Social and Emotional Learning and Conscious Discipline

Social and Emotional Learning / Conscious Discipline

Social and Emotional Learning can be defined simply as teaching children how to recognize, manage, and utilize their emotions and feelings accurately and appropriately.  These skills are necessary to students being able to learn how to solve problems and establish good solid relationships with other students, teachers, and family members.  Good social and emotional learning benefits students in many ways.  Students use this type of learning to develop good life skills that will literally last a lifetime.  The investment of time to teach in this area is well worth the effort.  As the graphic above notes, there are several areas that intersect when teaching social and emotional learning.  Empathy improves students ability to interact well with others.  Good decision making and boosted self esteem improves learning for all in the classroom.  Motivation and commitment from students and teachers to this type of learning improves the overall atmosphere in the classroom for learning and a feeling of community.  Finally, interpersonal awareness of how one's social skills and emotions affects others begins each student on a path to discovering how to manage themselves without constant supervision of their behaviors.  Good decisions begin here...

This point leads us to the explanation of Conscious Discipline.  Conscious discipline can be used to bring the student and teacher to the same level of communication.  Teachers can begin using this technique simply by teaching students how to stop what they are doing, take a deep breathe and relax, and then think about how and why they are feeling what they are feeling.  Conscious discipline encourages and teaches ways to self-correct, calm one's self, and begin to learn how to analyze their own feelings and realize that each individual has a choice as to how to react to their feelings.  

By taking the time and effort to use this technique with students, a teacher can increase their own personal connection with each student and gain their trust.  Teachers can also increase the problem-solving abilities of each student and also be able to increase the safety in their classroom.  When students learn about their emotions and actions and how to control them, the classroom becomes a much safer environment in which to live, learn, and share.  This is truly worth the time and effort to teach and model for students and the only thing this will cost you is a little bit of time and focused energy.

Conscious Discipline link 

When utilizing the techniques mentioned here today, teachers should realize that the time spent on these subjects is well worth it.  As you can see in the video linked above, a teacher realized that giving 10-12 minutes from her day of teaching to using these strategies increased the overall learning in her classroom.  She is also reaping rewards of knowing that she is teaching her students skills that they are taking with them throughout their lives.  

By using simple daily routines like morning meetings where students can check in about how they are feeling, the teacher can share a rundown of the routine for the day and share any changes for that day, and students can exercise their speaking and listening skills with each other, a teacher can increase community in their classroom.

There are so many simple ways to begin using these ideas.  One idea that I really plan to use from the video is where the teacher led the students in a calming activity.  She led them through a breathe in a positive thought and shake out a negative thought.  For example, breathe in calm and shake out worry before a test.  By using a verbal and physcial aspect in this activity most students can be engaged in the idea of calming their minds for their test ahead of them. 

The benefits of social and emotional learning and conscious discipline can be endless.  The high points of using these strategies are increased assertiveness in students, a great way to encourage struggling students, and a way to teach emotionally weak students to learn how to remain composed or to regain their composure.  Teachers will also benefit because students will learn empathy for others, how to make better choices throughout their day, and consequences become less and less a part of the focus of each day.  

Thank you for reading my blog and until next time,

Shannon

Book Trailer - Punia and the King of the Sharks

Punia and the King of the Sharks

Charlotte's Web

Written by E.B. White

Illustrated by Garth Williams

Harper & Brothers Publishers

Copyright 1952

192 pages

Genre: Traditional Literature

A/R Level : 4.4

This is a classic tale of friendship between several different characters.  Fern, the little girl and Wilbur, the pig and also later in the book Wilbur's close relationship and bond with Charlotte, the spider.  There are many other characters that play a secondary role in this story and exhibit character traits of friendship.

We read this book with our class recently in practicum as a teacher read aloud.  Then we took a field trip to the Birmingham Children's Theatre to view the play, Charlotte's Web.  I feel like this was a great way to introduce the students to a great piece of literature and expose them to a dramatic version of the story also.

Poetry - Dirt on My Shirt

Dirt on My Shirt

Written by Jeff Foxworthy

Illustrated by Steve Bjorkman

Harper Collins Publishers

Copyright 2008

32 pages

Genre: Poetry
A/R Level: 3.9

This book of poems are very entertaining and funny.  Most of the poems are short and engaging.  Each page is illustrated well and will capture the students’ attention right away.  The topics covered in the poem range from family relationships, friendship, outdoors, pets and many more. 

I believe I will use this book in my classroom to initiate transitions and brain breaks.  This would be especially good to use when students have been working and on task for a while and they just need to  get up and move around a little, take a break from their thinking and then get back on task pretty quickly.  

Naughty Mabel Sees It All Book Talk

Naughty Mabel Sees It All

Historical Fiction - Lincoln and His Boys

Lincoln and His Boys

Written by Rosemary Wells

Illustrated by P. J. Lynch

Published by Candlewick Press

Copyright 2009

96 pages

A/R Reading Level : 4.4

Historical Fiction

This book tells a story about President Abraham Lincoln from the eyes of his son.  This book was especially interesting to me because I had never read much historical fiction before this book.  I found it to be extremely engaging and fun to read because it exposes the reader to a brand new perspective on one of our greatest's presidents.  

I feel like this book would be a great way to further engage students in a course of study about Lincoln and the way life was during the time of the Civil War.  This would be an awesome way to get students thinking about what life would have been like for them if they had lived during this turbulent time of history.  Lincoln's son retelling some of his experiences makes the history come alive and would spark much conversation about how life would have been for students living during this time period.  

I feel like including a piece of literature like this in a week-long study about Lincoln could deepen the students' understanding and reflection about this historical time.  

Contemporary Realistic Fiction - Rules

Rules

Written by Cynthia Lord

Published by Scholastic Press

Copyright 2006

200 pages

Contemporary Realistic Fiction

A/R Level : 3.9

This book is an enjoyable read about a girl who is struggling to love and assist her autistic brother to make sense of the world around him while trying to avoid embarrassment and judgment from others against her and her brother.  She hates how autism makes him become so easily subjected to ridicule by their peers and tries to avoid these types of conflicts by teaching her brother "rules" to live by.  What is woven throughout the book are these rules that she has written for her brother but slowly become excellent rules for her and actually good rules for anyone to live by.  She is such a likable character because she is honest about her dilemmas throughout the book.  She struggles with fears about fitting in with her peers, helping her brother and later helping her new friend, Jason, who is confined to a wheelchair and cannot speak.  We find a sweet friend in the main character, Catherine, and can learn many life lessons from her simple "rules".

This book could be used as a teacher read aloud to spark discussions about how everyone that you meet has situations in their life that are not easy to deal with and that it is hard for everyone to open up and make new friends.  A discussion about sharing your own unique qualities with the world is worth the effort because everyone is different and everyone is valuable.  You could begin this discussion and continue it throughout the reading of this book with a class.  

Science Fiction - Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger

Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger

Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger

Written by Jon Scieszka

Illustrated by Brian Biggs

Published by Amulet Books

Copyright 2015

165 pages

A/R Grade Level:  4.4

Frank Einstein, Watson and their robots, Klink and Klank, build a static-electricity finger while trying to provide free electricity to their town, Midville.  In the book, their enemies are T. Edison and Mr. Chimp who are trying to make the whole town need him to provide their electricity.  This struggle about the town's electricity supply makes for a fun story.

Children that are interested in science will enjoy the illustrations and drawings throughout the book and continue to be drawn into the story.  There is a world of information and learning provided through the illustrations alone and many could be used to spark scientific discussions and debates with students.  

This book will engage students in the science of energy in its different forms and there are several ways that it can spark continued research by readers about science.  Use of this book before performing science experiments could be interesting also because it would introduce the idea of being a scientist, experimenter, or even an inventor.

  

Nonfiction - Those Rebels, John & Tom

Those Rebels, John & Tom

Those Rebels, John & Tom

Written by Barbara Kerley

Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

Published by Scholastic Press

Copyright 2012

46 pages

A/R Grade Level: 6.3

This book presents a quick introduction to two of America's founding fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  It contrasts how very different they were but brings their story together by explaining how they worked together for America's good.  It outlines their relationship and work together in a story-like, light-hearted way that easily will engage children.  The book is a quick summary of their early lives up to the birth of the Declaration of Independence.  

Using this book to introduce a study of that time period in history could help "hook" students because it casts these men as real people with different personalities and different talents but with very similar beliefs and convictions.  Although the A/R reading level is 6.3, I feel that the use of this book could be used even in the third grade to help introduce any unit about American history during that time period due to the way it personifies these two particular men.  It makes them come alive as real people and could spark interest in students to research other important historical figures from that time period.  

The illustrations are very cartoonish but interesting.  This adds to the entertainment factor of the book and keeps it from being boring.  There are many facts and ideas woven into the book through the illustrations which adds to the ways that this book could be utilized to increase students' interest in further study of the topic.

  

Modern Fantasy - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Written by Kate DiCamillo

Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline

Published by Candlewick Press

Copyright 2006

200 pages

A/R Grade Level 4.4

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is a great fantasy book about a beautiful china rabbit that has very little emotional connection to anyone or anything.  At the beginning of the book he is very proud of his outward appearance but has very little emotional connection to anyone.  He takes great pride in how he looks and how he is treated.  Through a series of events he is lost, mistreated, gets dirty, loved, discarded, forgotten, treasured, and experiences many other radical events.  Throughout these events his outward appearance becomes "less than" beautiful but the real story is that his inward feelings are changed.  He begins to "feel" things for his owners and actually miss and appreciate his previous owners.  This book is a great story of how outward appearance is not nearly as important as your inner values.

This would be a great book to share with your class as a whole group to "journey" through the changes that Edward Tulane experiences and have your class predict what may happen to the little china rabbit next.  It teaches love and friendship in such a beautiful way.  Discussion would spontaneously begin with students while reading this book about the true value of friendship and how love can change things in your life.

The illustrations are what I would call art gallery quality.  They are gorgeous and provoke an emotional reaction because they convey and add so much meaning to the story. 

Thea's Tree Book Talk

Thea's Tree Book Talk