AP Corner

Social Emotional Learning

The late, great Maya Angelou once argued that we evaluate our relationships with everyone all the time by subconsciously asking the following four questions:

     1. Do you see me?

     2. Do you care that I'm here?

     3. Am I enough for you or do you need me to be better in some way?

     4. Can I tell that I'm special to you by the way that you look at me?

Every day, our students and families are sizing us up. They are asking themselves these questions and answering them based on our actions. And for many of our students who have been through trauma, they're searching for any action that equate to a "no" to any of these questions. 

The hard part of this is that we all have our own lives to contend with which impact our daily feelings. We have our own joys and challenges of daily life. So how do we possibly leave our personal emotions at the door and provide our students and families with a culture that always answers "yes" to the questions above?

The answer is simple, but not easy. Self-care. We need to make sure we're caring for ourselves so that we have space to care for others. In one of their best articles of 2018, ASCD Express gives a few strategies to ensure we are always in the state of mind to make sure our students can answer the questions above with a "yes." They are:

     a. Practice mindful breathing

     b. The Three "Ts" Daily Activity-- practicing mindfulness in any of the following breaks in your day (tea

          break, transitional time, toilet time (I know-- weird)

     c. Seeing yourselves in others

Want to learn more about these strategies? Check out the following article from ASCD Express: http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol14/num04/Social-Emotional-Learning-Starts-with-Adults.aspx

Reminders and Deadlines:

Grades 3-5: Math Interim Data Talks are this week. Please be sure to have parts 1 and 2 of the data analysis worksheets completed prior to your data talk.

Grades 3-5: ICAs are coming up! Our ICA prep meeting is on February 22 @ 3:30.