Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has received a lot of much needed traction in education. Schools are creating wellness centers and curriculum is being developed with students’ emotional well-being in mind. This is a great article from the New York Time’s blog Well: To Help Students Learn, Engage the Emotions. In it, Dr. Immordino-Yang said, “Emotion is where learning begins, or, as is often the case, where it ends. Put simply, ‘It is literally neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things that you don’t care about.'” This is why understanding emotions is so key to transforming our schools.
The same can be said about the adults in our schools. In fact, Onward makes the case for doing this work with the adults so that our students can thrive. “For our schools to be places where big and little people thrive, we need to reclaim our right to experience emotions and talk to each other about them. In doing so, we will find a source of energy, strength, and connection that would allow us to fulfill our purpose as educators.”
So dive into chapter 2 of Onward, Understand Emotions, knowing that you are doing your part to transform yourself and our world…it’s a win-win:)