Social and Emotional Learning

CEDAR SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION, HANOVER, MA

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) through Cedar School Physical Education

“The most important attitude that can be formed is that of the desire to go on learning.” 

John Dewey

The feelings and emotions that result from achieving a personal best time on a long run, receiving a compliment from a coach or teammate after a game, performing a dance for an appreciative audience, or hitting a curve ball for a two base hit can make physical activity enjoyable and motivate students to participate regularly in physical activity.  The feelings and emotions that result from being made fun of for dropping or being hit by a ball, failing to do a pull up while others watch and tease, or being the last person picked for a sport prohibit participation in physical activity. 

Students have an inside self and an outside self.  We observe some social/emotional behaviors such as: students showing respect for others, positively experiencing content, being actively involved in learning, and supporting and helping others.  Other behaviors cannot be observed as clearly: feelings, dispositions, values, attitudes, and self-perceptions. 

Educators use the affective domain of learning as an umbrella term that can include student feelings, interests, emotions, desires, attitudes, appreciations, commitment, will power, dispositions, morals and values. These emotions and feelings are complex, hard to measure and difficult to teach. Affective behaviors all influence how learners respond to themselves, the teacher, each other and  learning experiences.  Affective learning is also known as social/emotional learning (SEL).

The social and emotional learning that schools often desire cannot be passed from teacher to learner in the way information is transmitted. Nor can students achieve them in the manner in which they achieve cognitive learning targets.  Feelings and emotions are almost always the consequence of success, failure, tasks accomplished or not accomplished and so forth.

Organizing Social/Emotional Learning Targets 

Educators often describe social/emotional learning with terms such as rules, discipline, behavior and so forth.  Social and emotional learning is more than having students follow classroom procedures.  It helps students assume more responsibility for learning, their well being and the well being of others.  Psychologists and educational theorists (see reference list below) have organized social/emotional behaviors into the following frameworks 

• Personal and Social Responsibility – respect, involvement, responsibility and caring

• Character - trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship

• Intrapersonal intelligence -  to use self knowledge  for accessing, identifying and drawing upon feelings to guide behavior

• Interpersonal intelligence – to identify and respond appropriately to temperaments and desires of others

• Emotional intelligence - recognizing one’s emotional responses, and those of others, and using this knowledge in effective ways 

• Social/Emotional learning - developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship management.

Employers look for social and emotional behaviors such as dependability, punctuality, reliability, the ability to work productively in groups, and to contribute with ideas and sustained effort.  All of these behaviors can be developed in schools.

When students are learning these behaviors it usually occurs in the following sequence: reception, response, valuation, organization and internalization.  Reception is defined as being willing to attend to an idea or stimulus such as listening to instructions.  A learner who chooses to follow instructions or act in accordance with rules describes response or responding.  Valuation is when a student assumes responsibility for behaving in a prescribed manner.  Organization occurs when the learner puts together several values together and integrates behavior.  Finally, internalization is when a student maintains harmony between values and behavior independently.

The social/emotional learning goal for physical education is:

Students will become more responsible for learning.

They will have achieved this goal when they:

1. Show respect for themselves, others and the learning environment

2. Are actively involved in learning throughout each lesson

3. Assume responsibility for continual self-improvement

4. Show concern and support for others

The rubric below is used to measure students' social and emotional behavior (i.e., demonstrating personally and socially responsible behavior in physical activity settings).