Why care about Social and Emotional Learning?

Researchers believe that by providing students with good social and emotional learning opportunities it will help them to be better students, lead better lives, and be better citizens of the world. Below you will find a few centers with resources for educators on Social and Emotional Learning, a great article from Edutopia and a link to our Illinois State Standards on social and emotional learning. What are you doing in your schools that addresses this issue?---Enjoy--Donna The NYU Child Study Center has a great introduction and definition of Social and Emotional Learning, as well as a number of tips for parents and teachers to integrate into a child's learning through life. Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning from Vanderbilt also have a wonderful selection of resources from training materials, videos and print resources for parents, teachers, trainers and coaches. "The center is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. CSEFEL is a national resource center funded by the Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau for disseminating research and evidence-based practices to early childhood programs across the country." The Center for Social and Emotional Education states "Our goal is to promote positive and sustained school climate: a safe, supportive environment that nurtures social and emotional, ethical, and academic skills. CSEE is an organization that helps schools integrate crucial social and emotional learning with academic instruction. In doing so, we enhance student performance, prevent drop outs, reduce physical violence, bullying, and develop healthy and positively engaged adults." And the site contains a variety of services, programs and links to other agencies and resources for educators. Illinois State Board of Educaiton: Illinois Learning Standards has section on Social and Emotional Learning complete with Goals as stated below: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/social_emotional/standards.htm * Goal 1 - Develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success. * Goal 2 - Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships. * Goal 3 - Demonstrate decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community context. Edutopia has some interesting Core Concepts for Social and Emotional Learning http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning