We tend to idealize childhood as a carefree time, but youth alone offers no shield against the emotional hurts and traumas many children face. Students can be asked to deal with problems ranging from adapting to a new classroom to bullying by classmates or even abuse at home. Add to that the uncertainties that are part of growing up, and childhood can be anything but carefree. The ability to thrive despite these challenges arises from the skills of resilience.
Secondary teachers must play a vital role in helping students manage their emotions and peer relationships between students. This runs contrary to the idea held by some teachers that they are trained to teach physics or history, not social skills. However, by helping students feel safe and supported in our classroom, students are able to put more energy into learning and less energy into dealing with emotions; which will eventually result in better physics or history scores. Teachers can help students take small but significant steps towards mending torn perceptions of community and friends. Although teen students may tower over you, they still are very young and can keenly feel the fear and uncertainty of both the normal stresses of being a teen, as well as events in the world around them. Emotions may be volatile and close to the surface during the teen years and finding the best way to connect to your teen can be difficult. Talk with your students whenever you can, even if it seems they don't want to talk to you. When your teens have questions, answer them honestly but with reassurance. Ask them their opinion about what is happening and listen to their answers.
Make your classroom a safe place emotionally for your students.
When stressful things are happening in the world at large, encourage your students to take "news breaks," whether they are getting the news from the television, magazines or newspapers, or the Internet. Use the news as a catalyst for discussion. Teens may act like they feel immortal, but at bottom they still want to know that they will be all right and honest discussions of fears and expectations can help students learn to express their own feelings. If some or your students struggle with words, encourage them to use journaling or art to express emotions. Don’t tell them that their school journals or artwork are private, you need to know what they are thinking and feeling.
Many teens are already feeling extreme highs and lows because of hormonal levels in their bodies; added stress or trauma can make these shifts seem more extreme. Be understanding but firm when teens respond to stress with angry or sullen behavior. Reassure them that you just expect them to do their best.
Since 2012, the West Virginia of Education though Policy 4373 EXPECTED BEHAVIOR IN SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS (4373) has incorporated Social and Emotional Learning into it’s curriculum. According to Policy 4373 Social and emotional learning is the process through which individuals acquire the knowledge, attitudes and skills they need to recognize and manage their emotions, demonstrate caring and concern for others, establish positive relationships, make responsible decisions and handle challenging situations constructively. http://wvde.state.wv.us/health...icManual4373New.html
According to the Collaboration for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Social and emotional skills are critical to being a good student, citizen, and worker, and many risky behaviors (e.g., drug use, violence, bullying and dropping out) can be prevented or reduced when multiyear, integrated efforts are used to develop students’ social and emotional skills. https://casel.org/what-is-sel/
SEL helps children survive and cope in various situations. Trauma affects kids’ social-emotional skills, such as their ability to identify, express, and manage emotions. Children exposed to trauma may internalize their feelings because they don’t have vocabulary to express their experiences, or they may externalize aggression, anger, and fear because they learn to perceive situations as dangerous. Just a important as physics and history, Social and emotional learning approach allows students to apply their knowledge to real-world problems in community contexts and to complete structured reflections on the relationships between assignments, course objectives, and personal educational objectives. I feel it is important to include such activities in all classes.
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