.:: Personal/Social Development (families, peers and teachers) ::.

Covering the section of Personal/Social Development for Chapter 3: Sean Crose


Article Title: Social and Emotional Learning: What is it? How can we use it to help our children?
Author: Robin Stern, Ph.D.
Article Summary: Students need to learn more than academics in the classroom. In fact, Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, as it's called, has been found to be the single greatest factor in determining the success of an individual in our society (far greater than the more lauded IQ of an individual). Classrooms, then, must focus on social and emotional development as well as the more traditional aspects of learning. Five major points must be focused on to assure the individual student's emotional and psychological well-being: self and other awareness, mood management, self-motivation, empathy and management of relationships. These five major points can be emphasized and focused on in all aspects of the individual student's life. Teachers, parents and students, then, can all play the role of educator in this very important (and, as yet, under-rated) aspect of personal development.


Key Points:
1. Emotional Intelligence has been found to be of primary importance when pertaining to the individual student's development and personal success.
2. Development in the field of social skills and emotional growth has a deeply positive impact on the individual student's ability to learn.
3. Parents should: begin their child's emotional education early, start an SEL (social and emotional learning) discussion group, be a role model, applaud their children's efforts, look for teachable moments, employ personal stories and current events as well as movies and web-sites as teaching tools, keep a journal, look for toys and products which help in their child's emotional development.
4. Educators should: integrate SEL skills, research SEL programs, look for ways to employ technology to achieve their goals for social and emotional education, find teachable moments, value social and emotional intelligence in their students, create classroom reflections, engage with other teachers to learn about classroom strategies, get involved with SEL programs outside of school, keep a journal.
5. Students should: keep a journal, encourage themselves through “self talk,” find ways to calm themselves and shift moods, encourage friends to give their personal points of view, be aware of the “buttons” which trigger their individual bad behavior, find opportunities to work with their peers, listen to their instincts, take time to reflect and actually listen to their “inner voice,” be aware of their social and emotional needs.
6. Students must be in an environment that allows social and emotional growth to occur. This point applies not only to teachers and parents, but to students themselves.

Complete Reference:
Stern, Robin, Ph.D. (3/28/2003). Social and Emotional Learning: What is it? How can we use it to help our children.http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/social_emotional_learning_what_it_how_can_we_
use_it_help_our_children

.:: Emotional/Moral Development ::.

Covering the section of Emotional/Moral Development for Chapter three: Jen Radaskie

Article Title: "Enhancing School Based Prevention and Youth Development Through Coordinated Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning"

Article Authors/Contributors (as listed in article): Mark J Greenberg, Roger P Weissberg, Mary Utne O'Brien, Joseph E Zins, Linda Fredricks, Hank Resnik, and Maurice J Elias

Article Summary:  This article places a strong emphasis on effective education by means of ensuring social and emotional needs are met.  Furthermore, the authors are concerned with the limitedness of these goals.  What the article aims for is a guide for school improvement.  To do this, they have covered the background of academic learning which exposes the readers to some statistics that truly are eye-opening when we consider the reasons the world of academia has shifted to such an extent.  From there, the authors move on to present various approaches that can be taken to improve the social and emotional aspects of learning.  Finally, they take an in-depth look at the issues that have since been considered as damaging to students in today's academic setting.

Key Points:

1. High-quality education should teach young people to interact in socially skilled and respectful ways.
1. Schools should also teach student to practice positive, safe, and healthy behaviors, contribute ethically and responsibly to their peers, family, school and community, as well as possess basic competencies, work habits, and values as a foundation for meaningful employment and engaged citizenship.  (These are the qualities  high-quality education seeks to teach).
2. Social Emotional Learning, SEL, instruction should begin in preschool and continue through high-school.
1. SEL allows students to recognize and manage their emotions, appreciate others perspectives, establish goals, make responsible decisions, and handle situations effectively.
3. Positive youth development programs, like promotion and prevention programs, make a difference; results of studies taken showed improvements in interpersonal skills, quality of peer and adult relationships, and academic achievement.  Results also indicated a reduction in problem behaviors.
4. There are 3 effective strategies that encourage school-based prevention strategies:
1. Teaching students SEL values and how to apply them, combined with ethical values in everyday life through interactive classroom instruction, providing frequent opportunities for student self-direction, and school/community service.
2. Fostering respectful, supportive relationships with other students, staff, and parents.
3. Supporting and rewarding positive, social, health, and academic behavior through systematical school-friendly community approaches.
5. Training for schools--superintendents, principals, teachers, and parents--must be further developed and policies must also be developed  which will support the successful introduction and institutionalization of these school-based prevention programs.

Complete Reference:

Greenberg, M. T., Weissberg, R. P., Zins, J. E., Fredricks, L., & Elias, M. (2003). Enhancingschool-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning. American Psychologist, 58(6/7), 466-474.

.:: Chapter 3: Personal, Social, and Emotional Development ::.

After taking a look at the Chapter, we found that it broke down into 5 key points.  The following five points are what we have ventured to expand upon with various articles:

1. Erik Erikson
2. Urie Bronfenbrenner
3. Personal/Social Development
1. families
2. peers
3. teachers
4. Self Concept/Identity
5. Emotional Development

Everyone will receive a hard copy of each of the articles we present to you in class.  However, you will find our summary of each article and their key points separated into their own individual posts.  Our reference page for this chapter will come at the very end of our posting for this chapter.

.:: About Our Blog ::.

Welcome to our blog! This blog has been created by Jen, Rick, Molly, Sean, and Julianne for EDUC509 (Educational Psychology) at the UB-Waterbury, Section 2 (6:10-8:10). We have generated this website for our classmates and professor in an attempt to present an easy (and green) way to provide our presentation material. Here you will find our articles, references, and useful information pertaining to our articles and the chapter they are linked with. Please feel free to comment/ask questions here. We all have access to this blog and can respond to any questions you may have.