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.
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.