By Jennifer J. Stanigar, PhD, Program Evaluation Specialist, OFD
If you attended the 2020 Teaching and Learning Symposium, you’d have noticed some buzz around social and emotional learning (SEL) and the ways it’s being used in classrooms at NC State.
Perhaps you’ve encountered the term in reference to its use in K-12 settings (e.g., for children), and then closed the chapter on it being a goal of higher education (e.g., for adults). But there’s something inherent in being an educator that compels us to help students develop important skills, with the icing on the cake being the potential for positive academic outcomes. A definition provided in Elias et al. (1997) sheds light on how – now more than ever – the development of social and emotional competence is an educational imperative:
…the ability to understand, manage, and express the social and emotional aspects of one’s life in ways that enable the successful management of life tasks such as learning, forming relationships, solving everyday problems, and adapting to the complex demands of growth and development…self-awareness, impulse control, working cooperatively, and caring about oneself and others. (p. 2)
One presenter at the Symposium was NC State faculty member Mary Michaels Estrada, Lecturer of ESL, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. In her session titled Won’t You Be My Neighbor?: A Case Study of Social-Emotional Learning in Freshman Composition for International Students, Mary surprised attendees by inviting her FLE 101 students. These students had been doing SEL activities “designed to build community and improve academic buoyancy”, such as Harkness Discussions, Mindfulness check-ins, and Weekly Journal assignments featuring Random Acts of Kindness, Mindful Breathing, and Goal Visualization (Estrada, 2020).
As the session opened, Mary invited her students to the whiteboard where she’d written “Check-in: How are you feeling today?” with a line below that went from “bleh.” to “meh.” to “AWESOME!”. The students went up and modeled how they share their feelings, along that line, in symbols and words (Photo: Capturing a selfie in front of Mindfulness check-in on whiteboard). Then, we all went up to add our marks to the line. Just a simple check-in held the power for everyone to know how others were doing, and set the stage for caring about others in the room.
In her poster, also presented at the Symposium, Mary shared the details of her research, which received the 2020 Teaching and Learning Symposium Outstanding Poster Award. Mary was recognized during the luncheon by Vice Provost For Faculty Affairs, Dr. Katharine Stewart.
One thing that stuck out for me about this session was when Mary asked everyone to reach down under their chair where she had taped a “lunch note” from Mister Rogers, each with an inspiring and uplifting quote. Sometimes it is the little things that people do that endear them to you, and Mary does that sort of thing for her students and others. Just one of our many phenomenal NC State faculty members who are making a difference!
Mary and I are planning an upcoming post with more information about the CASEL framework (5 core competencies of SEL), along with some ideas for faculty to help students learn these important skill sets for well-being that they can turn to during times of uncertainty and change.
References
- Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (n.d.). What is SEL? Retrieved from https://casel.org/what-is-sel/
- Elias, M. J., Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P., Frey, K. S., Greenberg, M. T., Haynes, N. M., … & Shriver, T. P. (1997). Promoting social and emotional learning: Guidelines for educators. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
- Estrada, M. (2020). Teaching the “Skill of Well-Being” in Freshman Composition for Internationals, Poster presented February 28, 2020 at NC State Teaching and Learning Symposium.
To read about the 2020 Teaching and Learning Symposium, check out this page. To learn more about events sponsored by OFD as well as our partners across campus, subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.