Submitted by Mary Utne O'Brien (not verified) on August 17, 2007 - 10:15.
I think Jerry is right that we may need a revolution in education, and as Executive Director of CASEL I see the beginnings of it all around me. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the education movement that explicitly seeks to bring the heart and soul of teachers and students to the foreground in learning, and it is gaining traction worldwide. SEL is about creating the caring classroom conditions and the student social-emotional skills and capacities for engaged and successful learning. Illinois and NY state now have learning standards in SEL (IL's are on the books; NY's are in the works). SEL is growing not just because it is so intutively sensible to teachers and a counter to the mind-numbing practices Jerry describes. It is gaining policy traction because the science behind it is now so strong. SEL leads to improved test scores! And better behavior. And happier staff. Moreinfo on all this can be foundat our website, www.CASEL.org.
The heart of learning and SEL
Submitted by Mary Utne O'Brien (not verified) on August 17, 2007 - 10:15.
I think Jerry is right that we may need a revolution in education, and as Executive Director of CASEL I see the beginnings of it all around me. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the education movement that explicitly seeks to bring the heart and soul of teachers and students to the foreground in learning, and it is gaining traction worldwide. SEL is about creating the caring classroom conditions and the student social-emotional skills and capacities for engaged and successful learning. Illinois and NY state now have learning standards in SEL (IL's are on the books; NY's are in the works). SEL is growing not just because it is so intutively sensible to teachers and a counter to the mind-numbing practices Jerry describes. It is gaining policy traction because the science behind it is now so strong. SEL leads to improved test scores! And better behavior. And happier staff. Moreinfo on all this can be foundat our website, www.CASEL.org.