What is social and emotional learning?

What is social and emotional learning?

What is social and emotional learning? 

Social and emotional learning, or SEL for short, is the teaching and development of skills needed to manage big emotions, form relationships, gain self-awareness, solve problems, make responsible choices, and set goals. SEL also focuses on open communication, social awareness, and empathy.

What are the five core competencies of social and emotional learning?

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is the ability to recognize one's own feelings, strengths, weaknesses, and stressors. It is also when one is able to ask oneself, Why do I feel this way? What is my goal? How can I change my behaviour?

self-management

Self-management is the ability to control one's own actions. Some examples of this are self-motivation, exercising self-control, setting goals for oneself, and knowing when one needs a break, time alone, or to take a deep breath.

social awareness

Social awareness is the ability to understand things from other people's point of view and to feel empathy for others. It is also the ability to show respect for others and to value and embrace diversity.

Relationship skills

Relationship skills are the ability to form and maintain meaningful and healthy relationships with other individuals. They can be romantics, professionals, teammates, or friendships. Important components of healthy relationships of any kind include open communication, listening, trust, collaboration, compromise, and problem-solving. It is also crucial for children to understand what a healthy UN relationship looks like.

Responsible decision making

Responsible decision making is the ability to make constructive, well-considered decisions about one's behavior and social interactions. Some aspects of this include considering cause and effect, evaluating a situation and decision, possible outcomes, influence on others, and self-reflection.

Why do students need social and emotional learning?

There are many reasons why SEL is important to a child's development and development as a human being. The first reason is academic performance. Children work hard to focus on schoolwork and it is important that they are comfortable, happy and emotionally well-rounded in order to perform to the best of their abilities. Emotionally stable children have fewer behavioral problems and are better able to stay on track academically. The second reason why students need an SEL is general quality of life and well-being. When students are explicitly taught social and emotional skills, they grow into adults who can manage life's challenges and stressful situations. The final reason why SEL is so important at a young age is for future jobs and success in the workforce. Adults face challenges all the time at work, and being able to manage problems and conflicts is a skill that all adults need; Learning this at an early age is crucial. Empathetic, self-aware, and communicative children grow into empathetic, self-aware, and communicative adults.

Students also need an SEL to help them learn how to deal with the different types of problems and challenges that they may encounter at some point during their childhood. Too often we expect kids to naturally know how to handle themselves in certain situations when in fact, they really, really need to be shown the way. Some examples of such situations are bullying, racism, exclusion, harassment, abuse of any kind, inappropriate relationships, cyberbullying, social media behavior, and internet safety.

How is social and emotional learning explicitly taught?

There are many social and emotional learning programs available for schools and districts to choose from. SEL is taught through classroom instruction, role-playing, open-circuit discussions, and projects. General teachers may start with some goal setting, self-motivation, and growth mindset activities. This rule helps students feel more comfortable in their own learning environment, which makes academics more focused. Much of SEL is taught through "what if" scenarios and role plays. Being able to put themselves in other people's shoes is a very powerful skill to have that helps students learn empathy and communication skills. Students are often asked to have open conversations at home with family members about what they have learned; Self-reflection is also a big component of SEL.

How can teachers and students use Storyboard That for social and emotional learning?

Sometimes children have difficulty talking about social situations and uncomfortable topics in front of their peers, and sometimes they don't know how to say what they want to say. Writing down their thoughts and clarifying feelings are helpful ways for children to find out what they're thinking. Storyboard That is an excellent platform that allows students to express themselves and their emotions through illustrations and words, while often challenging many. It allows teachers to differentiate between assignments and gives students the chance to choose the design that works best for them, while keeping their ideas private if that's what they'd like.

Storyboards are an excellent way to organize and present information at the same time, and they give students the opportunity to be creative and have a lot of fun expressing themselves. With so many different types of storyboards available, teachers are able to provide a wide variety of options based on individual needs, strengths, and learning styles. Teachers can also take advantage of pre-made lesson plans, health and wellness resources, and special education, and can customize at will.

Examples of activities for students

Make responsible decisions

After a discussion/lesson about responsible decision making, teachers can ask the students to do the following:

Think of a time when you had to make a difficult decision.

Create a 3-cell storyboard with description cells.

Describe and explain the thought process for making this decision and the outcome.

If desired, include a cell showing another possible outcome if you had made a different decision.

These storyboards should be kept private in order to allow students to dig deep and be true to their own self-reflection.

SEL: Decision making example

After a discussion/lesson about relationships, teachers can ask the students to do the following:

 Think of a time when you had a difficult situation with someone you had any kind of relationship with.

Create a 3-cell storyboard with description cells.

Describe and explain the difficult situation and how it was resolved. Use dialogue.

These storyboards should be kept private in order to allow students to dig deep and be true to their own self-reflection.