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What is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and how can it enrich the student-teacher relationship?

The relationship between teachers and students is at the heart of learning, and most teachers intuitively know this. Research has shown that students who experience a caring relationship with a teacher are more motivated to learn, and, hence, they enjoy school more and demonstrate greater academic success. The practice of SEL can bring this relationship to teachers’ conscious awareness, helping them to intentionally cultivate positive relationships with students.

 

How social-emotional learning (SEL) can transform student-teacher relationship? 

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Question added by Farhana Siddique Fari , Coordinator , Coordinator at DFA, Dr Fazeela Abbasi, Advanced Skin, Laser & Hair Institute, Islamabad.
Date Posted: 2016/05/11
Farhana Siddique Fari
by Farhana Siddique Fari , Coordinator , Coordinator at DFA, Dr Fazeela Abbasi, Advanced Skin, Laser & Hair Institute, Islamabad.

First of all, let’s see what SEL means & then see its impact on student-teacher relationship.

 

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL):

 

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. 

 

SELprogramming is an educational process for learning life skills but many of the aspects are contained in other educational programming such as character education, restorative justice, peer mediation, bullying prevention, anger management, drug/alcohol prevention, violence prevention, school climate, ethical decision-making, harassment prevention, positive behavior supports. It is based on the understanding that the best learning emerges in the context of supportive relationships that make learning process challenging, engaging and meaningful. Effective SEL programming begins in preschool and continues through high school.

Researchers generally agree upon five key competencies of SEL (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor & Schellinger, 2011). These competencies provide the foundation for maintaining high-quality social relationships and for responding to the challenges of life:

1.   SELF-AWARENESS

2.   SELF-MANAGEMENT

3.   SOCIAL-AWARENESS

4.   RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

5.   RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING

 

How Social-Emotional Learning can enrich Student-Teacher Relationship:

 

Relationships and emotional processes affect how and what we learn. By reducing misbehavior and the amount of time spent on classroom management, SEL programs create more time for teaching and learning. SEL also strengthens students' relationships with their peers, families, and teachers, who are mediators, collaborators, and encouragers of academic achievement.

 

Teresa Collins, an associate professor of education, described how SEL not only gave her a deeper understanding of the connections she forged with students, but also shifted how she viewed her students. “I have always believed strongly in the teacher/student conference model,” said Teresa, “and explicitly encourage students to meet with me outside of class to discuss their work. But SEL helped me to see the even greater importance and significance in these informal connections. As a result, I saw my students in a more compassionate way than I had before. SEL simply, but powerfully, changed the way I viewed them as individuals.”

 

 

SEL also provides teachers a lens through which to view the most challenging students and then teaches them to respond to these students with compassion and understanding rather than shame and punishment. For educators of young children, this is particularly important as research has shown that a student’s relationship with his or her Kindergarten teacher has an effect on the student’s long-term academic outcomes—all the way up to 8th grade!

 

My personal experience as a Teacher at APS&C where I used SEL to help a student:

 

In 2014, I was the in-charge of class One-B  (Junior section) at Army Public School & College, Kharian Cantt.. One of my students was a real nuisance. Most teachers would have labeled him oppositional-defiant, etc. He showed poor academic results, was in the habit of stealing (even once stole money from my purse). On the surface level, nothing was right, but my heart was signaling that if I chose to be calm, persistent, caring, and kind with him, things would get better with the passage of time.

 

 

One day, I gave him an Eraser and a Toffee, and asked the whole class  (to their surprise) to clap for him because he had secured 4/10 marks in Mathematics which was really a  low-grade performance, but for that particular student it was his “BEST performance” he had ever shown & that was the day when his transformation started, A MIRACLE HAPPENED, a student who secured C-grade, worked so hard to ultimately stand among the position-holders, his shyness ended & he became an eloquent speaker; once thought to be a nuisance turned into a very bright/cooperative student who began to sit in the first row instead of the last one. It took me nearly four months to turn him around but the end result was worth it. This is how SEL transforms student-teacher relationship.

Muhammad Adeel
by Muhammad Adeel , Sales And Marketing Executive , TANZEEM HEAVY EQUIPMENT RENTAL LLC

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is comprised of the skills we use to recognize and manage our own emotions and being able to recognize emotions in others.

No Standard and no SEL program can replace a teacher’s enthusiasm and passion for the curricula being taught. To me, that is the magic of teaching and what often separates the good teachers from the great ones. The truly gifted educators are those who care for their studenst and show them the awesomeness of the world around them and then go the extra mile to help them find their unique and purposeful place in it.

sameer abdul wahab alfaddagh
by sameer abdul wahab alfaddagh , عضو هيئة تدريس , جامعة دلمون

Social learning theory (also called learning noteworthy), put forward by Albert Bandura. It reduces the importance of reinforcement learning, as you see the behavioral school, attributes the change in behavior and learning on the observation and imitation.The key point in the social learning theory is that people learn through imitation and observation of role models, and that he sees the children have a significant impact on the optional behavior. Therefore it called this theory also noteworthy learning theory. It is clear that the origin of the idea is not new. The impact of observation and tradition in education known since ancient times.It was originally an extension and development of behavioral theory, where you see learning theory noted that learning gets a result of simulating the behavior of the scenes, but these simulations do not be immediate and automatic, but after the mentality include the organization of information and interpretation of stimuli operations (observed behavior) and the formation of hypotheses about the desired response that lead Type to the desired consolidation

I hate long answers, will say that this method leads to a deeper and better contact in a classroom and thus to a better result 

georgei assi
by georgei assi , مدير حسابات , المجموعة السورية

I agree with the answers provided by colleagues

مها شرف
by مها شرف , معلمة لغة عربية , وزارة التربية السورية

I agree with experts answers, thanks for the invitation. ..

Nice question Farhana Siddique Fari.

 

According to a website: "Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions."

The answer to your second question which is "how can it enrich the student-teacher reltionship?" is that through SEL both students and teachers know their roles to each to one another, in the school and in the community. In addition, both students and teachers will understand the world around them. And in understanding people from differing backgrounds they will still be able to act in accordance because they know howto handle situations.

Thanks for invitation

 

Agree with expert's answers

adadi ABDERRAHMAN
by adadi ABDERRAHMAN , قائد الفريق , STE SOTA COGENORD SARL

Thank you for the invitation Leave the answer for the professionals in this area

ghazi Almahadeen
by ghazi Almahadeen , Project Facilitator , Jordan River Foundation

Thank you for inviting ........................... not increase your answer

TARIG BABIKER AL AMIN
by TARIG BABIKER AL AMIN , Head of Planning and Studies Unit , Sudanese Free Zones and Markets Co.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions

SEL programming is based on the understanding that the best learning emerges in the context of supportive relationships that make learning challenging, engaging, and meaningful

Social and emotional skills are critical to being a good student, citizen, and worker. Many risky behaviors (e.g., drug use, violence, bullying, and dropping out) can be prevented or reduced when multiyear, integrated efforts are used to develop students' social and emotional skills. This is best done through effective classroom instruction, student engagement in positive activities in and out of the classroom, and broad parent and community involvement in program planning, implementation, and evaluation

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