Social-Emotional Learning: Self-Management

Managing our emotions and stress is a huge part of adult SEL. I think I will never be able to say: "Now I have learned everything I need  to learn about it," simply because different situations require different strategies. I spent last week attending a conference, and while I loved it (so much!!) by the end of the week I was completely "peopled out" even though I enjoyed the company and what I was learning. 

So, I had to figure out the best possible stress management strategies to use: walking on the beach and in the forest, finding the beauty in the nature, and  bringing some wild flowers into my room.

Many events are built by extroverts (I think because they like to do that and are good at doing it) and for extroverts. I am very grateful for their work. And I hope we can start communicating about the needs to have quiet time, or a quiet room and take a break, because learning becomes hard or impossible when we get "peopled out". Meanwhile, I hope we all can find self-management strategies that will work for our own needs!

Also, there is a great article in AEON publication Psyche article about the exclusion of introverts and suggestions to meet the needs of this approximately one third of the population. 

Social-Emotional Learning: Relationship Skills

I love trees! And the Ocean! So getting to visit the Striped Peak was a true pleasure. Sitting down in the sunshine, on the grass high above the waves crashing to the cove below was a great treat. 

Observing the madrona tree hanging over the edge, its roots dug deep in the rocky soil, I realized that it had all the support it needed to stay alive. Maybe not thrive, but as a tree you don't have much choice - you have to survive in the soil and environment where the seed dropped. Other trees had been competing for the nutrition and space with it - and some of them had fallen, leaving a broken stump behind.

But as humans, we DO know how to collaborate. Fortunately! Because the social skills of offering help and asking for it are foundational for our societies. 

When we are in the situation of abundance or affluence, we need to remember the moments of scarcity and disposession, and offer help to others. Because that's how we grow as human beings. A flip side of that is equally true - we need to ask for help when we need it. Yet, that can be surprisingly hard.

An important part of being an educator is to keep on offering help to our students. They may not need it today, or tomorrow, or next week. But, they hopefully will remember that it has been offered abundantly - which makes it easier to ask for it.

Seeking and offering help is fundamental for humanity.