It is encouraging to hear Dallas ISD and districts across the country working hard to integrate social emotional health education back into our schools. However, without two key factors in place, these efforts will not succeed. There is no curriculum that is going to provide the reset that we are looking for in our schools (or in our country for that matter).
The first factor that cannot be ignored is that as adults, we must practice what we preach. Explicitly teaching social emotional health only works when children experience it implicitly as well. Is there social emotional health all around them in the attitudes and actions of adults? Can they count on their teachers, administration and their governing board to problem solve, communicate and manage theiremotions? Is there a general air of hope, optimism and gratitude in the building or can they only feel fear and lack of trust?
If we aren't paying attention to our own behavior and attitudes, we actually do harm. When what we say and what we dodon't match, kids experience incongruence. This confusion causes them to lose trust or check-out. For example, if I am teaching about managing emotions one minute and yelling the next, it's actually worse than not teaching about it at all.
[For more of this story, written by Michelle Kinder, go to http://www.dallasnews.com/opin...demonstrating-it.ece]
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