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Moving Social-Emotional Learning to the Front of the Class
IN THE CLASSROOM
Moving Social-Emotional Learning to the front of the classroom
When the pandemic hit, a lot changed very quickly—especially for children. Playdates and other social gatherings were off the table. Team sports were sidelined. School happened on a screen with children at home, interacting with a digital mosaic of classmates and teachers. When children were able to attend school in person, they were surrounded by constant reminders about mask-wearing, hand-washing, and social distancing. During the past 20 months, children have faced a host of complex challenges due to the loss of routine, structure, and socialization—all of which have a profound impact on emotional well-being. >>>
“The social-emotional piece of our students’ growth and development has always been an integral part of the Norwood program,” says Matthew Gould, Head of School. “Our whole-child approach to learning means prioritizing all areas of a child’s development: cognitive skills, academic achievement, and social-emotional learning. The COVID-19 crisis has moved the social-emotional piece to the forefront as we look even more intensively at ways in which we can support a wide range of complex emotions and reactions.”
Social-emotional skills help children manage their emotions and engage with the world around them, even when the world looks scary. According to Lower School Counselor Rachelle Bowman, Norwood focuses on five key areas to nurture and develop these critical competencies in children: fostering connections and belonging; building resilience; teaching social-emotional skills; establishing emotional and physical safety; and promoting play and instructional breaks. Matthew reports that throughout the pandemic, the Student Support Services Team has been working closely with the faculty to ensure a whole-school, multi-layered approach to best support students.
Connections & Belonging
It has long been Norwood’s philosophy that when children feel safe, supported, and understood, they are empowered to challenge and stretch themselves in their academic work and to solve problems in all areas of their lives. One of the ways in which Norwood teachers nurture this dynamic is by creating predictable, joyful, and inclusive classroom environments where students have a sense of belonging and significance. Teachers employ a number of classroom strategies to make sure that every child has a voice and that every voice is heard and respected—such as organizing small groupings for certain activities, assigning partners for “turnand-talk” sharing, conducting class surveys, and literally keeping track of voices during a class discussion.
“Norwood’s classroom communities are designed to be safe havens for children, whether a student is just having a tough moment, a bad day, or experiencing ongoing stress due to the pandemic or some other challenge in their lives,” says Laura Prosen, middle school counselor. “Teachers are very intentional about reaching out to each student with frequent acts of connection, making sure that students know they have a number of caring adults in their corner. When children experience these connections, they feel known and understood—all of which contribute to a sense of belonging and peace.”
To build connections with her students, middle school science teacher Debbie Pakaluk begins the school year by surveying her students—the entire eighth grade class—to get their answers to four “Compass Point” questions: 1. What are you excited about? 2. What are you worried about? 3. What do you need from me to be successful? 4. What do you plan to do to be successful in science? “Eighth graders are remarkably self-aware about their strengths, weaknesses, and learning style,” says
-matthew gould, head of school
Debbie. “This is a powerful way to get an incredible amount of information that helps me know them and best support them right from the beginning.”
By providing safe, comfortable learning spaces, as well as genuine relationships with caring and supportive adults, Norwood creates an environment where children are more receptive to seeking and receiving guidance from others. They are more comfortable sharing all parts of themselves with classmates and teachers, knowing that everyone’s unique abilities are celebrated and respected.
The Power of Resilience
“Resilience is the ability to achieve positive outcomes despite adversity,” explains Rachelle. “While we often can’t remove stress, we can support students in not only surviving but thriving in the face of adversity.” Again, it begins with creating safe learning environments, specifically where failures and setbacks are an expected part of the learning process. “We emphasize that it’s okay to struggle, make mistakes, and fail,” says Rachelle. “The key is learning how to learn and grow from them. When students are praised for their hard work and perseverance, they recognize that it’s okay to make mistakes—that, in fact, mistakes are encouraged. They get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Imitation is a powerful way to learn. When teachers share their own experiences of challenge, disappointment, failure, and resilience, students receive the message that struggle and stress are normal parts of the human experience, and when handled with patience, grace, and acceptance, they can fuel a sense of motivation and empowerment. This message is reinforced in just about all subject areas at Norwood through lessons and books that intentionally focus on the personal strengths of people in history who overcame enormous challenges and hardships to achieve their goals: social activists, scientists, political leaders, and inventors, for example. By normalizing struggle and sharing our humanity, students are better equipped to understand how these experiences can be useful and meaningful later in their lives.
Social-Emotional Skills
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), long considered the gold standard on the topic, defines social-emotional learning as “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.” “It’s a lot,” admits Sara Gallagher, director of student support services, “but it’s all very familiar territory here at Norwood,
PEACE Path
“PEACE Path” is a conflictresolution tool that helps students work through disagreements with their peers. When following the PEACE Path, students use “I statements” to communicate how they are feeling. Students may also take turns sharing their feelings and repeating the feelings of another student. Together, they create a PEACE Path for moving forward in peace.
-sara gallagher, director of student support services where whole-child education has always been the focus, long before SEL became a research-based, formal curriculum.”
Beginning in pre-kindergarten, Norwood’s Life Skills program introduces students to a variety of developmentally appropriate communication, coping, and calming strategies. One of these strategies is the “PEACE Path” (see sidebar for more information).
Another technique children learn at Norwood is to be aware of their “Zones of Regulation” (see sidebar on opposite page for more information).
Emotional & Physical Safety
From the moment they greet their students in the morning, teachers are mindful of how they are feeling and what they may need to feel safe and comfortable. Daily check-ins assess moods, needs, and concerns, especially with quieter children who tend to keep these things to themselves. “Some children arrive in the morning and will tell you right away if they’re having a good day or a bad day and why,” shares fourth grade teacher Peace Ferreby. “Others need more encouragement, so we do regular emotional check-ins, just like we do an academic check-in.” Peace adds that students regularly practice mindfulness activities to help regulate emotions and alleviate stress. They practice breathing exercises and centering activities such as quietly coloring mandalas. Routines are another way to establish a sense of safety and security. With the pandemic dismantling many children’s routines, it is more important than ever to establish schedules, rhythms, and procedures at school. Predictable schedules give children a roadmap for the day, provide for smoother transitions, and support self-management skills. “Children feel most secure and comfortable when they know classroom expectations,” says second grade teacher Lara Salyer. “We spend a lot of time forming, talking about, and practicing procedures, especially at the start of the school year. We like to give students ownership over some of the classroom rules. During the first week of school, together as a class, we come up with our ‘Community of Learners’ agreement. In this agreement, we brainstorm ways we will take care of each other as well as how we will respect our classroom materials. We also allow for a little extra time at the start and end of lessons to make sure students are comfortable with instructions and expectations, and to help them reset for the next activity.”
Mask-wearing presents a unique challenge for some students when navigating certain social interactions. How do you discern and/or project moods and emotions when certain parts of the face are covered by a mask? In the Lower School, children play a guessing game where one classmate is asked to think of a feeling and then try to communicate that feeling with their face, especially their eyes. The rest of the class tries to guess the emotion. This simple game helps children feel
less anxious in social situations, as well as build important emotional literacy skills for life.
Play & Instructional Breaks
Throughout the pandemic, Norwood teachers have been particularly mindful of the need for instructional breaks and playtime at key times during the day, in addition to regularly scheduled recess. “I make sure we take frequent breaks to stretch, move around, take deep breaths, and just relax—even if it’s just for a few minutes. Depending on the need in that moment, a break can range from a dance video to guided meditation and yoga. It makes a real difference,” says first grade teacher Dana Egan.
Regularly scheduled breaks for the whole class and individual “brain breaks” when needed can reset attention, boost learning productivity, and reduce stress. In Peace Ferreby’s fourth grade classroom, students are encouraged to use the “Chillaxation Station” and “Concentration Station.” “These are places in the classroom where students can choose to go if they need to calm down, take a break, or refocus,” she says. In addition, play, whether it be during recess time or in the classroom, has well documented research-tested benefits, including contributions to children’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, recess is a “crucial and necessary component of a child’s development,” contributing to the development of important socialemotional, critical-thinking, and selfefficacy skills.
Teachers also weave play and relaxation into instructional time. For example, in reading and language arts classes, students perform in Reader’s Theater or engage in an art activity related to the book they are reading or the story they are writing. In lower school music, they may take a break from a structured lesson to dance around the room. In middle school music, Max Nolin, 7/8 choir and handbells teacher (and dean of students) likes to take breaks and have students simply listen to music. “Maybe it’s a piece tied to what we are studying in class, but often it’s a song suggested by a student,” says Max. “Giving students the opportunity to share the music they love helps everyone relax and also opens all our ears to new sounds.”
“As much as we emphasize the need to normalize the school experience for our students, we also recognize that this is not a normal time. The pandemic has had a profound impact on children—we see it and feel it every day,” says Matthew. “We want every child at Norwood to feel safe, supported, and loved, especially during this time, and to be equipped with a set of tools for coping with life’s challenging moments, both big and small.”
“Zones of Regulation” is a framework designed to foster selfawareness and self-regulation. Essentially, students categorize emotions into four zones:
BLUE { sad, tired, bored, moving slowly }
GREEN { happy, calm, focused, ready to learn }
YELLOW { frustrated, worried, silly/wiggly, excited }
RED { mad, angry, elated, out of control }
Children practice naming their zone and using a toolbox of evidence-based strategies for managing emotions—tools that help them get to and stay in the green zone: breathing exercises, physical activities, reading, and drawing, for example.
