Being taught not caught in Social Emotional Learning
By: Laura N
Tags: Schools, Physical Health, Mental Health, Social Emotional Learning, Teachers

I recently attended an online webinar that gave educators a deeper knowledge on how we can implement, plan and assess Social Emotional Learning in the Physical Education classroom. One quote that was mentioned really stood out to me, and it was “They need to be taught, not caught.”

The Collaborative for Social Emotional Learning defines SEL as “the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible decisions.”

Our newly updated 2019 Ontario Curriculum, Strand A: Social Emotional Learning, guides educators to build understanding for mental health literacy and enhance opportunities for connections between mental and physical health. As educators we strive to meet the following goals:

Promote positive mental health, equity, safety, and inclusion.

We strive to reduce stigma and encourage the help-seeking child.

We hope to gain the ability to identify students in need, and to instill preventative teaching practices and measures against high risk groups.

We work to reduce the internalizing of stress/depression, and the externalizing of violence/aggression.

The fact of the matter is, if you are doing these things, without even knowing it, you are already implementing SEL. As research shows, SEL skills are linked to academic performance, resilience, coping and social development. Now, as a Health and Physical Education teacher with a passion for the mental wellness of all children, these categories seem to fit right in with my curriculum. A stereotype that many people, even other teachers, give to the Physical Educator, is that we simply roll the balls out and let kids shoot around for an hour while we sit back. The truth is, there is structure, and a curriculum that needs to be met, just like any other academic subject.

Going back to the quote I first mentioned, “They need to be taught, not caught”, makes me think of a situation that occurred not too long ago. A student was working on his movement competence by learning how to perform a lay up. This student was beginning to show anger due to the fact that he missed the shot. His emotion began to shift from focus to frustration. Now, what some might say or think in this situation is “well, just sit him out, he’s not ready”, “he’s probably distracting the other kids”, “his attitude is annoying, send him to the back of the line if he’s going to act this way”. The truth is, I had in fact caught this student. This makes you feel like you are not doing your job well enough, or that you had not taught the student properly. Fact is, we can’t let his frustration rub off on us, teaching a student Social Emotional Learning skills will not happen or latch on in one day, it will take some patience.

SEL skills in the Physical Education classroom are often taught in concept, by means of tactical solutions. Another thing to keep in mind is that SEL skills in relation to movement competence will constantly shift with the developing child. Based on the SEL expectations in our current Ontario Curriculum, students will develop the following:

A sense of SELF (A1.5) as they become more successful performing various skills. Students will begin to feel comfortable moving in specific directions, utilizing certain muscle groups and reacting to others in gameplay.

(A1.5) as they become more successful performing various skills. Students will begin to feel comfortable moving in specific directions, utilizing certain muscle groups and reacting to others in gameplay. Learn to be aware of their EMOTIONS (A1.1) during gameplay so they will have a better chance of being able to practice self control. As per my example earlier, anger can easily cause students to lose focus quickly, hindering their performance.

(A1.1) during gameplay so they will have a better chance of being able to practice self control. As per my example earlier, anger can easily cause students to lose focus quickly, hindering their performance. Learn to refocus and be “in the moment” when faced with a challenge. An example of this might be how they were able to regain possession in a volleyball game after losing 5 points in a row. We would call this COPING (A1.2) in order to develop personal resilience.

(A1.2) in order to develop personal resilience. And finally students will develop RELATIONSHIP SKILLS (A1.4) and a sense of belonging in a 1–1 or group situation. Students learn to respond to social cues and demonstrate mutual respect. For example, teaching our students not to speak when their opponent is serving the birdie in badminton, or applying non verbal cues to communicate with a teammate in a basketball game.

So as you can see, reframing negative thoughts, practicing optimism and perseverance all sit within the core of our SEL tool boxes. How we wish to implement and allow our students to use their tool box may look different depending on what subject we teach, or where the student is developmentally. However, we all have the same end goal in mind, and that is to provide our kids with regular opportunities to apply the aforementioned skills in order to support physical and mental health.