By its very nature, being socially and emotionally intelligent contributes to academic achievement.
This statement is of profound importance to those concerned with the future of education. In this chapter, we discuss and explore the statement by comparing five aspects of the teaching and learning process with the attributes of social–emotional literacy. First, we discuss readiness to learn by presenting how the social and emotional skills that an individual learner brings to a learning environment contribute to learning that is maximally effective. Second, we consider the climate of the classroom and how it contributes to achievement. Third, we present examples of instructional strategies that use social and emotional competencies as contributors to learning. Fourth, we provide examples of how the content of the curriculum can be better understood and remembered when it is taught through the lens of social–emotional competencies. Last, we consider how social and emotional competency affect students’ abilities to prepare for, take, and ultimately achieve on assessment tests.
Copyright ©2003 by Corwin Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from EQ + IQ = Best Leadership Practices for Caring and Successful Schools, edited by Maurice J. Elias, Harriett Arnold, and Cynthia Steiger Hussey. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. www.corwinpress.com.
Consider for a moment 10-year-old Mario’s development of social and emotional competency in the area of “self and others.” Can Mario identify his own feelings? Can he understand and manage them in an emotionally charged situation such as an argument or when he strikes out in a baseball game? Can he remain calm rather than act out in class even when he feels frustrated during a literacy lesson? When he comes to class in the morning after a night in which his parents were arguing incessantly and not subject his hurt and angry feelings on his classmates or his teacher?
What about 10-year-old David? Can he recognize that he has a learning disability that impacts his ability to learn mathematics? Can he understand that he will become frustrated from time to time and unable to keep up with other children in his class? Will he be willing to ask a neighbor to help him or be willing raise his hand so that the teacher can explain the problem to him? Will he try to hide his disability from his friends, or accept it as a limitation with which he must work that doesn’t make him inferior to other students? Finally, can Mario and David’s teacher recognize the individual challenges that both boys confront and incorporate that knowledge into ways to help them in the teaching and learning process?
The attributes of social–emotional literacy clearly define the learner’s readiness to learn and the ability of the environment to meet the learner at least half way. An awareness of self and others is among the most basic of these attributes. Being aware of one’s own feelings and understanding that everyone has feelings allows young people to work on social and emotional competencies in the same way that children would work to improve other classroom skills. For example, if 6-year-old Martha is feeling sad because her best friend has moved away, she might be able to talk about this with her teacher, or classmates. By simply recognizing and expressing her emotions, chances are that her sadness will not interfere with her learning process. Furthermore, if we teach youngsters how to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, they can begin to understand how to use their strengths to overcome their weaknesses and become more confident and optimistic learners. The mistake too often made by well-meaning educators is to attempt to separate the child’s readiness ability from the learning process, thereby eliminating the social and emotional development of the child from the daily workings of the classroom. Subsequently, the child finds it difficult to acquire the new skills that will enhance learning. Bruce Perry, professor of child psychiatry in Texas and expert on the neurobiology of child trauma, reminds us of the following:
Genetics and experience work together in ways that give us each a set of individual preferences and personalities. Some children are timid, some bold. Some like to observe, some are more active. Some children like dinosaurs, some like dolls. With optimal experiences, the brain develops healthy, flexible and diverse capabilities. When there is a disruption of the timing, intensity, quality or quantity of normal developmental experiences however, there may be a devastating impact on neurodevelopment. (Perry, n.d.)
Sad though it may be, children today are struggling mightily to balance their home and community lives with that of their classroom life. The social ills that our children confront, such as divorce, abuse, domestic violence, poverty, bullying, and social injustice, clearly find their way through the classroom doors. As a result, social interaction skills are vital to every student’s success in school. The nature of their interactions enhances or inhibits learning. Schools are social institutions bringing large numbers of children and adults together for many hours of the day. Some parents teach their children, from an early age, how to share resources, to get along with others, and to wait their turn, thus preparing them for the social interactions they will encounter in school. The first year of organized school, as well as subsequent years, may be difficult for those students who have not learned these skills. The “habits of mind” of young people and their readiness to learn can be strongly shaped by increasing their social–emotional skill level.
Indeed, the world of knowledge opens up to learners who can listen to the perspectives of others. Additional ideas from many points of view contribute to a fuller understanding of the topic. These learners understand that the first answer is not the only answer. These attributes make the student better able to deal with the challenges and opportunities of the classroom and less likely to explode when someone does not agree with his or her idea. As Dr. Perry noted, “What we are as adults is the product of the world we experienced as children. The way a society functions is a reflection of the child rearing practices of that society” (Perry, n.d.). Young people who can consider a variety of perspectives and formulate their own opinions about issues and events are ready to face the complex challenges of a diverse world. Certainly, the events of September 11, 2001, should bring home to every serious educational leader the importance of these skills.
Communication is a key aspect of readiness to learn. Students who know how to express themselves clearly and appropriately both verbally and nonverbally are better able to make their thoughts and feelings known to the teacher and to their peers. Being a good listener is a critical part of this process; students who listen actively to others demonstrate that the message sent has been understood. Conflicts caused by miscommunications are reduced.
Finally, a cornerstone social–emotional attribute, the set of skills needed for being a responsible decision maker, makes the student ready to learn. The classroom is filled with situations that require students to make decisions about how to act, behave, and respond. Students who are socially and emotionally competent and ready to learn have the capacity to identify those situations that require them to make a decision and how to choose among academic and social considerations. They evaluate situations and assess their best course of action or inaction based on the risks involved, barriers to their success, and available resources.
As we think about providing children and young adults with the education they need to be successful in life, we must widen our view beyond teaching them how to achieve at high levels on statewide tests. The young person who has mastered social and emotional competence will be able to access the many choices and opportunities that life provides and put their acquired knowledge to productive use in society.
Among the most important of teachers’ roles is to create and maintain a healthy, productive, social–emotional climate in the classroom. In so doing, teachers demonstrate through their communications and actions that they are confident and enthusiastic about making the classroom a safe place for successful learners. They greet their students with a smile when they enter the classroom and engage them in conversations. They express interest in each student as an individual and as a member of the class. Their facial expression and body language are accepting of student needs, and their speaking voice is clear, easy to hear, and easy to understand. The teacher’s physical vitality demonstrates involvement, energy, and interest in the teaching role.
With their students, teachers establish a code of behavior that everyone will follow. This code of behavior emphasizes mutual respect, appreciation, and acceptance of others. Hurtful behaviors such as name-calling, blaming, and ridiculing are not permitted because they prevent the student from learning and may impede the learning process for others who fear that they will be next.
The attitude projected in a positive learning environment makes vividly apparent the students’ readiness to learn. They are encouraged to take personal responsibility by engaging in safe and healthy behaviors. All participants in the learning environment believe in themselves and in their ability to learn. By being fair and honest with themselves and with others, the need for name-calling and blame is reduced. Students in this kind of classroom environment give themselves the opportunity to ask for help. They realize that everyone in their learning environment is a resource. Rather than punching and playing tricks, they demonstrate this belief through their respect, appreciation, and acceptance of individuals and groups who may sound or look different from them.
In these classrooms, teachers have high expectations. They expect their students to learn and achieve, and they believe that success is possible for all students; it is their job to find a way to make that happen. They believe that problems can be resolved rather than simply endured. They seek solutions to problems they cannot solve by speaking with members of the educational community. Teachers try to continuously strive for new ways to help students to achieve. These actions send messages to the students that their teacher is there to help them in whatever ways are required to help them succeed. The young people are empowered to become part of the solution rather than the problem.
The climate of social and emotional classrooms in which students achieve is work oriented. A tone of intellectual and personal integrity is established. The teacher focuses on learning and communicates in words and actions what is expected in terms of student behavior, attitude, and work. In these classrooms, teachers develop and discuss with the class lists or rubrics that specify the ways students can demonstrate their positive behavior and the high level of work that is expected from them. This list is then posted or distributed to everyone in the learning environment. Students use these lists or rubrics by themselves or with others to compare their actions and work with what is expected.
Class meetings are a regular ritual in the social–emotional learning (SEL) classroom. Students know that their voices will be heard, that there is time set aside each week to discuss classroom problems. Young people know that their opinion matters and will be considered. In this classroom climate, young people choose to resolve conflict nonviolently and possess the skills to do so. “Peace corners” are commonly found in the classroom so that students can reflect on actions taken or to be considered. Mediators are present. Social and emotional support is an expected norm of this classroom.
The teacher who understands the importance of a warm and supportive environment uses praise so that it is helpful and encouraging rather than harmful and discouraging. These teachers do not praise unimportant or trivial tasks. Praise for an easy task or praise for actions that are below the student’s ability send the message that the student lacks the ability to do more or better work and that the teacher has low expectations for the student’s success. Teachers know that praise is appreciated, believed, and accepted when it is reserved for something important. Unearned or empty praise is replaced with acknowledgment and suggestions, for example, “You were able to complete some of the math problems correctly, but there are others that you still need to work on.” These teachers also know that true praise is specific rather than general. Instead of repeatedly saying, “Good job,” they specify precisely what was good about the job, for example, “You identified some excellent resources for your group to use.”
Students’ contributions are treated with respect. Student work decorates the walls of the classroom and the halls of the school. Students in these classrooms have learned about respect, and they model the respect and caring demonstrated by their teachers. They treat the teacher, other students, and their work in these same ways. The challenge to the teacher of this classroom, however, is to meet all students at their current point along the SEL continuum to help them acquire the skills to enhance academic competency. Therefore, the teacher must be well versed in diverse instructional strategies that can be incorporated into lessons to enhance each student’s learning.
Much has been learned about the teaching and learning process since the days when many of us grew up in classes with straight rows, student silence, and the teacher lecturing at the front of the room. Active learning promotes retention. In fact, the most assured method of retaining information involves students’ constructing for themselves a sense of meaning from the newly learned material and then teaching it to others. An emotional connection to the learning increases the chances that all students—all learners—will retain what they learn. With the teacher’s guidance, today’s children take responsibility for facilitating their own learning and encouraging the learning of their classmates. Teachers in effective classrooms use a variety of affectively oriented instructional strategies that involve the learner and promote the development and use of the learner’s SEL competencies. We outline these strategies next.
Cooperative learning strategies are excellent vehicles for this form of instruction. In cooperative groups, children regulate their feelings. They work productively with others to complete specific tasks. They listen to the perspectives of everyone in the group. They recognize the importance of being trustworthy, dependable, and accountable for their contribution to the required work. Young people are challenged to openly communicate their thoughts and feelings and actively listen to others. They jointly make decisions that contribute to the success or failure of the group. To do this, they brainstorm ideas, generate alternatives, and choose the best solution. When problems arise, they assume responsibility for resolving them in creative, peaceful ways. The extent of learning that occurs for young people who learn to work cooperatively is enormous. Educational leaders who promote the use of these instructional strategies recognize that 21st-century learning must have multiple objectives for their students. Although the content of the learning is essential, so, too, are the social and emotional competencies and intellectual habits being practiced and learned.
Journal writing is a wonderful way to help students improve their writing skills as they develop their social and emotional competencies. Students are able to express their feelings openly. If they are troubled about personal issues, they can write about them. Anger, frustration, fear, disappointment, and unhappiness have their place in the journal with responsibility, joy, happiness, and success. Students can also be challenged by using their journal to reflect on specific SEL competencies. If Mario had been asked to express in writing his feelings about his parents’ constant arguing, he would have had the opportunity to release the pent up emotion that he brought into the classroom that morning. He might have then chosen to share the feelings expressed in his writing with one other student in a pair-shared activity that could have followed this writing activity. Teachers could also follow up journal activity by asking students to place concerns they might have in a special box so that if Mario feels he might like to talk about his concerns with a counselor, his teacher could arrange this.
Journal writing is also a good method to help young people practice ways to think critically and make responsible decisions. They could be asked to explore in writing a variety of options to solving a given problem that has arisen in the class or that was derived from a fictional character in a literature selection or from history or current events.
In a related way, dialogues and debates provide excellent opportunities for combining SEL competencies with critical thinking and creativity in subject areas. These require preestablished behavior norms so that young people feel safe to express their feelings without rejection and to process these feelings creatively with others. The debate process teaches respect for the rights of all people to think and believe as they wish. All classroom participants appreciate different points of view, although not everyone necessarily agrees with them. Accurately understanding different perspectives enables students to present a strong position for their point of view. This helps young people acquire the language of assertion and creative argumentation, which may help them stand up for themselves in difficult situations, such as being bullied or belittled by someone else or championing a difficult cause. Conflict resolution skills such as negotiation may come in handy when trying to reach a decision that satisfies everyone involved.
Script writing and role-playing are excellent vehicles for learning and using social and emotional competencies while enhancing language arts skills. Writing a believable script entails seeing a situation from the perspective of each of the characters. Individual differences among the characters in the script make them real. What characters do rather than who they are is what makes the reader accept or reject them as individuals. As students identify the central problem in the script, they must reflect on and examine possible risks, barriers, and resources and develop strategies for resolving these difficulties. Teachable moments about life’s dilemmas find their ways through many language arts and literature lessons.
Role-playing provides different opportunities to learn and use social and emotional competencies during speech development. But for this strategy to be successful, students must be aware of the feelings and perspectives of the characters they portray. In the process of uncovering the feelings of the character, the students compare and understand their own feelings. In a role-play situation, students have a perfect opportunity to experience how to be aware of and manage their own feelings. Debriefing these experiences with the class also helps students explore and use these competencies.
Technology is yet another classroom tool that children and young adults can use to increase both their subject content knowledge and their social and emotional competencies. After students do some individual research on a topic, they can come together to share their research and plan a final presentation that can be made in a variety of media and formats. In this process, students can explore the variety of points of view represented in the class. They use SEL skills to explore these points of view and reach consensus about what to include in the final presentation and how to present it. Technology becomes a tool the group uses to create a document that presents an agreed-upon perspective.
Almost every content area provides opportunities to promote the development of social and emotional competencies. As teachers consider the content of particular courses, they may find many opportunities to enhance achievement through learning and practicing social and emotional competency. Some examples are presented in the following sections.
Increase students’ respect for others by focusing reading assignments on the variety of cultures represented at the school. Reading about and then reporting on a culture different from one’s own helps students accept and appreciate individual and group differences. Conflicts caused by a misunderstanding of these differences can be eliminated.
Students can become adept at problem identification and solution by examining the problems faced by characters in a book and evaluating the solution that was selected. They can express their points of view and offer other solutions in an essay. The competency of social responsibility can be developed by reading the newspaper to identify current community issues. Students can be asked to write a letter to the appropriate agency stating their points of view about an issue.
Environmental studies provide many opportunities to teach and learn social responsibility. Students can explore their own community as well as the global community and explore ways to protect the environment. Using scientific data can develop problem-solving competencies. Students can learn how to develop, implement, and evaluate positive and informed solutions to problems based on data they have collected on the subject. Similarly, using collected data, such as data acquired by conducting a survey to make a decision about the lunch schedule, helps students learn decision-making skills.
Students can develop and refine their negotiation skills by exploring conflicts in history. Give the students the opportunity to negotiate and peacefully resolve a particular historical conflict to the satisfaction of all involved. For example, students might try their hand at negotiating the conflict that preceded the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, or the Opium Wars. Students might enjoy finding their own solution to the problems created by the various forms of currency in the colonies at the time the Articles of Confederation were created.
Perspective taking is an interesting way to view history and to learn social and emotional competency. History is filled with incidents of prejudice and discrimination. While learning this, students may develop the social and emotional competency to value the rights of all peoples. A study of Native Americans, Black Americans, Japanese Americans during World War II, or the peoples of the Middle East in the late 20th and early 21st centuries may help students appreciate the importance of accurately understanding the perspectives of others and of developing the critical thinking and SEL tools needed to do so.
The health curriculum is a natural place to develop social and emotional competencies that lead to success in school and life. Being personally responsible means engaging in safe and healthy behaviors. These behaviors are taught in the health curriculum, but engaging students in activities that use the pedagogy of SEL to simulate the real world and the emotionality and interpersonal conflict that surrounds many health decisions may make students carry their learning outside of the classroom. Students who recognize their strengths and weaknesses have a constructive sense of self that helps them handle everyday challenges with self-confidence and optimism, rather than in the form of substance abuse or other unsafe behavior.
As the test taking reform movement continues to sweep through our nation’s schools, young people are faced with the challenge of passing state-mandated tests. Some students are better test takers than others; their learning styles align well with the mathematical and linguistic challenges that these tests pose. Other students may have strengths in other intelligences, such as spatial ability that can be demonstrated in art projects or physical puzzles and technical projects. Still others are more auditory and respond better to musical challenges and the sounds and symbols of other languages. For many students, taking a performance assessment is a far better way to determine what they actually know, than is responding to short-answer questions and writing essays.
Today and in the foreseeable future, high-stakes testing is and will be a way of life in almost every state. Educational leaders must prepare students for the challenges that these tests present. One responsibility of educational leaders is to recognize and act on well-established information regarding test outcomes: Performing successfully on an examination requires much more than knowing the information. It requires knowing both how to prepare and how to take the assessment. In short, being a successful test taker requires social and emotional competencies.
Test anxiety and other problems contribute to student failure. Some students arrive at school on the day of the test with the stresses of family and deep-seated concerns about loved ones who may be absent, sick, or even dying. For other students, it is a history of poor performance on tests that keeps them from coming to the test in a relaxed state. Stress-reducing techniques such as talking about and facing fears, asking for help, and learning how to breathe from the diaphragm can help many students control their anxiety so that they can perform closer to their capacities.
Being a successful test taker begins with an awareness of oneself and with the concept of preparation. Students who are successful on assessments are aware of their feelings. They recognize their fear and apprehension about performance, but they are able to regulate those feelings by talking with someone supportive or by writing in a journal to use their fears as motivation to succeed. These students set positive and realistic goals that they are able to achieve, such as setting aside a quiet place and specific periods of time for study, and they work toward these goals. They can identify what is in their own best interest, and they delay entertainment and individual forms of enjoyment so that they can work persistently to prepare for the assessment. Students who are successful on assessments can identify the need for support and assistance and seek ways to get what they need. They may involve peers in study groups or trusted adults. They openly seek assistance and explore many resources to satisfy their need for help.
Of course, these are learned skills, and so children whose home environments are able to support and shape these patterns early and consistently are at a distinct advantage during the assessment process. In this way, assessment results are reflective of a student’s life history, intertwined with his or her content knowledge.
Academic achievement and social–emotional competencies are interwoven. Together they form the fabric of school success for each student by supporting learning for individuals and the group, by building shared responsibility and interdependence, by contributing to knowledge acquisition and retention, and by providing an inclusive learning environment that enhances achievement. In the 21st century, academic achievement and social–emotional competencies appear to be essential ingredients for a happy and successful life. Serious educational leaders with integrity have little choice but to meet the challenge of preparing students with the skills they need for success in both of these domains. Fortunately, they will find themselves with effective support as they join the growing ranks of excited and rejuvenated colleagues who have begun to embark on this path.
Perry, B. D. (n.d.). A place for everyone: Nurturing each child’s niche (Scholastic Teacher Resource Center). Retrieved from teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/niche.htm.