Social-Emotional Learning: Responsible Decision-Making

I think one part of our jobs as educators we are helping our students to learn how to make better decisions, which of course is an important SEL component.

In our everyday lives we also keep practicing of making responsible choices. For me, that often is choosing to work on my learning for just 15-30 minutes to keep the content fresh in my mind. 

What is your secret?

Anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one's actions is one of the  SEL competencies we can practice throughout our lives and always learn more about ourselves! It is also true while about planning our days. 

When I was visiting the Hoh Rainforest, I knew that there was a rainstorm approaching, so I decided to stay relatively close to the Visitor Center, but I got to see the Hall of Mosses. And I enjoyed it SO much! 

:)

N

Social-Emotional Learning: Self-Awareness

Linking feelings, values, and thoughts is an important part of our self-awareness and well-being, regardless our age. 

Learning to understand the connections early makes our lives easier. Unfortunately, many of us may have experienced more of negative thoughts and feelings. The good part is: it is never too late to start focusing on the positive experiences. 

I am very fortunate because I get to travel to beautiful places like National Parks. But learning to look around to see something beautiful, something positive is a skill I have practiced for a long time. It is about choosing to see the positive (and this is very different from toxic positivity). 

As educators we CAN help our students to have positive learning experiences. For Early Learning there is HOPE - Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences. Here is a 2-pager about HOPE. 

We all can choose to decrease the impact of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) by purposefully focusing on the positive and supporting our students' social-emotional growth with classroom interactions - regardless of the age of our students! My students are adults, and we still enjoy the SEL discussions. 

It is extremely important to invest in our relationships with our students, make sure they have a safe and equitable learning environment, and help every student to engage in their own learning process to link their feelings, values and thoughts to what they are learning.  

Here is more information about using Trauma-Informed Practices in education!

Social-Emotional Learning: Self-Management

 

Identifying and using stress management strategies is am important part of our own Social-Emotional Learning. It also relates to our self-compassion, which is basically about being kind to ourselves, and treating ourselves like our best friends. Compassion is not based on accomplishments - self-compassion cannot be based on that either. Feelings of inadequacy are a part of human experience.

One way of managing our stress is taking time off work, and using vacations to visit places we want to  see. It doesn't always have to be a far-away place - for me the visits within 30-minute drive are usually the easiest to do. But I would love to visit gorgeous places like the one in the picture! 

How are you going manage your stress? What helps you to find self-compassion?

Here is more information about Self-Compassion: https://self-compassion.org/

SEL: Self Management and Supporting Learner Resilience

 Resilience can be defined as 

The process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands. 

(APA. https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience)

When we discuss learning and metacognition with students, it is important to remember and remind that resilience can be practiced (it is the real growth mindset). And our job as educators is to cultivate students' learning process so that it supports the increase of their resilience. And helps them to rebuild their confidence and learning skills. Because this is exactly what learner agency is: our capacity to make choices about ourselves and our learning. Resilience. Adjusting.

I imagine that this might sound like yet another demand for already busy teachers 

- but, please, hear me out: 

Teaching will not be successful unless we help students to be resilient, like the tree in the picture. It doesn't have much soil, and it has lost some of it's needles, too. But it bends with the winds and tolerates the salty seawater. And grows. Not as fast as the other trees growing more inland with better soil. It grows on its own pace - like we all do, actually. For growth cannot be hurried.

Teaching and learning are TWO different processes in the classroom. What is taught is not necessarily learned. And sometimes what is NOT taught, is learned. We have called this with very many different names during the formal education era - hidden curriculum, or just the unofficial and unwritten rules (values, perspectives, norms, and so on...) that students learn at school. Often unintentionally, just as a part of the  "school culture". 

The more we understand the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and use Trauma-Informed Practices, the better we can support our students' resilience. To me, that is an essential part of being an educator.

Social-Emotional Learning: Responsible Decision-Making

Learning is NOT easy. We all experience times and situations when learning gets hard. How can we help ourselves to overcome this problem? How can we nurture our own learning process? 

My first thought is that learning is ALWAYS at its best when we enjoy it! Some things are easier to learn than others, but for me the trick usually is to justify to myself WHY I want to learn it. (Please note: I didn't say why I NEED to learn it, but why I WANT to learn it!) Children are the best role models for wanting to learn anything and everything we encounter. :)

For most things I can find a reason for wanting to learn something - it might help me in the future path, or it is something I have been curious about. Compliance is a hard concept for learning enjoyment! Yet, sometimes we are able to lie to ourselves that what we need to learn is actually useful to us. 

Learning new things builds our confidence. And learning is SO much more than just memorizing a bunch or facts! It is about thinking about how they relate to what we already know, and how we can apply the new information. Deeper learning happens when we are able to apply what we are learned.

So, what are your solutions for nurturing your own learning? 

Social-Emotional Learning: Responsible Decision-Making

 

I talk with many, many teachers every week. From our discussions (and also from my own experience as an educator and a parent) I have learned that too often we cut time from a very important part of our personal lives: Self-care. Yet, our work is easier, and I also think we can do it better, if we take care of our own well-being. For me, this often means a walk in the nature. Just because it is so awesome! 

I know I am very privileged to live near the forests and mountains and streams! It is easy to get out and walk among the trees - those gentle giants. and I wish more people had the opportunity to do that. 

This is also the reason why I think the SEL competency for reflecting on our roles to promote well-being also extends to protecting the nature - so that also the future generations can walk in the forests and feel refreshed! 

Social-Emotional Learning: Self-Management

 Organizing and planning are important SEL skills. I remember a Finnish saying from my childhood:

Literal: Well planned is halfway done.

Usually translates as: Well begun is half done (wiki)

But sometimes I feel that there is, oh, so very, very much planning to do in my days or weeks. Fortunately I have realized that some mundane taks scattered throughout my days can give a much needed break from thinking too much.

NCS 2021

While sweeping the stairs or deck might not be my favorite thing to do, it allows a break in my routines for working on computer. Watching squirrels and birds while doing it is the pleasant add-on. :) 

Social-Emotional Learning: Self-Management

 Happy 2023!!

It is the time of the year when we are setting new goals. I try to remind myself how important well-being goals are for us. Experiencing the awe - something larger than ourselves - is one of my favorite things. It helps me to put things in perspective, which is a very important part of goal-setting.

Photo: ET 2023 Kalaloch, WA

Living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, I am lucky to have many opportunities to immerse in the nature. However, we can learn to find the awe in mundane things by purposefully sensing them:

A - attention: to notice things you appreciate, value, or find amazing

W - wait: to stay focused on something, inhale to experience coherence

E - exhale: to relax and expand, because this amplifies the sensations

I have also noticed that I seem to do this automatically when I walk on the beach, or see the mountains, or a rainbow, or a pretty flower, or a spiderweb with  dew drops... and many of those moments are now these SEL images.

My goal for this year is to experience more awe.  Here is more information about how to find AWE anywhere 

I hope you have a great year ahead! 

:)

Nina