Food for Thought: The importance of Social and Emotional Learning

Dear all,

This week's Food for Thought focuses on social and emotional aspects of life and education. I thought that you might find these reflective interviews with centenarians interesting as they provide an insightful view of what is valuable to us as human beings. Something that will become more and more important with the arrival of A1. There are certainly some common themes.

I'd like to follow this video with an article from Mindshift about setting school culture with social and emotional learning routines.

"Over the past several decades public education has shifted to focus on literacy and math learning, largely due to high stakes tests measuring those two elements of school. But educators have long known that while reading, writing and math are important to academic success, they are far from the only qualities students need to go forth and lead productive lives. In recent years, the pendulum of education trends have swung back to emphasize the importance of relationships to learning. Schools are using social and emotional learning curricula to help students develop interpersonal skills and learn ways to solve problems peacefully. But there's still debate around which social and emotional skills — such as empathy, executive functioning or persistence — are the most important to teach and some educators feel unprepared to take on a role that seems more like parenting. In a video series called "Schools That Work," Edutopia offers some examples of social and emotional learning routines that successful schools use. At Highlander Charter School in Rhode Island, elementary school students talk about the importance of morning meeting to their day. "It puts me in a focused and good mood," said Monica, a third grader at the school. Every morning during the 15-minute meeting, students greet each other, have sharing time, do a quick movement activity and review the schedule for the day. Educators say this routine is an invaluable way to help students transition from home to school; it helps build a community where students feel cared for, known and ready to learn. "I like it when people share because we get to know them a little better," said first grader Dianelys. Educators at this school said carving out this time every day creates a culture in which students respect each other and their teacher." Video about morning meetings which is part of the responsive classroom model used in many US Primary Classrooms. Watching this 4 minute video certainly demonstrates how this sort of activity can develop social and emotional links between students and create a culture of care providing a structured start to the day and of course the agenda could be managed to include mindfulness. SEL in High School "While elementary school may seem like the perfect place to learn social and emotional skills, often by high school the focus of educators and parents has turned to academics. But adolescence is a crucial time for young people to know an adult cares about them and can serve as a mentor. At Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, California, students take a "Habits, Community, and Culture" class devoted to improving their emotional intelligence and the skills that will help them cope with stress, setbacks and crises of confidence that are typical in high school. Their teacher, Aukeem Ballard, wants each teen to feel seen, heard and known." This sentiment is very important for our Culture of Care at ISHCMC "So my primary defense, is to tell a kid, and mean it, that I love you. I see in you all the years of pain that come with you. I will hold space for you every single time and I refuse to be a bystander in your life. I refuse to see you as a dot or a data point. I see you. The mentors I had along the way that said, and it seems impossible now, but I'm going to help you remove as many barriers as I can, and I'm going to step away. I'm going to let you do the great work that I already see inside you. And I hope I can get out of my kids way more, that's my hope." Chuc Mung Nam Moi, Be happy and Healthy, Yours Adrian