Social Emotional Learning at home!

SEL at Berwick Academy follows the continuum from self-awareness to Social responsibility/decision making and the 3 competencies in between, as outlined in our first posting. We start with self awareness, since we know that in order for a child for be able to appreciate the viewpoints and feelings of others (the building blocks of empathy), they have to be able to be aware of and label their own feelings. Methods ranging from role plays to discussions to tag games enhance our students's ability to not only identify their feelings, but also to cope with them and to seek help when needed.
We find that childrens' learning is greatly enhanced when lessons are reinforced at home. For example, with younger children, the use of "feelings faces" to guess feelings can be reinforced by questions such as "Why do you think this person has a sad face?" or "What could he do or who could he talk to so he wouldn't feel so sad?
Another exercise with all age groups would be to turn off the sound of your child's favorite TV show and have them guess what the characters are feeling by looking at their facial expressions or their body language. After all, there is lots of research finding that 95% of all communication is nonverbal!
Understanding our own and others' feelings are critical first steps in the formation of solid relationships, which in turn are critical to our emotional and physical well being. The addition of courses in compassion and altruism at most of the major universities throughout the world further validates the impact of social emotional learning on academic and life success.
I love having parents tell me that they ask their children what they learned in SEL during the week, and reinforce this at home!

Social Thinking Chart

9-15-2014

Social Thinking Chart:

In class this week, we are reviewing the Social Thinking Chart.  The students are working on being able to decipher different scenarios according to which characteristic applies to each of the different situations.     

  

Example:

You are embarrassed when Sally enters the class and loudly says to you: "I herd that you dropped your tray at lunch!"    

Social Emotional Learning Core Competencies

9-8-2014

Social and Emotional Learning Core Competencies:

What is Social Emotional Learning?

Social and emotional learning (SEL) involves the processes through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions".
(http://www.casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning/core-competencies) 

According to CASEL, there are five competency for Social Emotional Learning:

1. Self-awareness

2. Self-management

3.Social awareness

4. Relationship Skills

5. Responsible decision making

Today in class, we went over the first competency of Social emotional learning:  Self-awareness.  The students talked about how they felt on the first day of school.  They rated themselves on a thermometer on how calm, nervous or frantic they felt leading up to the first day of school.