Be Inquisitive
My Inquiry is based on my Teaching Philosophy of transference; school is a vehicle that teaches valuable life skills, such as those pertaining to social and emotional competence.
What is Social and Emotional Competence?
Social-emotional learning addresses the development of five key areas of social-emotional competence.
* Self-awareness: identification and recognition of one’s own emotions, recognition of strengths in one’s self and others, a sense of self-efficacy, and self-confidence
* Self-management: impulse control, stress management, persistence, goal setting, and motivation
* Social awareness: empathy, respect for others, and the ability to see different perspectives of the same issue
* Relationship skills: cooperation, willingness to seek and provide help, and communication
* Responsible decision making: evaluation and reflection and personal and ethical responsibility.
(Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning [CASEL], 2003)
“The illiterate
of the 21st century will not be those who cannot
read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn
and relearn.”
-The Futurist Alvin Toffler
Abstract
There is a common tendency that as students progress into adolescence, a time where intrinsic motivation decreases and the need for autonomy is crucial in the development of self identity and self competence, “schools appear to reduce choices and tighten controls as students’ autonomy needs begin to increase”, thus, decreasing student engagement (Thompson, 2015, p. 108). In addition, the rapid increases in technology are changing the world we live in and reshaping how we interact (BC’s New Curriculum, 2015, para.1). Based on the research of Vigotsky, “social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development”, however if students are disengaged from learning, the opportunity to socially interact is decreased, thus hindering social emotional learning(SEL) (Moll,2014, para.1).
The purpose of this research is to further explore the importance and implication strategies of SEL and to consider how the application of leadership strategies may promote social and emotional learning; can activities and situations that empower students to make their own choices in their learning increase participation, social interaction and emotional awareness?
By integrating several different types of activities that promote student choice in grade 8 and 9 physical education classes and grade 10 and 11 Spanish classes, students’ levels of engagement and social interaction will be observed and evaluated. The assessment process will include a variety of formative assessments from which data yielded will aid in the evaluation of student engagement prior to and after practicum. It is expected that by increasing students’ autonomy, students will feel more competent, will be more engaged, thus increasing social interaction and the opportunity for SEL.
**Key words: Social and emotional Learning, social and emotional competence, social interaction, engagement, participation, choice, autonomy, leadership.
♦Inquiry Question
How might I implement leadership strategies to promote social and emotional learning? Can activities and situations that empower students to make their own choices increase participation, social interaction and emotional awareness?
♦Relevance
Throughout my life and childhood development, physical activity and athletics have played a crucial role in life skill development, many of which involve social and emotional awareness. This was in large due to the strong leaders that I had, and continue to have in my life; family, teachers and coaches. My parents were very influential in my own personal leadership development because they are themselves professional leaders; they own their own health-food business that requires them to coach, mentor and to be positive role models for their distributors. A fundamental part of their business is to build and maintain positive relationships with a vast variety of people from all over the word. This is key to their success as leaders and entrepreneurs; placing value in their relationships, being dependable, persistent, empathetic as well as empowering others to become leaders in their own lives. Leadership can be defined in many ways, but in general, my idea of positive leaders is similar to the framework of the Center for Creative Leadership; leading self (self-aware, growth-minded, Motivated, resilient, accountable), leading with others (empathetic, ethical, culturally inclusive, collaborative, communicative) and changing the world (visionary, strategic, resourceful, reflective, adaptive) (Gergen, 2014, p.54) . Many of these qualities leader make up the basis of what is defined as social and emotional competence; self-awareness, social awareness, self management, relationship and responsible decision-making skills (CASEL, 2015, para. 1). Thus learning to be socially and emotionally aware can create strong positive and influential leaders; it is a reciprocal relationship.
In regards to empowerment and choice to promote social and emotional competence, my experiences coaching youth girls basketball and volleyball have intrigued my interest in this subject. In the past couple of years I have had the honor to coach the same group of girls, from grade 8 to grade 9. Through this experience I learned a lot about what it means to be a leader and a positive role model as well as my own social and emotional awareness. I became more aware of each girls’ unique attributes which helped me to not only optimally challenge them but also to build their social and emotional competence. This one girl, a very confident and talented volleyball player, didn’t have very strong relationship skills or social awareness, however she had very strong self awareness and management. I tested her by promoting her as captain which gave her the responsibility to make informed choices for the team. I said to her “being a captain means more than being a talented player. Most importantly, a captain is a leader; someone that the team looks up to for support and empowerment”. I was hesitant at first at giving her this position because I didn’t want this title to effect her already very strong ego, but was very pleased to see that my predictions were right; she built upon her personal management and awareness strengths and stepped up to the challenge; she opened up and communicated with her teammates and made responsible decisions that which fostered a strong sense of comradery and motivation among the team. Giving her the responsibility as team captain encouraged her to make choices and to change her way of thought from a self-centered mentality to one more community and team based. This experience is also a part of why this question is so significant to me.
♦Significance
Regardless who you are, what you do, your age, gender, race, everyone benefits from social and emotional awareness.;“Research shows that SEL has positive effects on academic performance; benefits physical health; improves citizenship; is demanded by employers; is essential for lifelong success; and reduces the risk of maladjustment, failed relationships, interpersonal violence, and substance abuse”( Elias, 2006, p.10). I believe that to successfully develop socially and emotionally competent individuals, it is crucial to target youth as soon as possible. Gergen states that now, more and more people are getting a secondary education, however there are less jobs, therefore, we need to equip children with the life tools that with the right implementation, can prepare students for their dynamic futures; “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn” (2014, pg. 58 ). The front page about BC’s new curriculum also states “British Columbia’s curriculum is being redesigned to respond to the demanding world our students are entering”, which further emphasizes this contemporary and imminent issue. (BC’s New Curriculum, 2015). That being said, we as educators need to prepare students with the world that they will be graduating in, not the world that we, ourselves graduated in. The world in which our students live in is much different then the world I graduated into. In order for our students to be the “literate of the 21st century”, as Gergen referred to, it is crucial that we shift our view from a teacher centered approach of teaching where students are viewed as an empty vessel that needs to be filled, to a more student centered approach that involves the students in the lesson planning process (2014, p.58). By empowering students to get involved with how, what and why they are learning, they will be more engaged in their learning, participation will increase, and thus, a greater opportunity to develop social and emotional learning. By empowering students to make their own choices, we are introducing to them real life situations that require them to be responsible decision makers; to become effective leaders of their own life.
In relation to myself and my future career as an educator, this question is very significant to me because I strongly believe that educators, regardless of their area of expertise, class size, socio-economic status status and demographic, can be strong influences and promoters of social and emotional competence because in every educator, there is a leader. It is important to note that educators are not limited to teachers. Therefore, teaching leadership for social and emotional learning can be useful and significant to all employers, coaches, parents and the community as a whole. In addition to being positive role models, educators are also equipped with the tools that can provide leadership building experiences to promote SEL.
♦Expectations
I expect to find a positive correlation between promoting choice and autonomy in the classroom and SEL. Based on my research and my coaching experiences, I have learned that allowing students choice and autonomy in their learning can positively impact on the overall level of enjoyment and social interaction. My own social and emotional competence(SEC) is another influential force. Based on the research by Jennings (2009):
Socially and emotionally competent teachers set the tone of the classroom by developing supportive and encouraging relationship with their students, designing lessons that build on students strengths d abilities, establishing and implementing behavioral guidelines in ways that promote intrinsic motivation, coaching students through conflict situations, encouraging cooperation among students, and acting as a role model for respectful and appropriate communication and exhibitions of pro social behavior (p. 492).
I expect that my own SEC will have implications on the SEL of the students, being an influential factor in the overall learning environment. With an increase in student authority and choice in learning as well as being a positive role model of SEC, I expect to find an increase in engagement, therefore in relation, an increase in SEL.
♦Links to Practice
By allowing students choice and autonomy in their learning, they will have a greater sense of belonging in the classroom, be more engaged, thus increasing the opportunity for social and emotional learning. The variety of activities that promote choice and autonomy in the classroom are endless. For the purpose of this research, during practicum I will be introducing a variety of choice activities throughout the 10 weeks that invite students to participate in the creation of rubrics and criteria, inventing and leading activities, and choice on preference of project styles.
An example of a choice activity that I was able to observe first hand was during my short practicum where I gave some students a specific leadership role during a class. For example, I allocated one extroverted girl to channel her energy into making teams for the lesson’s activity. I gave her simple directions and she performed excellently. Previous classes I noted she was very outspoken and had a lot of energy, thus by giving her this leadership role she was able to focus her energy on doing something productive and her peers really enjoyed it as well. As for myself, I was able to observe how giving students the authority to make their own groups appeared to be more engaged.
Encouraging students to make their own choices within the means of the subject area requires consideration of the multiple directions that lesson activities could take. Therefore, for empowerment and participation to increase in the classroom, it is critical to understand students’ interests so that I can prepare organize choice multiple options that engaging. To understand these differential and situational interests, it requires teachers and students to have a meaningful relationship. This leads to future links to practice that is based on building meaningful relationships throughout the entire school community; student-teacher, student-peer, student-community as well as the relationships between all administrative staff and parents.
Another future link to practice involves students engaging with a community of their choice to further their SEL. By participating in a community service based project of their choice, students able to practice and apply their SEC skills to real life situations that are meaningful and useful to themselves. Research has shown that when activities are made meaningful, student engagement and sense of intrinsic motivation is increased. In order to provide a meaningful community service experience, a variety of choices must be provided because each student comes from a different background and experiences their community differently, especially in a multicultural city such as Vancouver.
♦Inquiry Process: Methods
Throughout inquiry process, including short practicum, classes and coaching, and including extensive research and reflection, my thinking of this subject evolved and expanded.
Drawing on sources such as Dunlap’s Using Choice and Preference to Promote Improved Behavior (2004) and Thompson’s The effects of choice in the classroom: Is there too little or too much choice?(2014), I have taken into consideration that not only do my lessons need to be organized, but to be successful in providing choices to students, the optimal amount of choices needs to be considered as well as situational interests that may present themselves. Based on research sources such as Schaps’s, Creating caring school communities (2009), I have delved deeper into considering the possible effects the teachers’ SEC may pose on students SEL. More specifically to myself, further research has had me reflecting on my own level of SEC and the areas that I need to focus on most in order to be the best version of myself for the benefit of my students. I believe that SEL is a life process; a cycle of inquiry.
♦Limitations & Implications
School Culture
A limitation to this research may lie within the power structures that are embedded in each individual and culture of the practicum school. It is important to consider that the school’s culture may be hesitant toward a teaching style that strays from a teacher centered approach. I will need to consider both the agencies and structures of the school and community that are in place; “most would also agree that meaningful empowerment and participation require significant changes in power relations, both at the level of agency and structure”(Pettit, 2012). That being said, for empowerment and participation to increase in the classroom, it is critical to understand what the interests of my students are as well as “the formal and informal… rules, norms and beliefs that enable and constrain thinking, action and behavior” (Pettit, 2012).
Bias
A major limitation of this study is personal bias. That is, by making my own evaluations and assessments, results may affected by biased. To reduce bias I will ask my school administrators to work alongside me, involving them in the formative assessment of the SEL.
Student Hesitation
I am concerned that the new leadership strategies may not be accepted with the higher grades. Thus far in my grade 10 and 11 Spanish classes, students have had a very inconsistent year with multiple teachers who have not given them enough structure and attention. From my observations, many students appear to portray a lack of motivation and appreciation for this class. They have come accustomed to not participating due to the lack of organization of the class, therefore, during my practicum I will need be be extremely organized as well as to sensitive to the fact that it may take some time to motivate and engage students to participate. This is where promoting autonomy and choices based on personal interest may be extremely influential in SEL.
Time Constraints
As the practicum experience is only approximately 10 weeks, a time constraint is definitely a limitation to the optimal implementation of SEL. Based on research findings of SEL program limitations, teachers have found that it takes time, trial and error to include an optimal and well designed SEL program into the curriculum (Elias, 1997). In specific to this inquiry research, student choices need to be based on their interests, and to gain access this knowledge of student interests takes time, careful observance, action and reflection.
Considering these limitations, as an educator this means that I need to be extremely organized, flexible, understanding of students’ individual interests and levels of motivation as well as to be in tune with my own SEC and how my behaviors and opinions may be affecting the SEL of my students.
Throughout the inquiry process and research thus far, a few new areas of question have arose; In order to understand student interests for the basis of creating and providing choice in activities, how much time will it take to develop a relationship with my students? How much time will it take to successfully implement a SEL program? How successful can a teacher candidate implement a SEL program when lack of time is an issue? How does the SEC of the teachers and school community affect the implementation of a SEL program? Is SEL possible in a classroom that is situated within a community that doesn’t support a SEL program? How much choice is too much choice, and what are the implications?
Conclusion
With respect to my question, I have found that students of today are entering a dynamic future, one where the changing family dynamic and technology has affected the way people socially interact. Social interaction is fundamental to not only cognitive development in academic areas, but also in the attainment of valuable life skills. Such skills life skills include responsible decision making, relationship skills, emotional awareness, social awareness, emotional management; the foundation of SEC. The promotion of social interaction in schools is very important, especially in the adolescent years where intrinsic motivation tends to decrease, the needs to autonomy increase and schools tend to increase control. In order to promote social interaction, students need to be engaged in their learning. The relationship between engagement and social interaction for SEL requires student autonomy; promoting activities and situations that empower students to make their own choices with the aim to increase participation, social interaction and emotional awareness.
For more information on implementing choice activities, check out Links to Practice.
