There is simply no doubt that Social and Emotional learning strategies help students feel better about themselves. The strategies help students integrate better into the larger fabric of social life, but then to suggest that S.E.L. is something new would be wrong. Surely, S.E.L. is a more scientific strategy of an older form of imparting sound social and moral values such done by family elders and in the form of "Moral Education" classes in the years gone by. We appreciate that Social and Emotional Learning helps to society a better and safer place to live in but then it is simply not a substitute for the first lessons in values taught by the child’s first parents, his or her parents. It is supposed to remove the cynicism and impatience that exists in our youth today. It is a more rational way of imparting a sense of ethics, social or emotional in a manner that would enhance a feeling of self-esteem and self-confidence. It is only when students feel great about how they are that they are able to perform better in class and outside of class. S.E.L. can at best attempt to add to or give value to the important values-based lessons that a child learns from his parents or grandparents about the importance of honesty, truthfulness, kindness, patience and hard work in life.
A lot of emotional stress is caused by the competitive nature of life today. Mechanization, the internet, AI, and data-intensive requirements have changed the social fabric to such an extent that we no longer settle for anything that is less than the best. These demands on students have resulted in the deterioration of self-esteem levels which in turn have led to a deterioration of performance. Unfortunately, in spite of attending so many Social and Emotional Workshops and modules, our students continue to be more and more impatient and cynical in attitude. Social and emotional learning should promote not only respect for humanity but also respect for Mother Earth, the environment, the ecology, and wildlife.
I guess, silence times, meditation, introspection, and prayers might form an integral part of the Social and Emotional Learning or Teaching strategies. One favoured S.E.L. strategy is to use circle times in class as a means for sharing each other’s grief, or even sharing one’s feelings about others. Circle time sessions are effective in places where students feel safe while sharing their feelings. It is a great way of opening oneself up to others, a means to bond with others and a safe space where one can feel comfortable to be vulnerable in other students’ presence.
The need for S.E.L. learning strategies stems from a realization that most of our learners might not have sound emotional skills as a result of which they might not be able to integrate well into the social fabric. Lack of sensitivity towards others, inability to empathize with others, impatience, and a general feeling of restlessness is a cause for concern in parents as well as educators. Traditionalists might rant about how insensitive and unfeeling the youth might be, but then they probably don’t realize that times have changed and the youth is under more stress stemming from the need to perform in competitions. The internet revolution has ensured that learners pitched against better-informed rivals. Parents’ expectations have upped the ante.
The lack of a strong value-based system based on the joint family has had its impact on the learners today. We have seen a major shift from the joint family system to the nuclear family system which has lead to a deterioration in the strong value-based culture imparted by the grandparents and family elders in days passed. Storytelling times, family prayers and perhaps even anecdotes shared by family elders did equip young members of the family with a strong value based culture that would have equipped them to face social and emotional challenges posed by interacting with a larger social fabric. Today, a large number of children who live in nuclear families don’t even get to share quality time with their parents. The demands of work pressure, graveyard shifts, and the need to work harder in order to maintain high standards of living have robbed the youth of the basic support structure offered in the family as a basic unit of the society.
Clearly, therefore, family elders, grandparents, uncles, and aunts provided a social and emotional support base or structure for growing up children in the joint family. This has been going on since ancient times in India. But then, it was not just the joint family and in some cases, closely-knit families that provided a socially and emotionally rich culture; religious elders, temple priests, church priests, Granths of Gurudwaras and Maulvis of Mosques also gave children important teachings from religious texts. These teachings by religious heads provided children with a rich perspective of timeless values based on morals, ethics, justice, and work. Modern S.E.L. modules are doing what family elders used to do since time immemorial in joint families in India and perhaps even other countries, however, in a more scientific, rational and concise manner. The only difference is that the moral education that was once provided by the family and occasionally religious organizations is now being provided by the school. Children who accompany their parents to church often go to the Sunday school where they read specific readings from the Bible and they are taught values based on the religious scriptures. Unfortunately, fewer children go to church these days and this has reduced their exposure to important lessons from the Bible. The same might be said of children belonging to other religions. Kushwant Singh reminisces in one of his biographies, how when he was a little child and lived with his grandmother in a village, he would go to the Gurudwara with his grandmother. While went into the temple for her prayers, Kushwant Singh would go to the school attached to the Gurudwara where he was taught the alphabets and lessons from the scriptures. This is where he would have received his S.E.L. lessons in the traditional style.
It is important however to introduce a similar kind of teaching of values in school and this is where the S.E.L. module comes to play. With a change in family structure, a shift from the joint family to the nuclear family, and a shift from the single working parent nuclear family to a both parents working nuclear families, it has become imperative to address the social/emotional needs of children. Children who lack an emotional connect with their parents as a result of their parents spending more and more time at work combined with an absence of other family elders to guide them, children have become more vulnerable to bullying in school. Single children born into nuclear families often have difficulty in adjusting with other children in school. They often become victims to bullying or themselves become aggressive enough to bully others. It is exactly such problems that S.E.L. modules attempt to address today that too in the absence of a support structure at home. S.E.L. modules help children live healthy emotional lives in larger society. S.E.L. modules when integrated into the day to day curriculum of the school can help the student regain his or her self-esteem. The S.E.L. Casel Wheel can help us understand how social-emotional learning can help the child live a better life in absence of a sound family support system.
The Casel Wheel provides us with a pictorial representation of the various elements of Social Emotional Learning. According to the pictorial representation on the Casel Wheel, S.E.L. seeks to provide students with the opportunity to develop social awareness skills, relation skills, self-management skills, self-awareness skills, and decision-making skills. When the child enters into the larger community of the school or even the world outside the school, the child needs to know that he or she cannot expect to be the center of attention all the time. Nor can the child expect to be pampered by others. There are students who even after they reach the twelfth grade expect to be treated as “special”. A student who lives with her working mother explained how she liked to talk and socialize a lot in class because she stayed alone at home most of the time. What she did not realize was that she was creating a nuisance for the other students most of the time. Another student in grade twelve felt highly vulnerable while reading a passage from a lesson aloud in class. She would break down into tears if she was asked a question. She just did not want to break out of her cocoon! Another student felt he needed to step in when another student was reprimanded for some misdeed or the other. This student took it upon himself to fight for others. He liked to argue with the teacher just for the sake of arguing, or maybe there was something inside him that had made him feel so vulnerable, insecure and weak at heart. The three examples mentioned above indicate that these students might have had poor coping strategies, poor self-esteem, and very poor social skills.
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