Welcome to module two of the third course of the University of Colorado at Boulder's MOOC titled, The Teacher and Social and Emotional Learning. In this course, we consider how we might expand on SEL programs for students through greater attention to issues of identity and culture, as well as power and privilege. In the first module, we explored the tension between approaching SEL as a means of obtaining a better understanding of ourselves, and the way we move through the world, and the potential for SEL to be used as a means of managing, or controlling students bodies, emotions, behaviors, and interactions. In this second module, titled Culture, Context, and SEL, we explore in what ways notions of power and control are present in SEL, and consider how we might expand the skills promoted to be more culturally inclusive. Largely, the field of SEL recognizes the need for teachers to adjust their instruction to best meet the needs of their students. Almost all programs include a sentence, or two about how the teacher should adjust the material to fit the backgrounds, or culture of their students. And yet, as we will explore in more detail in modules four and five, the skills and abilities taught in SEL programs predominantly reflect white middle-class norms of behavior and interaction, but present them as universal. For example, present in many SEL programs is the expectation that students should look someone in the eye when they are being spoken to. In some cultures, looking someone in the eye who is older or is in a superior position could be viewed as disrespectful, creating a disconnect between preferred norms of interaction in school and at home or in a community. The issue is not the disconnect itself, as social norms and expectations differ from place to place. Rather, the issue is that the skills and abilities taught in most SEL programs reflect a white middle-class norm, but do not name them as such. When these skills are presented as universal, it privileges these forms of interactions as correct, and other behaviors as deviations. What we seek to explore in this module is the possibility of structuring SEL with these questions embedded in it. For example, instead of saying as a statement of fact that we universally show respect to someone who is talking to us by looking them in the eye, make a conversation. Consider asking your students what are some of the ways we show respect, show we are listening, show we were attentive, when someone is speaking to us. In a class with students of different cultures and backgrounds, imagine the robust conversation that could be had about different ways of showing respect in different places and circumstances. The first reading for this week, Locating Social and Emotional Learning in Schooled Environments: A Vygotskian Perspective on Learning as Unified, critiques the prevalent approach to SEL as largely individualistic, behavioral, and acultural. Which the authors argue is a misreading of the origins of SEL, which were based in community and relationship. The authors use Vygotsky, a prominent social cultural theorist writing in Russia in the mid 20th century, to highlight the significant role of the social environment in schooling, and thus to push back against the framing of SEL as individualistic, acultural, and fragmented. As you read, consider the merits of the author's arguments. On what grounds do they claim that current SEL programming is acultural and individualistic? How does this jive with your experience? Additionally, how does Vygotsky's unified and profoundly social conceptualization of learning offer a new way forward for SEL? The second reading for this week is a 2015 news article by Zaidee Stavely, which describes a mother's experience advocating for school's responsiveness to students affected by violence. Knowing that trauma and violence are a part of many students lived experiences, and disproportionately impact students of color and students in poverty, what are we doing in schools to attend to students emotions in response to exposure to trauma? As you read this piece, consider how we might expand SEL to better respond to students who have been affected by trauma. In what ways is SEL currently equipped to handle this, and in what ways does it fall short? Next, we turn to a 2015 podcast narrated by Kavitha Cardoza in which she explores the realities of attending school for students with severe anxiety. As you listen and read, recall the last reading about trauma, and consider similar questions. What is the connection between emotion, experience, and academic learning? How can SEL be used as a tool to attend to difficult emotional experiences, such as trauma or anxiety, in addition to being responsive to common feelings such as frustration or anger? The first video for this week is called, Breaking the Silence, and it is part of a larger initiative, A Queer Endeavor, run by doctors, Bethy Leonardi and Sara Staley. This project supports schools and teachers to be affirming of gender and sexual diversity. As you watch, consider your own experience with gender and sexual diversity in schools. Why is it important to affirm this component of students identities in school-based contexts? What supports does your school already provide, and what more would you like to see put in place? How would you characterize the connection to SEL?
