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Blogs on Social & Emotional Learning

More Blogs on Social & Emotional LearningRSS
2
Reduce Bullying by Improving Classroom Climate
Maurice EliasOctober 26, 2011
Tags , Teacher Development, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), All Grades

Bullying takes many forms, including intimidation in classrooms by peers, or at times, by teachers. Intentional or not, when students don't feel safe to participate in the classroom, their learning is severely impaired. Even the most stellar curriculum cannot get through when students are worried about negative reactions when they participate in class.

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3
The Shield of Achilles Project: How I Used Digital Video to Make Classical Lit Relevant
Kenneth OldenOctober 25, 2011
Tags Curriculum, Project-Based Learning, , Student Engagement, High (9-12), English Language Arts, History

"The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."
-- Douglas MacArthur

Why Teach Classical Greek Literature?

Near the end of the 2008-2009 school year, I had started reading The Iliad with my students and was struggling to connect them with the text. The language of the poem, the extended metaphors, the repetitious patterns of phrases and names bogged my students down, and they constantly questioned to the value of reading the text. I spent weeks answering questions about Greek culture and the Trojan War, showing short videos and PowerPoint presentations and rereading passages with them -- but the buy-in still wasn't there.

"The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."
-- Douglas MacArthur

Why Teach Classical Greek Literature?

Near the end of the 2008-2009 school year, I had started reading The Iliad with my students and was struggling to connect them with the text. The language of the poem, the extended metaphors, the repetitious patterns of phrases and names bogged my students down, and they constantly questioned to the value of reading the text. I spent weeks answering questions about Greek culture and the Trojan War, showing short videos and PowerPoint presentations and rereading passages with them -- but the buy-in still wasn't there.

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12
Teaching Digital Citizenship in the Elementary Classroom
Mary Beth HertzOctober 12, 2011
Tags Bullying, Digital Citizenship, Primary (K-2), , Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5)

As elementary level teachers, we are charged not just with teaching academics, but teaching social skills as well. "Ignore bullies and tell an adult if you feel threatened," "Don't talk to strangers," "Treat people the way you want to be treated." You're probably familiar with phrases similar to these if you teach the younger grades. Young children are still learning the norms of social behavior and how to handle strangers.

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11
Teaching Students to Turn Empathy into Action
Maurice EliasOctober 11, 2011
Tags Bullying, Classroom Management, Curriculum, , Teacher Development

You have to read David Brooks' New York Times article about empathy. He challenges our emphasis on empathy as the main reason why people do good things for others. The essence of his argument is that the research on the relationship of empathy to being willing to do for others, and especially to go out of one's way to do for others, is not impressive.

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17
Bullying Prevention: Tips for Teachers, Principals, and Parents
Anne OBrienOctober 5, 2011
Tags Bullying, Primary (K-2), , Teacher Development, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

Approximately 32 percent of students report being bullied at school. Bullied students are more likely to take a weapon to school, get involved in physical fights, and suffer from anxiety and depression, health problems, and mental health problems. They suffer academically (especially high-achieving black and Latino students). And research suggests that schools where students report a more severe bullying climate score worse on standardized assessments than schools with a better climate.

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2
Pow! How Comics in the Classroom Can Combat Bullying
Suzie BossOctober 3, 2011
Tags Bullying, Curriculum, Lesson Plans, , Teacher Development, Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), All Grades

There's nothing funny about bullying, but appealing to students' comic sensibilities might help open discussions about this serious subject. That's the idea behind the Stop Bullying: Speak Up Comic Challenge. During October, students and teachers can join a nationwide dialogue about bullying prevention that will play out through the engaging medium of comic strips.

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+
Building SECD Efforts at Your School through Strategic Conversations
Maurice EliasSeptember 26, 2011
Tags , All Grades

Caring emerges from relationships in which people are given the time and space to understand deeply what they are doing and why it matters. And the best way to promote a commitment to an intervention is through conversations about it with people who are going to be involved with implementation or implementation support.

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1
What Does September 11 Stand For and How Should We Acknowledge it?
Maurice EliasSeptember 7, 2011
Tags , Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), All Grades

"December 7, 1941 -- a day that will live in infamy." So said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt about the attack on Pearl Harbor. What about Sept. 11, 2001? I propose we call this, "A day leading to a national month of inspiration and gratitude."

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20
The Role of Mistakes in the Classroom
Alina TugendSeptember 6, 2011
Tags Achievement Gap, Brain Research, Comprehensive Assessment, Primary (K-2), , Standardized Testing, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12), All Grades

As the school doors swing open to welcome the start of another year, both teachers and students will have goals: to inspire a class, to learn new things, to get good grades.

What probably won't be on that list is to make a mistake -- in fact many. But it should be.

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4
Have We Been KIPP-notized?
David MarkusAugust 25, 2011
Tags Achievement Gap, Charter Schools, Comprehensive Assessment, Education Reform, Principals, , Student Engagement, Teacher Development, High (9-12), California

When the Edutopia coverage team arrived at the campus of KIPP King Collegiate High School in San Lorenzo, California, I was carrying some extra baggage. About five years ago, I had viewed televised reports about the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) schools in Houston and New York City, showing sixth, seventh and eighth graders, mostly African American and Latino, dressed in school uniforms and expressing their devotion to KIPP and its intensive approach to learning.

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