All Learning is Social and Emotional

A lot of people have enjoyed the ASCD webinar I shared a couple of weeks ago. So, here’s another one.

This comes from Nancy Frey, a Professor of Education Leadership at San Diego University. She’s written many books on education and in this webinar drew on material from her latest.

Quite rightly, many educators have been recognising the importance of children developing their social and emotional skills – not only so that they can function effectively in the classroom and school, but also because these are vital skills for the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately, in some places the temptation for teachers has been to believe that the solution is an SEL syllabus or curriculum – that SEL is somehow something to be treated separately. I believe quite rightly Frey emphasises the desirability of integrating the concepts of SEL in to everyday life in the school, the classroom and lessons generally.

The webinar does a very good job of summarising where SEL concepts have developed from and how far they have reached. This idea of weaving the SEL learning in to the general day to day learning can be daunting for some teachers. The website does a good job of giving pointers for how to embark on such a journey as a teacher. The content is delivered at a very accessible level.

ASCD Webinar Log In – Nancy Frey – All Learning is Social and Emotional

Some may find the content of this webinar excellent for running teacher training and CPD sessions, discussions and dialogues, or even within professional learning community small groups where teachers see SEL as an important area on which to focus.

 

Understanding Willpower

Student Motivation

Teaching Channel Video – Kathleen Cushman
(Unfortunately, the code for embedding the video here doesn’t seem to be working. So, right click on the link above and open the page in a new tab or window. Then, you can watch the 6 minute video there)

I came across a very useful resource for educators today – www.teachingchannel.org

On this video, the speaker, Kathleen Cushman, has some really interesting insights in to methods and ideas that lead to the development of real Twenty First Century skills for students, in a high motivation environment. I was particularly interested by her idea that when students see their teachers collaborating, they are more likely to adapt to collaborating positively as well.

I liked what I was hearing about student choice, doing something that matters in the adult world and student agency. Also, the eight conditions of being a learner are a useful starting point for assessing the value of many student learning experiences.

In the video, she makes reference to a number of things happening at a school called High Tech High. Some of these are referenced in the other videos accessible through the links at the bottom of the video screen that all relate to the ‘Deeper Learning’ series. The one on ‘Tiny House’ is particularly worth watching.

AltSchool

A few days ago, I published an article about a private school in London that ‘bans’ children’s use of all technology until the age of 12 – in the home, as well as in school. By way of contrast, here’s an article about AltSchool, a new venture that started in Silicon Valley with significant financial backing from Mark Zuckerberg that builds a high use of ICT in to it’s progressive ways of operating:

Article – News.Com – AltSchool

To me, the question isn’t necessarily one about saying yes or no to ICT, but hinges on the key term used in this article – ‘agency’. My biggest concern about the London example is the denial of agency to the children. In plain terms, they weren’t trusted to make sound judgements for themselves or even to hear rational arguments in favour of restraint in ICT use.

My Earlier Blog Post

Again, I believe we’ve got to create environments within which children have a voice and the ability to influence their world. Growing up denied all power of agency is not the way, in my view, to create healthy, thoughtful self-determining adults.