What's Joy Got To Do With It?

Emily Dickinson said that March is a month full of expectation. For some, that expectation comes in the form of four-leaf clovers and pots of gold. For others, the expectation lies in the infinite possibilities of Pi Day (apple pie, chocolate pie, cherry pie, pecan pie, moon pie). Poet William Cullen Bryant reminds readers that March is also a month that comes with “wind and storm and changing skies.” Of course, that can really be any 24-hour period of weather for those of us here in Virginia Beach, right? More practically, March also springs us forward into Daylight Savings time on March 13th and we’re officially sprung into Spring on March 20th.

These moments are just a sprinkling of the myriad of diverse and expectant moments March may hold for you personally, but no matter which of these March moments you most look forward to, it is also a fabulous time to grow social awareness, one of the five core competencies stemming from Social and Emotional Learning. Using the VBCPS SEL Framework, our strategic framework, Compass to 2025, and the Graduate Profile as our guiding documents, let’s jump into that journey together.

In this issue:

• Three Key Messages About SEL

• How to Help the Skills of Social Awareness Take Root in Students of all Ages

• Elena Aguilar’s Approach for Building The Emotional Intelligence of a Team

• Plaza Middle Leverages Collaboration to Build DNA Models

• Professional Learning Opportunities

• Action for Happiness March Well-Being Calendar

In VBCPS, we have three core beliefs, or key messages about SEL:

• Key Message #1: Social-emotional learning helps people develop the essential skills they need to succeed in school and life.

• Key Message #2: Social-emotional learning is focused on creating a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students.

• Key Message #3: Social-emotional learning is about the well-being of young people and adults.

Each of these messages is further supported in the VBCPS SEL Message Maps. We will continue to highlight these key messages in each edition of the Joy Newsletter by providing strategies and showcasing work around the division that aligns with one of the five key SEL competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making, which are outlined in the VBCPS SEL Framework. In addition to the resources shared in this newsletter, school staff, central support teams, and PLCs interested in learning more about integrating SEL into their work can find professional learning support within the VBCPS SEL Learning Action Guide.

The VBCPS Graduate Profile envisions that every graduate will be future-ready, including among other attributes, that our students will be effective communicators and collaborators, as well as being personally and socially responsible. To inform the work of preparing future-ready students, we can use the key messages and the competencies found in the VBCPS SEL Framework. The first key message within the framework states that social-emotional learning helps people develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to succeed in school and life. The SEL competency of social awareness directly supports growth in the area of personal and social responsibility.

Central to social awareness is the ability to identify, understand and respect others’ emotions and thoughts. Transforming Education shares research that suggests that students with well-developed social awareness are better able to engage in constructive communication with their peers and resolve conflicts when they arise. They find great value in learning with and from peers and find support in the resources social networks and social connections provide. Students who have the knowledge and skills of social awareness are more likely to empathize with the perspectives of others, have stronger positive and mutually supportive relationships with classmates and teachers, exhibit fewer disruptive behaviors and experience overall greater academic success. Therefore, creating opportunities for our students to develop these skills is paramount, not only for their success as a student in the classroom, but also success in the workforce. A recent employer survey conducted by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills revealed that “four of the five most important skills for high school graduates entering the workforce are linked to social awareness: professionalism, collaboration, communication, and social responsibility.”

In the classroom, practices that help improve students’ social awareness include the building of positive relationships, increasing emotional intelligence, examining the perspective of others, and improving effective collaboration and cooperative learning. One strategy that supports all four of these social awareness practices is the use of active and constructive responses among students. After conducting research at the University of California, psychologist Shelly Gable categorized the ways respondents reacted to good news shared by others into four areas: active, passive, constructive, and destructive. Gable found that the active, constructive response oftentimes led to an even greater positive impact on the deliverer than the good news event itself and was a major factor in building a quality relationship between participants.

For more on Active Constructive Responding as a teacher, click here.

Other strategies in the Transforming Education Social Awareness toolkit include:

• Wise Critical Feedback

• Using Media to Recognize and Label Emotions

• Journaling to Understand Emotions

• Social Perspective Taking (includes developmentally staged activities for ages 3-18)

• Perspective-taking through historical and popular music

• Perspective-taking through biographies

Transforming Education recommends that when choosing strategies to use, teachers should think about what best aligns with your own teaching style, what is culturally relevant and what is age-appropriate. Each strategy shared in the TransformingEducation.org Social Awareness toolkit is labeled with the recommended age group.

The second key message in the VBCPS SEL Framework focuses on creating inclusive environments. Two of the key SEL competencies present in an inclusive team environment are the ability to understand others’ perspectives and recognize and respect differences. Just as an inclusive environment is crucial for students, it is equally important for adults. It is clear a work environment is inclusive when teams have collective emotional intelligence, defined by Elena Aguilar as “the knowledge and awareness we have about our feelings.”

Elena Aguilar identifies ways to create emotionally intelligent teams in chapter six of her book, The Art of Coaching Teams. She states “An emotionally intelligent team requires two things: norms and routines that support healthy behaviors, and a facilitator who encourages behaviors that increase the ability to respond constructively in emotionally uncomfortable situations.”

To foster emotionally intelligent teams and embrace discomfort, try one of Aguilar’s strategies below.

Strategy 1: Use a check-in as an “opportunity for team members to tell each other stories about who they are.”

Aguilar points out the importance of selecting check-in activities that allow participants “to get to know each other in deep and rich ways to further the work of the team.” To facilitate this, try a variation of the What's New strategy, located in the SEL Stockpile, below. This strategy emphasizes Social-Awareness and an inclusive learning environment as participants listen and understand others’ thoughts or bring awareness to happenings in the community or world that interest their colleagues.

For a copy of the template above, click HERE.

For a copy of the template above, click HERE.

Learn more practical strategies for fostering Emotionally Resilient Teams by reading Aguilar’s full list of strategies HERE.

If you give any of these strategies a try, post a picture on Twitter, tag @PGIVBCPS, and use #VBSEL & #SocialAwareness to be featured in this newsletter.

The third key message in the VBCPS SEL Message Maps focuses on the well-being of students. One skill needed for fostering the well-being of students is social awareness. Landmark Outreach (@LMKOutreach) believes that “A developed sense of social awareness allows for successful interactions with others based on reactions and modifications that take place during the interaction” and that “SEL skills should be taught explicitly and in a connected, interdisciplinary manner.” In the classroom, an opportunity for successful interactions presents itself through meaningful, content-based collaboration experiences.

This month we are excited to spotlight Alexandra Khalaf, 7th-grade Science Teacher & Amy Moore, Gifted Resource Teacher at Plaza Middle School. Ms. Moore shared that “We used a modified Argument-Driven Inquiry, ADI, to have students answer the question, “What is the structure of DNA?” The students read research and created claims that had to be supported with evidence and justifications. They worked in teams as “scientists” collaborating on the information and they were tasked to create a model of the DNA structure. Students used critical thinking and collaboration, both IB Approaches to Learning skills. They had to delegate and share responsibilities; negotiating effectively. They had to propose and evaluate a variety of solutions. They worked diligently using each person’s strengths to complete the task. Teamwork was critical for success!” In this connected, interdisciplinary example, students are collaborating by participating in discussions to build on each others’ strengths and ideas, key skills within the social awareness core competency in the VBCPS SEL Framework.

See the original Twitter post by clicking HERE.

Click HERE to learn more and download the calendar.

As you follow along with the calendar, tag @PGIVBCPS and use #VBSEL & #VBHasJoy.