Everyday SEL in Middle School

Integrating Social-Emotional Learning and Mindfulness Into Your Classroom

Carla Tantillo Philibert

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317446484
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

In this new book from educational consultant Carla Tantillo Philibert, you'll gain practical strategies for teaching social-emotional learning (SEL), mindfulness, and movement to help your middle school students maintain positive relationships, assume responsibility, become bodily aware, and grow into productive, contributing citizens. You'll find out how to lead students through games, simple yoga poses, breathing techniques, and other activities that are easy to incorporate and help you manage your classroom. Topics include:

• Empowering your students to understand their emotions, improve their focus, manage stress, and regulate their behavior through structured activities

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• Introducing your students to the concept of SEL and setting up your own SEL classroom

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• Engaging your students in activities to strengthen peer-to-peer communication, community-building, and leadership skills

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• Allowing your students to test their SEL skills through interactive stories and class discussions

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• Honing your own SEL competency through professional development sessions so your students can get the most out of their SEL experience

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The book also offers a Professional Development Facilitator's Guide to help you and your colleagues master the core concepts of SEL and implement them effectively in the classroom. The appendix provides additional strategies for overcoming common difficulties when first beginning your school's SEL journey.

1

Defining Social-Emotional Learning for Students and Teachers

When I taught high school there was a student of mine, Roger, who couldn’t concentrate on my oh-so-fabulous poetry lesson because his basic needs were not meet. I didn’t see that. I saw a student that was disrupting my lesson by fidgeting and talking to the students next to him. I strongly disciplined him, as I did the next day and the day after that when the behavior continued. Sharing his behavior that week with my colleagues over lunch (admittedly in a less-than-compassionate “I don’t know what is wrong with Roger this week” type way), I discovered that his younger sister, Brandy, had been reprimanded for sneaking food out of the school cafeteria. Putting all the pieces together, we figured out that Roger was hungry. His younger siblings were hungry. His mom, who had a problem with heroin and had gone on “benders” before, had deserted them and Roger didn’t know where she was or where their next meal was coming from. Of course, my fabulous poetry lesson didn’t matter to him! He was stuck in the panic of meeting the basic needs for himself and his siblings with zero resources or support. This was coupled with concern for his mother’s well-being along with hiding the truth from the school and his siblings so that they would not end up in foster care, again. Examining the climate and culture of my classroom at the time, I found that there was no mechanism for him to meet his emotional or physical needs. I naively thought that my dynamic lesson was enough to engage him in learning, regardless of what was happening outside of the schoolhouse doors.

For teachers to be effective, students must feel comfortable stepping into vulnerability. The classroom environment must honor students’ physical, mental, and emotional needs without judgment, so that they can move out of “survival mode” (fight, flight, or freeze) and be Ready to Learn. Given the politics and legal restrictions of schools, a situation like Roger’s is complex on many levels. But, at the end of the day, the lesson is a good one. If our students’ basic needs are not met, they cannot be present and Ready to Learn. Practicing SEL, mindfulness, or yoga could not have put food in Roger’s stomach, but it could have helped him deal with the crippling anxiety of the unknown.

This book fuses the traditional practices of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), mindfulness, yoga, and physical movement into one comprehensive approach we call Mindful Practices (see Figure 1.1). Mindful Practices are those practices that help cultivate awareness of body and mind in both personal and interpersonal situations so that one can operate with compassion for self and others. While SEL or mindfulness on their own do not traditionally include yoga, movement, or student wellness, Mindful Practices looks at the needs of the whole child: emotional, physical, and mental; when these three are in balance, a student is able to be present and Ready to Learn. Mindfulness is an important part of these practices as its inclusion into the classroom setting creates “present learners,” or students and teachers that are empowered to move through activation so they are able to focus on the task at hand.

The Mindful Practices approach moves beyond a program that teachers merely implement, into a method of crafting a classroom that meets the competing needs of the whole child. Looking at everything from a student’s overall wellness (Is lack of sleep keeping a student from being present? Is a student’s physical need to move his body keeping him from being able to focus?) to what drives student interactions (Is there a conflict with a peer that keeps a student’s mind focused on “survival” instead of being present in the classroom?), and, most importantly, how does the energy of the classroom need to shift so that the students are present, focused, and Ready to Learn? When we frame the implementation of Mindful Practices around creating a classroom of students that are present and Ready to Learn, we are empowered to address the roadblocks that often keep us from teaching to our full potential.

This book provides the tools needed for a successful program implementation, namely the creation of a classroom climate and culture that bring practitioner and student into a compassionate and safe connection. We’ll explore the tenet that the goals of SEL, such as the ability to handle stress effectively and the ability to regulate emotions, are commonalities shared across class, gender, and culture for both educator and student. The Mindful Practices model outlined in this book moves teachers from viewing these practices as something that “underperforming children” need as a “special treatment” to understanding them as a collective learning process needed by all, because everyone regularly experiences stress, anxiety, and negativity. When the situation is reframed from the adult and child being in opposition to the collective working towards a common, interpersonal goal, not only are life-long skills developed, but the classroom climate and culture improve as well.

Figure 1.1 Social-Emotional Learning, mindfulness and movement in the classroom: Mindful Practices’ two-part transformative process

These Mindful Practices provide teachers and students with the tools to understand how their world works, their connection to it, how they express themselves within in it, and how they can balance their own needs alongside the needs of the collective. Again, the emphasis shifts from a handful of “problem children” receiving the service to SEL being a “Tier 1” intervention for the entire class. The Mindful Practices model outlined in this book empowers teachers and students with a framework to cultivate Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, and Social Awareness through intentional practice in a safe and structured classroom environment so that the balance can be found between Self-Efficacy and Social Harmony (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2 The Mindful Practices’ model

Quite simply, the Mindful Practices approach utilizes mindfulness, yoga, team building, breath work, and and movement strategies to teach the following four SEL competencies:

1. Self-Awareness: self-esteem, body awareness, personal responsibility, emotional awareness, and understanding choice. Practicing these activities and cultivating an understanding of SELF moves the learner from powerlessness to empowered.

2. Self-Regulation: adaptability, expressing emotions, managing stress/anxiety, problem solving, coping skills, self-inquiry and decision-making skills. Practicing these activities and learning how to Self-Regulate moves the learner from impulsivity to positively navigating behavioral choices.

3. Social Awareness: active listening, empathy, service orientation, and community-building. Practicing these skills and cultivating Social Awareness moves learners from a reactive, victimized mindset to a more proactive, communal view of the world around them. (See Table A.1 for sample of explicit teaching.)

4. Balance between Self-Efficacy and Social Harmony: leadership, managing vulnerability, collaboration, teamwork, influence of SELF and others, understanding relationships with SELF and others, operating with compassion towards SELF and others, and peer-to-peer communication. When practiced and in balance, learners feel centered, present, and like a valued and contributing member of the world around them. This competency also reflects the individual’s ability to find her voice and balance the needs of the SELF with the needs of the SOCIAL, without projection, assumption, or excessive self-sacrifice.

Display these four SEL competencies close to your POP Chart and SEL word wall (see p. 36). For SEL programming to be impactful, it must have a consistent presence in students’ lives. (To build competency, SEL terminology is shown in bold in lessons and stories.)

Table 1.1 Rubric to monitor the school’s progress in SEL practice

School name:	Academic year:
Committee members:
Stages	Descriptors	Timeline
5. Sustainable	On-going implementation assessment: Have we created a sustainable model? POP Chart and Call to Action are visible in and messaged around school. SEL is practiced daily in the classrooms and included in the morning announcements. School SEL + Wellness initiatives are sustainable and meet the needs of school stakeholders, such as students, parents, teachers, staff, and community members. Self-care is prioritized. SEL Team leads PD and Teacher Institutes that reinforce SEL practices. Climate and culture expectations of both classroom and school are clearly defined. Consistent SEL messaging and common language across school by all stakeholders and adults in students’ lives. Communication tools such as the Agreements, Boom Board! and Pants on Fire! are utilized across disciplines by all school stakeholders. Grade bands meet regularly to plan and implement end-of-year SEL Service Learning Project. Methods are developed to connect SEL practices to home and community.	School year ends
4. Experienced	On-going implementation assessment: How have we grown? SEL and parent Wellness Nights are thriving and gain momentum within the community. SEL is embedded in school sports and extracurricular activities. School SEL initiatives reflect communication between SEL Team, PE teachers, wellness stakeholders (social worker, nurse, etc.), parents, and school faculty/staff. SEL and teacher self-care are practiced during PD and Teacher Institute days. PE teachers and wellness stakeholders receive supplemental training. School climate/cultural pieces reflect whole-school SEL + Wellness messaging. Grade bands meet to develop consistent classroom SEL practices and to begin planning SEL Service Learning Project for the school community.	8 months
3. Capable	Assessment of skills learned: Where are we and what do we need to improve? School SEL and wellness initiatives show thoughtful placement and are reflective of needs of parents, students, and community. Call to Action messaging becomes more common among school stakeholders. SEL and teacher self-care are modeled and reinforced during PD and Teacher Institute days. PE teachers, wellness stakeholders (social worker, nurse, etc.) and classroom teachers receive supplemental training. SEL Team meets quarterly. POP Chart visible in most classrooms. Wellness/physical activity is practiced 2–3 times a week in the classrooms. Impact of SEL and wellness initiative on school climate and culture becomes tangible. Teacher self-care is promoted and incentivized monthly.	5 months
2. Emerging	Reviewing and refining practices and expectations School SEL and wellness initiatives, including teacher selfcare, emerge and begin to balance priorities. POP Chart visible in some classrooms. Wellness/physical activity is practiced occasionally (1–2 times a week) in the classrooms. SEL Team is created. A Call to Action, such as “Be the Solution,” “In the Zone,” or “Ready to Learn,” is adopted. Communication emerges between PE teachers, wellness stakeholders (social worker, nurse, etc.), and classroom teachers. SEL theme in morning announcements. SEL emerges as a theme in both faculty PD and school climate and culture. Parents are surveyed regarding interest in community SEL and Well...