Every morning, no matter how she's
feeling, Emily Day looks each of her third-grade
students in the eye and greets them with a
smile as they enter her classroom. It is a simple
idea, but the effect it has on her students is
transformational.
"They're cheerful when they walk in," Day says.
"And I can check with them and say, 'Hey, are
you ok?' if I see them come in a little off. It allows
them the space to say, 'I had a rough morning,'
which is important because we expect our
students to come in ready to go, but it's hard to
come in ready to go every morning."
This morning greeting is just one of many ways
Day incorporates social and emotional learning
(SEL) into her classroom. SEL, an initiative that
teaches students how to manage their emotions
and respond to the emotions of others, is growing
in popularity, and Austin ISD, where Day works,
is one of a handful of districts across the country
leading the movement.
Austin Takes the SEL Plunge
Austin's Zilker Elementary isn't your typical neighborhood
school. The campus is covered with gardens and art projects
(one garden is a declared "child-life habitat"). Classrooms
include "peace areas," quiet places where students can sit alone
to calm down and reflect, or invite a peer to resolve a conflict
using a "peace path," or conflict resolution script. The school
hosts Mindfulness Mondays, when parents, teachers, and
students meet to practice calming exercises. And unlike most
children across Texas, Zilker students couldn't identify "por-
table brown" on a color palette. In an effort to de-institutional-
ize the campus, Zilker's portable buildings have been painted
vibrant blues, oranges, and yellows.
Zilker's staff and parents have worked hard to create a warm
and student-friendly environment. So it's not surprising that
an approach like SEL would thrive here.
Austin ISD instituted its SEL program six years ago, in
partnership with CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic,
Social, and Emotional Learning), an organization that works
to advance SEL in K-12 education. The rollout started with
just a handful of schools, but by the 2015-16 school year, all 130
of the district's schools were on board. Zilker has been a part of
this program for five years now.
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