GLEF has provided educators with terrific resources on emotional intelligence and SEL. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) exists to promote the science of SEL (what works best? with what impacts? etc.) and to provide information and resources so that educators are well-equipped to help their students develop to their fullest--socially, emotionally, and academically. GLEF readers can find SEL resources at www.CASEL.org.

Many classrooms if not most in the US are organized that way and have been for some time. Character Ed is big right now. Children have been doing class jobs for over 40 or 50 years. Back in the 1950s we had chalkboard washers and eraser clappers (you went outside and banged them together to release the dust) so class jobs are not new. The real problem is that we don't place enough value on children and education. Our economy has changed but we have not put enough resources into educating students for today's world. In fact our heros and those we admire earn gazillions of dollars and youth are directed to emulate them. The government passes legislaton that requires high stakes testing and also promises tons of money to support our efforts but then doesn't keep their end of the bargain. So that's the best example of cheating. Our celebrities are high on criticism and low on values. They don't hesitate to accept 20 milllion to play act and how much goes to contributions to education or hospitals and medical programs. The tabloids highlight important issues like which celebrity is in rehab, gained or lost weight, has a particular sexual preference or just redid their face and body. And we eat this junk up! If those issues are imporrtant to us is it any wonder that the shooter was ignored. The problem is about the values of our society not about making the schools to be solely responsible to solve societies problems. If that is the real case then build the dormitories. This is a complex problem and educators can only be part of the solution. It begins at home, the White House and congress.

As a classroom teacher I have found that students do not readily say or are able to explain how they are feeling. For our morning talk sessions I ask the students to not only tell about what they have done or experienced, but how they felt about it or what impact it made on them or someone else. We record words that the students use in their morning talk on the whiteboard. As the words are recorded students become more aware of expressing their feelings in their morning talk or share time.

Students are invited to choose an emotion word from the board (or one of their own) to record onto a card and decorate to match the emotion. For example, if the word is 'excited' they may use bright colours and images of people jumping up and down. The cards are laminated for durability and then used during morning talk sessions.

The cards are spread out onto the floor with the children sitting in a circle around them. Children are asked to pick up at least 2 or 3 cards and use them in their morning talk. As new emotion words are introduced more cards are added.

I have noticed that in time my students become better reflective thinkers and communicators of their feelings as well as more aware of the emotions of others.

This is only one little step in opening up communication and trust in my classroom.

The recent tragic events at VT will surely elicit a "knee-jerk" reaction and teachers will once again be mandated/encouraged to teach more "anti-bullying" classes. This is not realistic as we will all be bullied someday, somewhere, whether in school or over a parking space at the grocery store.
The focus must turn not be on the victims of this event but the shooter who was obviously mentally ill as are all of those who take the lives of others. What should be addressed is the need for more help for these individuals and more accountability for those who treat them.
I teach students who are in mental health crisis, ages 7-17 and one of our most basic classroom goals is to teach these students the coping skills that they do not have, for various reasons and we try to do this through academics.
As was stated is other post2 above, it is not the general personality that determines whether or not one is a potential threat to others, it is the way we react to or cope with situations.

Actually, I was a loner in school , until I went to college. There are many reasons that people may be loners. I suppose mine was that my family , my mother and father were teachers and they chose to live in a poor neighborhood to help uplift the community. I was a teacher's child. I don't think I was loved by the rest of the kids a lot. We had things, and could achieve, and were
articulate. All the same, it was a lonely path. I was simply saying that it is important
to know more about students. My teachers knew me.. first they were mostly nuns, and I guess it did not help that they had chosen me to be one of them.. but my father dissented.

There is room for loners.. but sometimes there are questions to be asked and knowledge to be gained.

There are introverts and there are extroverts.

Sometimes we change roles.

Bonnie

After events like this it's all too common an excercise for us to look for "reasons" and thus find ways to prevent a re-occurrance of such an event. Plain and simple there were no "logical" reasons for this. The shooter was identified as "mentally ill" (still too broad a designation in my book) and did receive in patient treatment. When he was released he refused to follow up with out patient treatment. His name should have been flagged on a list that should have prevented him from buying a hand gun at Walmart (however he could have eaisily gotten one at a gun show or through other means). By all accounts, teachers and fellow students made efforts to reach out to this young man. He, for whatever reason, was locked in his own world. We may never discover the "cause" of this incident and I risk creating a climate of fear to say that we might not ever be able to prevent it from happening again. After all Columbine was not the first inicdent of it's kind. It's a real possibility that this, too is just one more example of human behavior that is unpredictable and without the most severe measures unstoppable.

But that's just my opinion...or is it?

We teach and live in a world of "don't tell". Children learn at a very young age that they don't or shouldn't "tell" on other children. By the time they reach my grade, 6th grade, the culture is built and even if another student expresses violent thoughts and plans...the students don't tell. Perhaps we need to teach them the difference betweening tattling and helping. Even though the incident at Virginia Tech. is emotionally disturbing to all of us we cannot let it pass without helping our students to understand how important it is to get their classmates help.

Our children are under the greatest stress of any generation and the issues are spiraling out of hand. As a professional special education I deal with children having a variety of issues regarding mental and behavioral health. The sad state I find is the lack of professional services available for these children already defined and needing help in the schools.

Can schools provide the intense intervention necessary to make a difference? Considering the many Barriers to Learning facing children and our educators there are not enough professional or the funding currently available to address the social and mental issues in our school society. Blaming and shaming parents and society in general is the not the answer. Expanding more behavioral health issues into the classroom curriculum is not the answer. We have already sacrificed academics requirements over the years by attempting to address a slew of social issues. The vast majority of students are not reading well, unable to do math at levels required to attend college, half the minorities drop-out by 4th grade and so on.

Until schools address the many needs of the emotion disturbed children we are just spinning in the wind thinking we can address behavioral and other mental health issues in the general classroom.

Jimmy Kilaptrick
Editor, EdNews.org

I note your article blame the guns. Guns are not the problem. It is a people problem. My husband grew up with proper gun handling and my son is learning the same respect. The moment you take away guns is the moment only outlaw will have guns. Outlawing drugs have not stopped outlaws from getting drugs.

The media glorifies the wrong use. When we grew up the media. Had Lassie, Leave it to Beaver, My three Sons all had good morals to teach the right thing to do. Now we allow and reward and foster single parenting. Children are worse off.

I am married with 2 children, same husband, my college sweetheart, I feel as if I am a endangered species. Children need both parents they need the male side of the equation to have balance. There are always problems. Our society, our relationship, and our school system needs to learn problem solving techniques.

Our forefather recognized the importance of God in their lives. The placed in rights for religious freedom, but in the documents, momentary, and there writings they recognized the need for God in there lives. At every turn God and church are being removed now we have real problems and no social tools to help.

Our children are tested to the brink. They are so stressed. Results of these test can make or break a school under NCLB. Teachers are stressed that the results will determine next year, pay, placement or a their career. They can't teach morals or social techniques. This is more of a problem.

NCLB is based on a false premises. That all children will reach proficiency at 2012. I have 2 gifted children. We are all given different gifts. My son will not be NFL material, I realize this, I do not force the NFL to put him on there team it is not in the genes. It is the same with academics. My finding of the effect of the law have meant the loss of programs for the high level children. We are shifting the $ away from the future. Little gains have resulted in this shift of emphasis.

My children are loosing the next years classes they are being removed and replaced for the lowest quartile. My daughter finished Algebra I Honors but will not be able to get her next math class. My son has never missed a question on nationally testing. They won't move him up and they won't allow him to take the upper level classes. He is not allowed to excel. I guess this is going to the dumbing down of America.

My experiences in my area have shown the school system it self is very bad in shutting down communication. They do not want to solve problems. If you do not agree with there actions they immediately shut the door and there is no discussions. If these practices are widespread it is a no wonder the school have been the targets. Sad but true.

I teach in a prison. What impact might early intervention have had on the lives of my students and their victims? When will we quit wasting money on incarceration that could have been better spent years earlier on prevention!