What is The Purpose Of Social Emotional Learning?

As an educator, one of the most obnoxious things you’ll learn from students is “This is stupid,” or “Why are we Social Emotional Learning learning this?” Consider the days of school and which subjects resulted in the most frustration. There’s a good chance you’ll find similarities with your students when you wish that you could be given clear explanations for why something was necessary and how acquiring a particular specific skill or subject would be beneficial now as well as in the future. This frustration and the search for effective ways to manage emotions and engage with each other with respect are only one of the primary concepts behind Social Emotional Learning, also known as SEL.

In today’s ever-changing world in which we live, the classroom is where students are frequently exposed to students who come from different backgrounds, hold different views, and have different abilities. To accommodate these differences and bring all students onto an equal basis to be successful Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is designed to help students. Whether adult or children to better understand their emotions and thoughts, improve their self-awareness, and build compassion for the people in their communities and the world surrounding them.

What is SEL in Education?

Learning through social, emotional experiences (SEL) is an instructional method that assists pupils of any age in understanding their emotions better, feeling their feelings thoroughly, and showing compassion for other people. These behaviors learned are employed to help students make good, responsible decisions, develop frameworks for achieving their goals and establish positive relationships with their peers.

The Five Social Emotional Learning Competencies

As per the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an organization dedicated to helping teachers and students improve students’ outcomes from PreK-12, SEL involves five core abilities that can be used in the classroom, at home, and within the students’ community. The five fundamental skills include:

• Self-awareness: To identify your feelings and their impact on your behavior. Acknowledging the strengths as well as weaknesses to increase confidence in your capabilities.
• Self-management – To be responsible and control your emotions, thoughts, and actions in various circumstances while also creating and achieving goals.
• Social awareness is the ability to imagine yourself in the shoes of another person from an entirely different culture or background than the one you were raised with. to act with compassion and in an ethical manner in your school, home, and in your community.
• Skills for a relationship – The ability to maintain and build healthy relationships with people of different backgrounds. This area of expertise focuses on listening and communicating with other people, peacefully solving conflicts, and knowing when to seek assistance or ask for it.
• Making responsible choices – choosing the best way to react to a situation based on the learned behavior patterns like ethical behavior, safety, weighing risks, and the wellbeing of others and yourself.

How Educators Approach SEL

While SEL isn’t an official subject like math or history, it is a subject that can be integrated into the overall curriculum. Suppose teachers make the academic curriculum more meaningful and relevant to their students. In that case, they may be more inclined to engage and less likely to be distracted when studying. By fostering a sense of self-awareness, empathy, and a feeling of safety and inclusivity inside the class, SEL can have a positive effect that lasts an entire lifetime.

There are a variety of ways to teach the concept of SEL. Certain teachers have a designated part of their school day dedicated to SEL, which is sometimes taught in the homeroom. The lessons are a common topic throughout the school day to create the essential skills of SEL more relatable to the students.

Teachers may wish to have students record or write down what they think and feel about the particular SEL topic or even allow younger students to join the older students in a ” buddy classroom” (or reverse the relationship) for students at different age groups to connect or discover common ground.