As an education major, I have recently learned the importance of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and what it actually is and its benefits. SEL is a process that helps people to develop skills to manage their emotions, build relationships, and make responsible decisions. For example it can help students to communicate, understand their emotions, maintain positive relationships, and set and achieve goals.
Since starting my observations in the classroom, I have been able to see SEL in several different levels, and have learned that it should be used at all levels of education.
Ways for educators to incorporate this into their classroom can be as simple as starting each morning or class with a check in system. This can be used at all levels of education, much of which I have seen since being in the classroom and being in college. Teachers can start off the class with asking their students how their week has been, how they are feeling that day, or just a simple question like “What is something you are looking forward to this week?” I believe that this is something that allows for students to learn how to communicate with others and express how they are feeling.
Social and Emotional Learning should be used at all levels of education because it helps each level of education in different ways. To begin at the earlier levels of a student’s education, in places like elementary school, it can help young students to develop some core social skills that they can use as they get older. It can help them to understand their emotions, and feel empathy for others.
By practicing SEL from a young age, it can help teachers to create a positive classroom and improve cooperation within their classroom.
As for levels of education like middle school and high school, students begin to become more stressed and face more pressures than what they face in younger years. The course loads become heavier, social lives begin to change, and even sports become a factor when in these levels of education. This can cause stress and anxiety, and SEL can help students to manage their stress, as well as help them to make the right decisions.
Along with this, SEL helps to boost students’ motivation and engagement, which is something that can be hard when teaching middle schoolers and highschoolers.
Then finally, at the higher education levels like college, SEL is something that can be highly effective but something that is often overlooked.
As college students we have to adapt to new environments, friendships, classes, and SEL can be highly effective for many students. Social and Emotional Learning can help students develop skills to cope with stress, and manage their emotions, especially for students that experience high levels of anxiety, stress, and depression. This is something that is crucial for being able to maintain a good mental health. Along with this, SEL creates interpersonal skills, and helps for them to create relationships with classmates, professors, overall improving academic work and personal relationships.
In conclusion, Social and Emotional Learning is something that should be introduced from an early age and continued throughout students’ education. It allows for students to learn to communicate, create relationships as well as manage them, manage emotions, and as they get older help with self management, responsibility, and career readiness.
There are an endless amount of ways for educators to begin to incorporate SEL into their classrooms. All they have to do is look to others for help on how to incorporate it, look it up online and do their research on what SEL is and its benefits. This is something that can be so simple, if you just take the time to learn about it and implement it in your classroom.
