Social Emotional Learning
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”
― Haim Ginott
What Is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)?
According to The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), social-emotional learning (SEL) “is an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”
Why is Social-Emotional Learning Important?
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Improves students’ social-emotional skills, brain function and growth, attitudes and beliefs, self-perception, relationships, academic performance;
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Decreases students’ anxiety and stress levels, behavioral problems, substance use, and some symptoms of various disabilities;
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Improves standard of living in the long term; can help reduce poverty, and improve economic status and health
(CASEL, https://casel.org/impact/)
Brain Power Wellness & Social-Emotional Learning
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Our brain break exercises and activities, and our overall classroom management approaches correspond directly to CASEL’s Core 5 Competencies, and can be adapted for both remote learning and physical settings where social-distancing is required. Our exercises and activities can also be used in conjunction with other SEL and classroom management systems and techniques, such as Mood Meter.
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We also incorporate brain science into our exercises and activities to increase and improve students’ (and teachers’) brain function across all three “layers”: the brain stem (the autonomic, survival brain), the limbic system (the emotional brain), and the neocortex (the thinking or rational brain).
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These exercises, activities, and additional resources can be found in the Learning Community section of our website, as well as in our BPW teacher binders, the accompanying card deck, and/or the Brain Power Classroom Book.
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Check out our research based results on the effectiveness of Brain Power by clicking HERE.