As educators return to school this fall, the heavy issues of student mental health and social justice are central to equity in education. Integrating Tier 1 universal social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies into academic lessons can be achieved by scaffolding intentional strategies into the academic content to nurture SEL skill building for a healthy and engaged citizenry. Derived from the Rutgers University Social Emotional Character Development (SECD) Laboratory, the five Students Taking Action Together (STAT) strategies help educators achieve this endeavour.
The five STAT research-based strategies: Norms, Yes-No-Maybe, Respectful Debate, Audience-Focused Communication (AFC), and PLAN are not add ons, but complement existing academic content. As educators and consulting field experts from the SECD Lab, we will blog about how SEL competencies dovetail with real world academic content, while explicitly teaching social-emotional skills. With existential issues of structural injustice, climate change and the global pandemic, now more than ever educators must integrate lessons that cultivate SEL and citizenship.
Let’s take a look at the strategies and their related SEL skills.
Norms: Co-creating a Classroom Learning Agreement
Norms are different from classroom rules in that they are co-created by the students and lay the foundation for a relationship-centered and inclusive classroom community. The teacher facilitates an open dialogue among students, in which they determine a list of ethical standards and desirable behaviors. They then draft a social contract, which reflects 3–5 affirmatively stated norms and each member of the classroom community agrees to follow it. This working agreement holds students accountable to behave in such a way that fosters a positive classroom climate, in which peer opinion sharing, empathic debate, and collaborative problem-solving are encouraged.
Yes-No-Maybe: Peer Opinion Sharing
Norms nurture a safe space in which students can learn to express their opinions about a controversial issue and respectfully listen to their peers, as they share their views. Yes-No-Maybe introduces students to the skill of perspective-taking, in which they consider all sides of an issue, as well as regulating their emotions as they deal with the discomfort of disagreeing with others. After reviewing background sources related to the issue, as well as actively listening to the stances of others, students are encouraged to reflect on their views to determine whether or not they have changed. The goal of the strategy is not to reach a consensus, but instead, to build students’ confidence in expressing their opinions on contentious topics and remaining open to shifting their stance.
Respectful Debate: Developing Empathy and Wrestling with Multiple Perspectives
Building on the perspective taking and emotional regulation skills established with Yes-No-Maybe, Respectful Debate presents the complex skill of developing and defending an informed opinion on an issue while being open-minded when actively listening to those with opposing views. Respectful Debate diverges from traditional classroom debates in that students must argue both sides (pro and con) of the issue. Swapping sides and carefully considering the argument of the opposing side promotes an unbiased interpretation of the evidence. The goal is not to declare a “winner” but to successfully regulate the strong emotions that debating such contentious topics may evoke and arrive at a deeper understanding of the issue, by empathically listening to and considering the perspectives of others.
Audience-Focused Communication (AFC): Tailoring a Presentation to a Specific Group
AFC deliberately teaches public speaking skills necessary to plan and deliver an influential presentation. With this strategy, students can work independently or in a group to determine their audience, identify the format of their presentation (e.g., slideshow, song, photo essay, video), as well as consider their audience’s prior knowledge and views on the topic to adapt their presentation accordingly. Once they have developed a presentation plan, students practice SEL skills like visualization and positive self-talk. Finally, they rehearse their presentations and consider their BEST skills by being mindful of their body posture, eye contact, and tone.
Engaging in Collaborative Problem-Solving with PLAN
PLAN is a four-step process that engages students in social problem solving and action planning for change:
In small groups, students examine a historical or current problem with no clear-cut solution. After analyzing background sources, they list several possible solutions and weigh the pros and cons of each. Once they have identified the “best” solution, they come up with a SMART goal, as well as a step-by-step action plan to achieve the goal. Finally, students reflect on their plan, taking note of success and consider possible revisions to be more successful in the future.
The strategies are intended to build on one another and therefore, we recommend teaching them to students in the order presented above. For example, the Yes-No-Maybe strategy hones students’ skills in peer opinion sharing and perspective taking, both of which are skills necessary for them to be successful with Respectful Debate. Furthermore, once you have presented a strategy, we encourage you to revisit it with your students throughout the year to provide them with multiple opportunities for reinforcement, generalization, and transfer. Given the versatility of the strategies, as well as their transdisciplinary nature, they can be integrated into any academic area.
US children’s public television producer, Fred Rogers in his testimony defending publicly funded children’s programming to the US Congress in 1969 used his favorite quote from Le Petit Prince, “L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux”, what is essential in life is invisible to the eye, to convey what is vital to a child’s development. The five STAT strategies illustrate how teachers can cultivate safe spaces for deep, relevant and social learning needed for healthy schools and civil society. Mr. Rogers reminds us that the healthy emotional development of children and citizens is a shared educational imperative regardless of borders drawn on a map. Explicit teaching of SEL skills is a Tier 1 strategy that nurtures meaningful and healthy engagement when content is relevant to issues students witness and experience in their world.
Sources:
https://schoolguide.casel.org/focus-area-3/school/integrate-student-supports-with-sel/
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