From the Field: Summer, Sun, and SEL
By Natalie Williams-McMahon
Even for adults, there is a meaningful and memorable moment when summer arrives. Summer still means something, no matter what role you play in your educational community. Students, teachers, and parents have left the school buildings. Meanwhile, superintendents and board members are still meeting, making important decisions for the upcoming year.
No matter what role you play, there is still work to do in the summer; reviewing and analyzing data, budgets, facility needs, new students, a child’s physical growth, etc. You must prepare for the next school year, but if that’s all you do, there is something missing. Ask yourself, “How am I taking care of me this summer? What are the things I can do to survive, sharing the sun with my parenting and other duties?”
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the key for all ages. Here are some tips and skills to balance your life as you live to enjoy the summer and the sun.
What is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)?
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the practice of developing self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are essential for school, work, and life successes. Everyone needs that balance!
People with strong social-emotional skills are better able to cope with everyday challenges and benefit academically, professionally, and socially. From effective problem-solving to self-discipline, from impulse control to emotional management and more, SEL provides a foundation for positive, long-term effects on children, adults, and communities.
Children can thrive, schools win, and workplaces gain in all aspects. Overall society is able to grow positively, all because of utilizing SEL skills and practices. Social-emotional learning involves the core components of
- Self-Awareness;
- Self-Management;
- Relationship Skills;
- Social Awareness; and
- Responsible Decision-Making.
Here is a quick tip for your SEL summer thinking from Wings for Kids, an organization that helps “to equip at-risk kids with the skills they need to succeed in school, stay in school, and thrive in life.”
Build up self-awareness, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills by following summer activities such as playing, reading, walking in the park, meditating, going to the spa, having a respectful conversation, etc.
What is a strength of yours that made this activity easy for you?
What is a weakness of yours that made this activity difficult for you?
For example, if you choose to read a book, think about how the main character or your favorite character felt about a situation, how did they react, were they self-aware, etc.? Then you think about yourself in that position. This activity and way of thinking can help not only children, but adults as they learn to develop and practice self-awareness in a role as parent, teacher, staff, school or district leader, or board member in the community.
Essentially, when thinking of balance and living a thriving and positive life, SEL is a key component that will allow you to have compassion, respect, and a positive attitude toward yourself and others.
Self-management is the ability to manage one’s emotions, identifying and using stress management and self-care strategies, and demonstrating self-discipline and self-motivation. Here’s another tip from the National Equity Project and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies by Django Paris and H. Samy Alim:
When focusing on self-management, think about adopting a culturally expansive and sustaining approach to learning how to harness your emotions to further build intervention, self-advocate, and grow to achieve self-determined goals.
For example, take time to learn what triggers your emotions (happy, sad, or angry). Once you identify the emotions and the behaviors behind those emotions, you will be able to manage how you take action, respond, and communicate. Take time to breathe, count down, listen, and think about the best way to respond positively toward yourself and others.
Here’s another tip to improve your SEL skills: Start and/or continue to read and research the different components, strategies, and activities of social-emotional learning. Practice and put into action the skills you learn. Most importantly, share them with others.
We at IASB encourage you to take time to learn, practice, and share what you’ve learned and experienced or your journey, and to enjoy your summer, sun, and SEL.