02.07.2021

Café & Educação brings work done in the Social and Emotional Learning classes

By Matheus Alves

In the last Café & Educação of the 1st semester of 2021, in collaboration with Ana Luiza Pereira, Student Well-being Center coordinator, teacher Denise Max presented her work in the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) classes to Elementary School students I (Y1 to Y5).

Before dealing specifically with the SEL classes, the speakers highlighted the values ​​and mission of the school, which guide the work at Beacon, even more, when it comes to the newly created Student Well-Being Center area, from which the classes of SEL are part. The Convivere+ Ethical Coexistence program was used as an example to illustrate this. The program, which aims to build a more cooperative socio-moral environment, provides training for all employees, both pedagogical and administrative.

To introduce the discussion about what Social and Emotional Learning is, the American organization CASEL, the main SEL study center globally, was introduced. It defends the importance of social-emotional work through the development of five main competencies: self-knowledge, self-regulation, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

“Socio-emotional learning is an integral component of education and human development. It is the process by which children, young adults, and adults acquire and apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, achieve personal and collective goals, feel and demonstrate empathy for others, and establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and careful decisions,” says Denise.

Thus, the teacher presented the themes of the 1st semester, which they will work on in the 2nd semester. Denise explained that they are categorized but interconnected, returning to subjects frequently dealt with previously or working simultaneously on more than one topic in addition to exposing the characteristics of her classes and the methods used, such as conversation circles, literature, role play, hypothetical situations, videos, games and group work.

In the end, before releasing participants for questions and comments, the speakers showed them that socio-emotional skills could be taught, practiced, and learned and that they have already seen the results of this work in the students’ speeches.