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For years we thought the primary emphasis in school should be to teach digital technology to our students. The Information Era would solve everything! Mind you, tech skills are absolutely essential. But, this emphasis, at the exclusion of something else, has placed a couple of generations at a major disadvantage! How do you say? Let’s explore in our latest SEL Blog below where Margaret Boersma, an instructional coach and education consultant, writes about the importance of emotional well-being in classrooms. #SocialEmotionalLearning
When students have the opportunity to defend their point of view or articulate their ideas more fully, I often become aware of their inability to communicate. Even with ample “wait time,” they stammer, can’t find the words or don’t express their ideas in full. The listener is left guessing at the meaning and several exchanges are needed to clarify rather simple thoughts.
Andy Hargreaves suggests in Canada we have an unspoken culture of social class in which diversity issues are not addressed. When rethinking schools, he says, “We must teach working-class identity as history and culture of pride involving the dignity of labour, solidarity with one’s fellows, the value of hard work, and the importance of self-improvement. [We must] rethink everything [we] do on social class lines, as much as [we] have in relation to all other aspects of diversity.”
Free Lessons Available in Social Emotional Learning for Children.. Every lesson has an affirmation that students can memorize to remind themselves of their ability to influence themselves and others in positive ways.
Having just returned from an exhilarating international conference, 2019 SEL Exchange, I am excited to share. “Defining Quality in the Context of Innovation” was the focus of the conference hosted by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the best place to get resources and information about Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
As teachers and administrators, we experience these kinds of interactions more often. Doing our best to be equitable, we can still be misunderstood. Our goal is to move our students forward so they can reach their fullest potential. And yet, we are often at a loss as to how to make that happen.
Sometimes we try so hard to ‘work on our relationships’ by doing thoughtful favours, giving gifts or helping out in practical ways and still…it will come out that something is not perfect about the way we are being perceived by that person. We will have a better-quality life if we take responsibility for everything…even if we feel that only a smidgen is really our responsibility. Consider, that there may be, even a small amount, of truth to the comment. Consider, there is an unresolved issue from the past that keeps these thoughts and comments alive. Consider, that taking responsibility brings us freedom.
While examining the plight of modern refugees by living inside a story, students reflect on their own journeys and those of “change” in their families. This inquiry-based learning unit is a model for deepening understanding and social/emotional learning with themes of equity, inclusion and well-being. Students experience learning in "first person" as they build empathy, compassion and a growth mindset. Personal well-being is nurtured through immersion in the arts. Storytelling, drama, dance and visual arts are central to this cross-curricular unit. As well, Language Arts, Current Affairs and Social Studies expectations are integrated in the work.
How do we teach RESPONSIBILITY? As teachers, we often complain about students who do not take responsibility for their learning. It seems difficult for them to make good choices e.g. as to where they sit and they have a bad habit of side conversations. We worry about these students and their progress. As teachers, we work very hard to make lessons compelling and spend time scaffolding and planning. And sometimes it seems we work harder than our students! We sometimes say to ourselves at points of frustration, “Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” What if there was a way to teach responsibility?
In this unit: game, writing, dance, drama; Grades 2-adult. Resource: “We are the Earth” by Bobbie Kalma Cooperative Game: Atom – One Teapot: 1 chief, 2 eagle, 3 whale, 4 grizzly bear. Information: Read and discuss pages 16 – 19 of “We are the Earth” by Bobbie Kalman. Minds On: Creative Movement: In a circle, body-storm ,the grizzly bear on the land, whale in the water, eagle in the air and fire in the forest.
After teaching a grade 6 class for half an hour, Josh approaches me with tears in his eyes. “Ms. Boersma, none of the kids like me. No one wants to work with me. The other boys always ignore me.” I notice many of the girls are quiet, and many of the boys are trying to fit in. The same few people are participating in class discussions. The students freely participate in “side conversations” and giggling at inappropriate times. They are not bad students. They just have a bad habit.
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Analogical Problem-Solving ™ is what I call teaching by living inside a story such as the Us and Them unit. Students have agency/voice to make decisions inside their class story, an analogy of life. As teachers, we carefully follow their suggestions and integrate lessons as we plan strategies that allow them to discover their learning. Students learn real-life lessons without real-life consequences. They realize at a profound level that we have so much in common. We are all connected. Ultimately the students decide war is not worth the enormous human cost. And they internalize that we are all part of the human race.