Reflection

I learned that Social emotional learning is an important consideration to include in the classroom.  It is beneficial for both the teacher and the students by increasing self-awareness, academic improvement and desired behaviors in school and within the community. 
I realized that social emotion learning can also have a positive impact on my personal and professional success as an educator. To teach SEL in the classroom teachers need to be self aware and develop their own social-emotional skills. Only if they model SEL skills to our students can we expect them to learn them. 
I will take the skill examples given to us in the readings and videos and try to apply them into my classroom. Something as simple as taking a moment to recognize how I feel and to take a deep breath and model that for students is easy to do and builds a better classroom setting.  

I am a teacher in a high school self contained special education classroom.  This past year I tried to incorporate more SEL into my course.  My students were very responsive and I feel it created a better learning environment for all the students in the class.  

Ways that I could incorporate SEL:

• A lesson on empathy.  Have students recognize appropriate vs. inappropriate responses to their peers.
• A lesson on emotions.  Have students discuss times that they felt happy, angry, anxious etc.  and what response they had in those situations.  How might they change their response.
• Model appropriate social interactions with other students and teachers.
• Help students to better understand why their actions are inappropriate and how they might have a more rational response in a time when they have an emotional response.

As a band teacher, I often discuss the impact music can have on our lives by making us feel a certain way, to help us express emotions, or even change our mood. I think music lends itself well to Social- Emotional Learning as we could discuss how students are feeling or what is going on in their lives and apply this to creating songs or listening to music which could help manage emotions. SEL  is an integral part of education and human development which all students (and adults) need in order to develop a healthy identity, manage emotions, show empathy, and make responsible decisions. SEL can easily be integrated into the music curriculum by getting to know your students, asking questions about their lives, and meeting them at their individual needs. In the future, I plan to incorporate SEL into my music classroom by examining the power of music for social change, helping with performance anxiety, and encouraging students to set their own musical goals! 

This was a great introduction on why SEL is important and the parts of SEL.  I would love to implement more but I would also like to learn more.  How exactly did I encorporate it in my classroom?  I know that the 5 videos talked a little about that but they seemed more elementary based.  I teach 8th graders.  I could easily mention how certain things are making me feel, but I would really like to know more techniques. Using group work is important and having students learn how to do it well would be very beneficial. I already teach them about diversity and how to learn about a culture before you make opinons about it, since I teach world languages.  We discuss a lot of situations that cause misunderstandings due to different cultural norms.  This is part of SEL, but I would like to research more distinct lessons/methods.

I think what would be good for elementary students would be a poster board in the classroom where students have the opportunity to circle, or move a magnet to the face or emotion they are feeling and have a discussion.  I could also use a check in check out system, maybe on an exit ticket for the day or throughout the day to check in with students.  

In the classrooms, I will use the NYSED Social Emotional Benchmarks as a framework. I will provide students with explicit direct instruction on SEL and incorporate SEL activities from NYSED. Academic lessons will contain project based learning and SEL will be integrated in the curriculum. As a facilitator, I will cover group roles and responsibilities. I will provide a supportive classroom by building relations and teaching students how to self regulate. I will assist with regulating the environment by providing a calm atmosphere (low lights, instrumental music, cool colors). For responsible decision making, I can support students by asking questions to help them analyze the situation. When needed, I will provide supportive discipline by using a restorative approach. In addition, I will build a partnership with families. Students in the classroom will understand respond to; “I feel” statements, “how would I feel” statements, the prompt “Stop, Think, Act” and the “Think Through” Process.

It seems that the approach to Social Emotional Learning should be two-pronged, especially in it's earlier stages of implementation. While several SEL strategies could be incorporated into the curriculum I teach, mainly ELA and Science, it is also evident that students would benefit greatly from SEL strategies being taught explicitly. Making students aware of what social emotional learning is, and why it is important, would seemingly bridge the gap to practicing positive strategies in their classroom tasks and daily interactions. 

I teach foreign language, so it is easy to incorporate questions to not only practice vocabulary and grammar, but to elicit some feedback from students. I am able to find out how they are feeling and what is going on their lives. I am also going to be able to have the students journal about their opinions and feelings using the target language. I think there are many creative ways to use this when looking at reading and books and reflecting on the decisions made by characters. I am excited to try this out in the near future!

I hope to integrate SEL practices into every corner of my educational approach, especially during literacy tasks.  It seems that even the smallest, most nuanced morning greeting with a student can be an opportunity to get in touch with one's inner mood or take a mindful breath.  On a larger scale I hope to naturally incorporate social and emotional based learning into literature and writing lessons so students innately begin to consider character feelings and actions. From informal opportunities during student interactions to full lessons explicitly working through SEL concepts, I would love to be able to provide SEL "service" directly to whole group, small groups or individuals who have targeted or greater needs in my classroom.    

I would like to use a check in check out system to see how my students are feeling that day.  I think I should use discussions with students first before discipline or write ups.  Find out why they did something and begin to teach them emotions, why they did it and what they could do better in the future.  I also believe I could incorporate circles with students to develop relationships.