Social Emotional Learning Concepts Foster Change
Over the last few weeks, our school has been grappling with the issue of grades as Vermont moves to a proficiency based system. I’ll save that blog post for down the road but during these conversations one thing has become abundantly clear to me. Any teacher who has been teaching for any length of time has been repeatedly traumatized by initiative overload. Educational reform in this country has created a complex dynamic that inhibits further change efforts no matter how worthy. So, what’s the cure for this? Any change efforts should be attempted with a solid understanding of social emotional learning concepts such as growth mindset and perseverance. When I co-created the course Increasing Achievement Through Social Emotional Learning with Mike McRaith (also Teaching Achievement), I had teachers and parents implementing these ideas with students in mind, but these ideas actually need to be used with faculty as well. Effective use could be the key to school transformation. I have been taking for granted that our school principals have a firm understanding of these concepts. These recent discussions on the changes that will be occurring with grading have highlighted that knowledge of social emotional learning and how to implement it, no matter who the stakeholder, is imperative. It is important for principals to be able to use these skills with both resistant faculty and faculty who are taking risks to change their classrooms. It is essential for teachers to be able to implement the elements of social emotional learning with students. And it is important that students share the beliefs associated with social emotional learning as schools transform their practices.
Building Trust
No matter who the learner is, they must feel safe to take risks, ask questions, seek help and fail. Learning new ideas and gaining mastery in their implementation is a risky business whether we are talking about students learning a new skill or teachers implementing a new initiative. In order to achieve these new endeavors, all learners need to feel safe. Understanding the elements of social emotional learning is the first step in helping kids achieve in the classroom but it is also the first step in ensuring that worthy school transformation efforts are implemented in a way that they will be lasting and effective. This is not an easy task. Helping a student who has a track record of school failure find motivation and confidence can require some special thought; Teachers who have seen many initiatives come and go need the same kind of care and thoughtfulness when attempting to school transformation initiatives. In order for teachers to persevere, they must have a growth mindset, they must have self-control. Frustration and failure are normal aspects of the change process. Growing strong roots will foster a climate that can withstand the many educational weather changes we will have to endure. And those roots will help make the changes that do occur stronger and more effective.
Building in opportunities for teachers to gain trust is important. Something else teachers have repeatedly experienced is administrators providing false hope; saying one thing but doing another. When teachers do take risks in the classroom during these times of change, it is important that they are not criticized if things don’t work. Check out Simon Sinek’s TED talk on being an inspirational leader. Please comment if you have ideas about ways to build trust among staff to create a safe climate.