Sensible handling of Anger or Annoyance, Formulating close bonds, Helping or Assisting others, Waiting in a queue Forbearing, Comprehending and Revering others opinion….Ah!!! What WONDERS can Social and Emotional Learning do when instilled in the children. Schools are a vital context for children’s Social and Emotional development. Be it a school or any public place, children and adolescents need to possess prowess like commanding negative emotions, being calm and focused, following rules and regulations , steering relationships with peers and adults, regardless. Here a question arises , “why to instill Social and Emotional learning?” Let me acquaint you with its needs.

Needs of Social and Emotional learning:

Self Awareness

Self Awareness can be pictured as a clear perception of one’s personality including strength, weakness, motivation, beliefs etc. It helps children by providing answers to many of their questions like how can I express my feelings and beliefs respectfully, what causes my thoughts and emotions and so on. Thus, it helps children undergo introspection finding relevant reasons and aids to their queries.

Self Management

As the word shouts, Self Management is the responsibility of administering one’s own behavior and well being. In this context, Social and Emotional learning help children by answering to how constructively they can respond to any circumstance and how many responses can they have to a particular incidence. It thus, develops credence in the children thereby making them strong to navigate smoothly to any event.

Boosts Social Awareness

Social Awareness, as the name suggests, is being familiar with the social constructs intended to grant remedy. To elaborate, it is a natural response to people, empathizing their situation, what people want intending to meet their need. Thus, Social and Emotional learning answers to questions like how better can one understand people’s perceptions and feelings and the reasons for the same. This in turn helps children bloom as a honorable, trustworthy and admirable person.

Relationship Skills

Every single person needs someone to share a covalent bond. But, in order to do so, it is very essential to possess required skills which can be very well developed by Social and Emotional learning. Social and Emotional learning here, aids to queries such as, how to adjust one’s actions to refine relationships, how to communicate one’s expectations with others and vice-versa thereby, showering success in both professional and personal lives.

Decision-Making

Decision-making, as we all know is a cognitive process to adopt logical choice amid available options. But, it needs to be sprouted since childhood and Social and Emotional learning once again proves to be fruitful here. Because, it helps us in answering to questions like how to solve problems creatively, what impact will one’s actions have on oneself and others, how choices align with the values and so on.

After coming across the divergent needs of Social and Emotional Learning, it has become supreme to discover the Techniques to develop the same and here it comes.

How to Develop Social and Emotional Learning

Introducing Moral Science

Moral Science provides guidelines to a person’s life by making them aware of what is right and what is wrong. Hence, introducing Moral Science as a subject in the curriculum will be an ameliorating step towards developing morality among children instilling Social and Emotional Learning on almost a daily basis.

Conduct Story Sessions

It has been often observed that children learn quickly and aggressively when apprised a story. Thus, conducting story sessions ordinarily based on morale , between the class and extracting values at the end by summing it up will penetrate the ethical values in the children. This in turn will help teachers and schools develop Social and Emotional learning.

Group Participation

Participation engages students and adds interest in them and if arranged in groups have always been fascinating. Therefore, make students participate in various creative programs forming a group viz.  making best out of waste, creating different shapes out of clay etc. This will  not only delight them rather will make them realize their share of responsibility towards themselves and others hereby, imparting Social and Emotional learning.

Hold Group Discussions

This is a safe place where students have voice, that is, a platform where they can explicitly exhibit their opinions, perspectives and beliefs .Hence, Teachers are advised to hold Group Discussions on topics enhancing Social Learning and maintaining Emotional balance viz. Talking about the prevalent and upcoming social discrepancies and episodes and finding out the remedies for the same.

Connect Real Life with Academics

Children come across a lot of problems in real life but due to their age factor and lack of experience , they are simply unable to find answers for the same. Hence, facilitating discussions connecting student’s real life world to their Academics will develop a sense of personal obligation and help them cope up with the prevalent and upcoming scrambles by supplementing them with medication.

 

To sum up, I would like to suggest that there is not much to ponder over instilling the Social and Emotional learning by schools and teachers. What is actually required is to understand its needs and the same to be taught explicitly in the classroom, thus conferring this development on the future of our country.