and opportunity to intensively focus on SEL; academics were secondary to social-emotional needs. When academics were addressed, it was done in a very individualized way based on the student's strengths and interests. I was also very lucky that I had the support of two Child and Youth Mental Health (CYMH) clinicians, who worked collaboratively with, and mentored me. In a perfect world, CYMH clinicians would be available in all schools- kids need them, and teachers don’t have their training; but what a great partnership/team approach it would be. It was a fantastic approach that helped these students, who previously were not attending school, to step through the doors of the school willingly, and willingly invest in the process. It wasn't perfect, but it provided them an opportunity they would not have otherwise had, and most importantly, it connected them with important people they could trust and felt were in their corner. And we saw successes for ALL of the kids- to varying degrees, but nonetheless, there was growth and progress for all. This is where the bus ticket with the “Thanks” written on it in the image above comes in… As a teacher, that bus ticket was the greatest teacher gift I have ever, and probably will ever receive. I got the, what I will call, ‘thank you card’ from one of my students who was a part of an alternate program I taught. When I met him, he was in grade 8, and always wore his hood up. Our first interaction was me saying “Hi” and him sort of nodding his head, no eye contact. He had been a non-attender since part way through grade 3. His experiences with school, peers, and teachers were bad. He was not going to invest in anyone, as he felt he had been let down so many times, he had no friends, and felt like school could never be different. He also thought he was stupid because he didn’t learn like other kids, and he felt hopeless. He didn’t like teachers. I was a teacher. This was going to be interesting… About two weeks in, the hood came down. Then he became engaged in conversations with me about his experiences and his feelings. He had a lot of reasons to be feeling the way he did. I really began to realize the immense power that school experiences have on kids. School can be brutal. I often hear, and in fact have said it to my own kids, “Just get through high school, it will get better after that”. This shouldn’t be the case, it should be a positive experience, not torturous. We have to take steps to ensure kids don’t just “get through”, or in fact barely “get through” and for some, not “get through” at all. Anyway, back to my student… To make a long (and many times, difficult) story short, this boy received a ton of social-emotional support, he had many ups and downs, but he became connected to a few key adults at school (me being one of them), he became connected to a few peers, and he became connected to school again. When he” graduated” out of the program at the end of his grade 9 year, he moved on to a inclusive high school and found his own success there. He gave me the bus ticket when he came to say good-bye, and he thanked me for helping him. That moment is etched in my mind- and that is what will always remind me of the power of SEL. If it can make a difference for kids who are the neediest, it can make a difference for every child; because even if they don’t appear to “need” SEL, everyone can benefit from it, we all face struggle in life. I still carry that bus ticket in my work bag- it carries a lot of meaning for me. |
AuthorI am a firm believer in the power of SEL. This quote strikes a chord for me with regards to my connection with SEL: ArchivesCategories |