Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
Teachers hold the key to creating safe and caring educational environments which is the foundation for both social competence and academic achievement (Schonert-Reichl & Hymel, 2007). Learning is a social process so it is important to guide young people in honing the skills needed to be socially competent (Schonert-Reichl & Hymel, 2007). Research links Social Emotional Learning (SEL) with improving students attitudes, motivation and feeling of belonging at school (Schonert-Reichl & Hymel, 2007). It has also shown to improve academic achievement, and reduce bullying behaviours (Schonert-Reichl & Hymel, 2007). Skills that foster SEL are self-awareness, self-managment, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making (Schonert-Reichl & Hymel, 2007). Activities that support SEL are group learning situations, and providing students with opportunities and guidance to recognize their emotions, practice empathy, regulate their emotions, negotiate conflict, and taking responsibility for one’s decisions (Schonert-Reichl & Hymel, 2007).
As a teacher I will need to work on recognizing my SEL skills, where I feel competent and which I know need more attention to become competent. It is really important for teachers to model behaviours they want to foster in their class. Therefore, in my daily reflections of my lessons I will also reflect on my emotional state and that of the class to support integrating SEL into my teaching praxis. Ideas for the day to day interactions with students, include being available to greet students warmly as they come into class, and provide a welcoming environment. I believe I can foster this through having a fun activity to ease students into the learning tasks of the day’s lesson. As well, being clear is very important. For this reason I will always have an agenda up as students enter class, and go over it with them. I may even begin with: “These are our learning objectives of the day …”, and then close the class with a short activity reflecting how the day went and what we learned. During the class I intend to focus the lesson on cooperative and collaborative learning opportunities with activities such as swamp meet, turn to your partner, tea party, group brainstorming, or variations of think, pair, ink, share (Jefferson County Public Schools, 2009).