Explorer Elementary Social and Emotional Learning

Q: “We believe that all learning begins with the self and moves outwards. If children can think about themselves and their relationships to others in complex and meaningful ways, they will more easily make the transition to understanding complex relationships in math, literature, and history.”

Often people will debate about how much a particular “style” of teaching or learning should be implemented.  How much social/emotional intelligence education?  How much character education?  How much content instruction?  Natural questions that arise as a result of these conversations usually revolve around how much one type of teaching or learning will “take away” from another type.  Reading the quote above and the rest of the Explorer Elementary philosophy highlights for me how artificial these divisions really are.  Every type of teaching and learning (social/emotional, intellectual) is in some way an interaction between the self and the world, the world and the self.  While focusing on this interaction ostensibly is a focus on social and emotional learning, it is really much more than that.  It is the basis for all learning. 

Q: “Mindful Practices of Explorer Elementary Charter School:

Independence/Interdependence, community connection, multiple perspectives
, empathy, contribution, mindfulness, reflection, analysis
, observation/evidence/proof, flexibility, thinking before acting (impulse control), voice, ownership, risk-taking, self-awareness, communication, imagination, creativity, ingenuity, hypothesis, inquiry, unanswered questions, perplexity
, curiosity.”

Another of the many artificial differences we construct is the difference in needs between children in elementary school and those in middle school, high school or even adults.  That is not to suggest that there are no developmental differences between learners at different ages.  Yet, most of the best pedagogy persists no matter what the age of the learner.  The “mindful practices” above could be listed for any middle school, high school, college or graduate school course and would serve the same purpose.  It is nice to be reminded that we all continue to develop and learn about ourselves and others after elementary school.

Seven Secrets of the Savvy School Leader

"They become principals to 'make a difference,' to right wrongs and correct flaws that chafed them as teachers and to assert a vision of schooling as it should be.  The first great shock awaiting them is discovering how little power they truly have."

A true paradox.  Evan's makes clear that school leaders do, in fact, wield great power.  Their every action has the power to serve as a positive or negative example of what the school is trying to promote, and you can be sure that the leader's actions are closely scrutinized.  As Evan's states, leaders are perpetually "in role," serving as representatives of the school.  And yet, that power is indirect.  It is "the staff...who must translate [the leader's] goals into action" on a daily basis.  And if there is one characteristic that generally holds true for teachers all over the country it is that they are rather an independent breed of folks.  Teachers highly value the ability to be able to teach what they want to teach in the manner that they wish to teach it.  If developed properly, this is one of the great strengths of a school.  Teachers who are teaching their passions will be engaged and motivated and that will likely translate to the students.  But when leaders must institute policies that are unpopular with staff (and sometimes they must), how will the leader be received?  How will the policy be instituted?  A school leader does not have the "power" to institute a policy on his or her own.  The power of the position comes only when it is given to the teachers (not sporadically, not in and inauthentic manner in order to manipulate later, but truly giving it over).  A leader must have a vision that can inspire.  Teachers must have real power over the ways to implement that vision.  Paradoxically, this will increase the leader's power to help craft implementation if he or she so chooses.

Fires in the Mind

Valuable lessons throughout for us all.  When in doubt, listen to students.  Three quotes of the many that struck me.

“Not every activity lends itself to competition, and some of my students cared more about winning than others.  But for those that wanted to be “number one, the best,” rivalry fueled a drive to keep on practicing.”

Is competition a good motivator for students?  Is competition something that we want to promote in order to increase student motivation?  Is competition not opposed to collaboration, and isn’t that what we really want to promote?  I have always had trouble with this debate.  I do not believe a competitive atmosphere at schools is beneficial for students if it is the dominant motivating factor, and especially if it is at the price of collaboration.  I do feel that some level of competition is healthy.  Finding the line between the two is the trick.

“You’re overcoming something of yourself and you feel proud of yourself for doing it.” – Dan

This quote struck me because of the unusual phrasing the student used in describing overcoming challenges.  The phrase, “overcoming something of yourself” really struck me, because it seems to express the inherent battle within us all between being motivated to take on a challenge and being fearful of not being able to accomplish something.  One must truly overcome something of him or herself – namely fear – in order to continue in the pursuit of something difficult.  In many ways I feel like this was the crux of the book, although it did not explicitly name it.  What are those motivating factors (mentors, authenticity, practice, experts, community, and others discussed in the book) that will allow us to become our best selves?  It can be a scary thing trying to live up to one’s potential, because that potential is truly vast.  Yet creating spaces where we can listen to students and incorporate those things that allow us to “get over ourselves” may be the real trick to education.

“Piano is just a hobby, but it’s good practice—it can help you become stronger, because there’s larger obstacles in life that you have to face, where you must stick with it to move on.” – Janiy

Teachers can sometimes fret that particular students do not like (or feel motivated) by a particular project or text or activity.  It is good to question why students may not feel motivated, but it does not necessarily mean that what is being studied is misguided.  It may not always be possible to find even an array of choices in a particular content area that all students feel is exactly the thing that they want to be doing.  Sometimes students need to engage in content or skills that are not at the center of their interests.  But it is possible to make connections for students about the importance and authenticity of the activity in which they are engaged.  In Janiy’s quote above, she does not want to be a concert pianist.  In fact, she mentions earlier that she does not necessarily love playing.  But she sees the value in it.  For her, piano is something that will teach her skills she feels are necessary to do the things she wants to do.  If we can help to make these connections with students (not artificial connections, but true ones), then motivation will follow, even when dealing with content that is not loved by all.  Much of this again must begin with listening and knowing students well, so that connections can be authentic to who the student really is.

QQC 1 - Choices for Children (Kohn, 1993)

"The best predictor [of burnout] is powerlessness - a lack of control over what one is doing"

I soon as I read the word "powerlessness" I could not help but to think of the difficult world in which some of our students grow up.  In central Brooklyn, not only do the statistics tell of a lack of academic success (only 42% of students graduate from high school), but of social and emotional difficulties for children as well, with extremely high rates of depression and attempted suicide.  Students from the inner city not only experience a sense of powerlessness at school, where many educators do not offer kids a voice in what or how they will learn.  They also experience a sense of powerlessness in their lives.  The cycle of poverty in which many of these students are born does not offer a sense of empowerment.  It is thus even more incumbent on educators and school systems in these neighborhoods to empower students by giving them a voice in the classroom.  It is also even more insidious in inner city communities when educators participate in what Kohn calls "engineering of power."  In this case, educators are simply reinforcing the unjust social hierarchies by allowing students to think they have a choice, when in fact the adults are "securing and solidifying the interests of those in power."

Is it more incumbent upon educators in the inner city to offer their students choice and voice?  Culturally, how is this received in inner city classrooms? 

Geoff Roehm