Abstract:

Classroom management has traditionally focused on managing children's behaviors. This paper is presented to assist classroom teachers, as well as community-based youth care providers, in developing, refining and expanding their practices to include social emotional learning (SEL). Teacher practices that build the core social emotional competencies of self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills and responsible decision making not only builds teacher and youth provider’s classroom management capacity, but do so while building a child’s capacity for resiliency and sustainable behavior improvement. An overview of SEL is provided, with an emphasis on how these skills and attributes are relevant to the teaching-learning environment. Specific strategies for incorporating SEL skill development into classroom and community-based programs are structured around the five core social-emotional competencies identified by the Collaboration for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). This paper seeks to change the lens of classroom management away from the traditional application of management modalities applied on children to attempt quick "in the moment" behavioral change, to a more focused analysis of how one’s own actions can bring about SEL development for learners.

Keywords:

Classroom teachers, youth care providers, social emotional learning (SEL), CASEL, classroom management, resiliencey.