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Blogs on Social & Emotional Learning

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1
A Curriculum of Concerns
Mark PhillipsMay 23, 2013
Tags Curriculum, , Student Engagement, High (9-12)

Most excellent teachers have learned what first-rate filmmakers have always known, that to be successful you need to reach your audience emotionally. I want to revisit one the best approaches I know, emphasizing its application at the secondary school level. The purpose is to increase student motivation and foster healthy emotional development.

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Special Ed Best Practices Inspire Successful Expanded Learning Time for All Students
Craig HaasMay 21, 2013
Tags After-School Learning, Alternative Scheduling, , Urban Schools, Middle (6-8), Massachusetts

In assembling the plan for expanded learning time (ELT) at the Edwards Middle School, we drew inspiration from our own special education department. Too often, special education is viewed as a place or a static state, when the truth is that special education is a series of interventions, modifications, and accommodations afforded to students who are unable to access a curriculum under routine circumstances. ELT, too, is a series of interventions, and so, in applying some special education principles, we gained some valuable insights.

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2
Five-Minute Film Festival: Nine Videos on Kindness, Empathy, and Connection
Amy Erin Borovoy (aka VideoAmy)May 10, 2013
Tags Mental Health, , All Grades

On the heels of last month's tragic Boston Marathon bombing and the national debate around gun violence, I'd like to offer up a video playlist to remind all of us about the power of empathy, kindness, and human connections. It's also Teacher Appreciation Month, a time to practice gratitude for the relationships that sustain us all -- for the people who have taught us in a school setting and beyond, and for the young ones we are able to nurture and inspire.

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3
Building Social and Emotional Skills in Elementary Students: So Similar
Randy TaranMay 2, 2013
Tags Diversity, Mental Health, Primary (K-2), , Upper Elementary (3-5)

This is part eight of the nine-part series from the Project Happiness curriculum. We are looking at important factors that influence the happiness and social and emotional learning of elementary school age children, helping students learn life skills, manage emotions, and increase empathy. Each blog features one letter of the acronym HAPPINESS:

  1. H = Happiness
  2. A = Appreciation
  3. P = Passions and Strengths
  4. P = Perspective
  5. I = Inner Meanie/Inner Friend
  6. N = Ninja Mastery
  7. E = Empathy
  8. S = So Similar
  9. S = Share Your Gifts

In this post, we will explore recognizing what we have in common.

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A Year at Mission Hill: Like a Family and Behind the Scenes
Amy Erin Borovoy (aka VideoAmy)May 1, 2013
Tags Community Partnerships, Parental Involvement, Primary (K-2), Professional Learning Network (PLN), , Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), Massachusetts

The video series A Year at Mission Hill has continued to encourage discussion, gather support, and inspire offshoots of wonderful new content, like "Line One, Page One," a compelling and poetic video produced by UK Filmmakers Veez Nixon and Christian Britten for Ashoka's Start Empathy Initiative, as part of a video series to complement Mission Hill. And if you haven't seen it yet, it's also worth a visit to the excellent Prezi on Mission Hill, which continues to expand as more chapters are released.

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4
Building Social and Emotional Skills in Elementary Students: Empathy
Randy TaranApril 26, 2013
Tags Classroom Management, Mental Health, Primary (K-2), , Upper Elementary (3-5)

This is part seven of the nine-part series from the Project Happiness curriculum. We are looking at important factors that influence the happiness and social and emotional learning of elementary school age children, helping students learn life skills, manage emotions, and increase empathy. Each blog post features one letter of the acronym HAPPINESS:

  1. H = Happiness
  2. A = Appreciation
  3. P = Passions and Strengths
  4. P = Perspective
  5. I = Inner Meanie/Inner Friend
  6. N = Ninja Mastery
  7. E = Empathy
  8. S = So Similar
  9. S = Share Your Gifts

In this post, we will explore Empathy.

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2
To Improve School Climate, Examine Recess
Jill VialetApril 11, 2013
Tags Mental Health, Primary (K-2), , Upper Elementary (3-5), Physical Education

As we look at ways to create environments that allow teaching and learning to thrive, it's time to take a long, hard look at the critical role of recess in our schools. Recess has the potential to transform schools, and groups are finally speaking out about the powerful role it has in the school day, including the American Academy of Pediatrics which, earlier this year, released a policy statement to this effect.

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21
How More Social and Emotional Learning (and Less Academics) Actually Builds Academic Success
Scott McFarlandApril 5, 2013
Tags Classroom Management, Primary (K-2), , Student Engagement, Upper Elementary (3-5), Maine

With all of the high-stakes testing in our schools, and the resulting judgments and consequences for students and teachers, it is no wonder that schools are taking time away from activities like recess, breaks, art, music... to spend more time on academics. Yet I believe, based on what I have seen in schools, that we should move in the opposite direction, and take time out of academics in the early elementary years to focus on making students feel safe, secure, and confident in the classroom, in other words making them ripe for learning.

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2
Another Person's World: Ed Reform Through True Understanding
Lori DesautelsApril 4, 2013
Tags Community Partnerships, Education Reform, Service Learning, , Urban Schools

Anthropologist and humanist Ashley Montagu stated: "Love is profound involvement in the well-being of others." Several weeks ago, I experienced this kind of love in West Humboldt Park, an impoverished, gang-and-violence-infested inner city Chicago neighborhood.

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Replacing Teachers with Emotion
Terry HeickApril 3, 2013
Tags Brain Research, Education Reform, Mental Health, , Student Engagement

Teachers mean well. By teachers, I mean you.

You mean well.

After all, you're here, aren't you -- looking for resources to become a better teacher or administrator? And you're in education to begin with -- that's a selfless and Sisyphean pursuit in itself. You want what's best for the future of mankind, so you decided to teach. Went to college, learned about Vygotsky and Piaget, and here you are on Edutopia, finding out what makes learners tick.

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