WHAT IS INVOLVED IN SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT?
One of the roles of school counselors is to help students learn how to gain and utilize the knowledge, attitudes, and skills required to recognize and manage emotions, set and strive for positive goals, understand and demonstrate empathy for others, form and keep positive relationships, and develop responsible decision making skills.
Often taught in the classroom or in a whole group setting, social-emotional learning gives tomorrow’s workforce the tools for success, while educators find it contributing to a positive school climate and increased academic success. Beyond immediate outcomes in the classroom, SEL prepares employees to solve problems, manage emotions, and communicate.
The Jarrell ISD Guidance and Counseling approach is developmental. In the developmental approach, students have an opportunity to learn about themselves and others in advance of problem moments. Students learn interpersonal skills before they have an interpersonal crisis. If a crisis situation does occur, students can draw upon their skills to address their problem. The developmental perspective recognizes that every student needs sound emotional and social skills to achieve optimum benefit from the educational program. There is a commitment to individual uniqueness and the maximum development in three major areas: academic, career, and personal/social skills.
JISD is working to implement a Comprehensive Developmental Guidance Model in all schools (PK-12). A Comprehensive Counseling Program is based upon student competencies, built upon a developmental curriculum, uses crisis and preventive counseling, has four components, and is evaluated and improved based upon evaluation results. This shift in conception from a constellation of services and activities to a standards-based program represents a significant shift in thinking about the way students are supported and the anticipated outcomes. The model is based upon four components outlined by the American School Counseling Model and the Texas Education Comprehensive Developmental Guidance Model: Guidance Curriculum, Individual Planning, Responsive Service and System Support.