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A Breakthrough in Social and Emotional Learning (Transcript)

Teacher: The swine-flu snake greeting. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning. Morning.

Narrator: At Carrithers Middle School, the day begins with goofy games, which are often followed by serious discussions.

Teacher: We've been discussing bullying all week long.

Narrator: The 20 minutes spent in this daily morning meeting is a critical component of Jefferson County, Kentucky's, district-wide Care for Kids initiative, which seeks to build positive, caring learning communities.

Sheldon: There's a pretty complex puzzle that we have to put together to have a successful school, but a foundational element of that puzzle is the culture and climate of that school, and when students feel safe.

Teacher: Hello, sweet girl. You have a good day, okay?

Sheldon: When they feel that culture and climate supports that, when they feel cared about not only by the adults in the school…

Teacher: Got that?

Sheldon: …but by other students in the school, they can do their best.

Teacher: Look at the name and think of something nice to say about that person.

Deirdre: Good morning, Storm.

Storm: Good morning, Deirdre.

Deirdre: I like your humor.

Sheldon: It isn't touchy-feely stuff. It's core social skills that gives students the experience and the knowledge to work effectively with others.

Student: Thanks for always being nice.

Paul: It's teaching kids how to care for one another, how to be a bigger person and how to resolve conflicts.

When the cold wind blows, it blows for whoever has on shoes.

When you give us activities or we able to move, get all our noises out before school and stuff, it gives us more hype about learning.

Alicia: Less instructional time is lost because we're teaching the skills up front, and so that when it is time for academics, we're learning and we're not stopping at various times to address conflicts, and it's teaching the students how to have ownership and have voice.

Joanna: Tell Jasmine what you think is special about her.

Student: I like when you share with me.

Jasmine: Thank you. Caroline?

Joanna: They're excited. They want to be here. I've had parents say, "My daughter's sick today, but she cried, because she really wanted to come to school. What are you all doing?"

Jasmine: Thanks for filling my bucket.

Joanna: How did they fill your bucket today, Jasmine?

Jasmine: Because they was being nice to me.

Richard: Stay in line. Don't run. Don't run.

I like this program and I see this program that's been implemented and it works, because I was here, and I seen it for myself.

See you tomorrow, okay, buddy?

At the end of the day, those kids getting on those buses with a smile on their face. My job is done. I can safely go home and say, "You know what? When they came this morning they had smiles, and when they left, they had smiles. Our job is done, because I'm there."

Your mom's outside. Your mom's right there, Madison.

Narrator: For more information about what works in public education, go to edutopia.org.

© 2009 | The George Lucas Educational Foundation | All Rights Reserved