Social Emotional Learning and the Math Curriculum
I Can’t DO IT!! I’m not good enough! I’m not smart enough!!
We’ve all heard this from our children and it tears at our very core. Our hearts break as we hear this.
We’ve all heard this from our children and it tears at our very core. Our hearts break as we hear this.
Social Emotional Learning is about learning through the stressors of everyday life. We practice how to deal with problems, find motivation and perseverance even when we cannot see through to the answers of the problems in front of us.
The math curriculum is the perfect place in the school environment for Social Emotional Learning to be placed. We all have opinions about math and whether or not we are “good at it”. Learning in the early years that the answer is often in the struggle will help the children throughout their lives. Learning that things are not always easy but are always worth it will help to build the grit and perseverance children need throughout their time in school to be successful citizens in our communities and in their homes.
The math curriculum is the perfect place in the school environment for Social Emotional Learning to be placed. We all have opinions about math and whether or not we are “good at it”. Learning in the early years that the answer is often in the struggle will help the children throughout their lives. Learning that things are not always easy but are always worth it will help to build the grit and perseverance children need throughout their time in school to be successful citizens in our communities and in their homes.
Watch this 1 minute video by Jo Boaler,“The Importance of Struggle”
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“Researchers also found that there really are no limits to what people can do.” |
Social Emotional Learning in our math curriculum has so much to do with this video. All learning is a struggle.
“messy problems and seeming chaos may culminate in beautiful, sometimes surprising, results that are both simple and generalizable. Most important, the beauty of mathematics is experienced when exciting breakthroughs in problem solving are made and an air of relief and awe is enjoyed. The two aspects of mathematics, aesthetics and application, are deeply interconnected.” |
Learning happens when we are in our “zone of proximal development”. The Zone of Proximal Development was first expressed by a man named Lev Vygotsky. He believed that if you gave a child a task a little beyond their capabilities but within the realm of what they already knew and understood, they could, with support, push themselves to learn the new understandings.
For example, if a child knows how to count to ten, we can begin to teach them the addends that have a sum of 10 as 1+9=10, 2+8=10, etc. Social Emotional Learning focuses on students being in their zone of proximal development, understanding that their task is new and might be difficult, but it is achievable with the support of the those around them |
What Does this Look Like?
Children will learn manage their emotions by expressing what they know, in this case, how to count to ten.
The child will then recognize the source of any stress, here it is how to add to ten.
They will then think creatively about how they can solve this problem, perhaps by selecting tools and/or practicing strategies made available to them.
The key is to find just the right amount of challenge but not so much that the child shuts down or cannot communicate effectively both what they know and what they are looking for in support.
Social emotional learning helps the children develop an awareness of their own emotions and how they can use them to effectively complete the tasks in front of them.
Children will learn manage their emotions by expressing what they know, in this case, how to count to ten.
The child will then recognize the source of any stress, here it is how to add to ten.
They will then think creatively about how they can solve this problem, perhaps by selecting tools and/or practicing strategies made available to them.
The key is to find just the right amount of challenge but not so much that the child shuts down or cannot communicate effectively both what they know and what they are looking for in support.
Social emotional learning helps the children develop an awareness of their own emotions and how they can use them to effectively complete the tasks in front of them.
Social Emotional learning is recognizing the emotions and frustrations of ourselves and others. It is figuring out how to handle these and finding a solution no matter how frustrating.
Clip from the Community for Children Organization
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Teaching Social Emotional Learning in the math curriculum will help our children build an understanding of their capabilities now and into the future.
It will teach them that all learning starts from where they are and what they know and builds upon this in order to create new learnings. They will, in time, grow to understand how to deal with and manage negative or anxious emotions with respect to learning in school and learning in math. |
How Can our Parents and Guardians Help Children Develop these Skills?
Share our struggles. Help our children understand that not everything is easy but together we can come up with plans for solutions.
Allow children to struggle a bit. When they are at the playground, don't always tell them how to get onto a structure, hove them come up with their own solutions.
Allow children to use their own solutions. Especially when they are not the ones you would have chosen. Let them figure out the answer that works best for them.
Ask questions when they are stuck, let your children tell you what is bothering them and how they can solve it or what they need.
When they are really stuck, give them 2 options and allow them to choose what one they would like to try.
Talk! Talk about everything that happened during their day.
Listen to them. How did your child solve the problem on the school yard or at their extra curricular activity. Ask them what they might do next time that was different.
Show them the math in their daily lives. Cook with them, divide cookies for family gifts. Count the granola bars and divide them up for school lunches, when will you have to buy a new package? When they ask you a multiplication question, tell them how you might solve the question rather then giving an answer.
Look for the learning in the failures. The best way to learn something is to fail. What didn't work? What can you do differently next time? How can you fix this? These are all questions to ask your child.
Share our struggles. Help our children understand that not everything is easy but together we can come up with plans for solutions.
Allow children to struggle a bit. When they are at the playground, don't always tell them how to get onto a structure, hove them come up with their own solutions.
Allow children to use their own solutions. Especially when they are not the ones you would have chosen. Let them figure out the answer that works best for them.
Ask questions when they are stuck, let your children tell you what is bothering them and how they can solve it or what they need.
When they are really stuck, give them 2 options and allow them to choose what one they would like to try.
Talk! Talk about everything that happened during their day.
Listen to them. How did your child solve the problem on the school yard or at their extra curricular activity. Ask them what they might do next time that was different.
Show them the math in their daily lives. Cook with them, divide cookies for family gifts. Count the granola bars and divide them up for school lunches, when will you have to buy a new package? When they ask you a multiplication question, tell them how you might solve the question rather then giving an answer.
Look for the learning in the failures. The best way to learn something is to fail. What didn't work? What can you do differently next time? How can you fix this? These are all questions to ask your child.
Work Cited:
Harvard Graduate School Of Education. https://www.youcubed.org/.
Committee for Children. https://www.cfchildren.org/.
Ontario Ministry Of Education: Math Curriculum 2020. https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-mathematics/context/the-strands-in-the-mathematics-curriculum.
Saikaley, Nadine. Vice Principal Hilson Avenue Public School
McLeod, Saul. Zone of Proximal Development. https://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html#:~:text=What%20Is%20the%20Zone%20of,is%20%E2%80%9Cclose%E2%80%9D%20to%20mastering.
Harvard Graduate School Of Education. https://www.youcubed.org/.
Committee for Children. https://www.cfchildren.org/.
Ontario Ministry Of Education: Math Curriculum 2020. https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-mathematics/context/the-strands-in-the-mathematics-curriculum.
Saikaley, Nadine. Vice Principal Hilson Avenue Public School
McLeod, Saul. Zone of Proximal Development. https://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html#:~:text=What%20Is%20the%20Zone%20of,is%20%E2%80%9Cclose%E2%80%9D%20to%20mastering.