anyone else sick of “SEL”?

[Anonymous]

I’m so tired of the lip service paid to “SEL” by DCPS and our elementary. It’s a buzzword and huge timewaster. It makes teachers and admins believe there is some kind of magic didactic lesson they can give to achieve “empathy” or whatever; but then they completely fail to invest in actual evidence-based practices to help kids with behavioral issues, bullying, or social skills problems. And of course, the utter irony of touting “SEL” while refusing to actually let kids come to school ...

[Anonymous]

No. But I am sick of morons blathering all over DCUM about how they are the real education experts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. But I am sick of morons blathering all over DCUM about how they are the real education experts.

+1

[Anonymous]

100 💯 agree with you OP, and I’m a teacher. I do truly think the intentions are good, but not much change takes place in practice. But maybe change sometimes starts with lip service?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:they completely fail to invest in actual evidence-based practices to help kids with behavioral issues

The content they have students doing is right out of fringe twitter activist bubbles, right brain vs left brain pseudoscience, mindfulness videos with a guy who does not even speak proper English, and EVERYTHING is about your identity.

[Anonymous]

No. My child’s favorite class is her SEL class.

[Anonymous]

Yes! So meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Uh you realize not every school does the same thing right? So just because your school sucks doesn’t mean they all do. And obviously we do need SEL, with all these shootings and our crime rate being so high.

You might not think it’s important at your little privileged school but it is. It’s important for all children to learn not to be adults with no sense of reality and emotional regulation skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh you realize not every school does the same thing right? So just because your school sucks doesn’t mean they all do. And obviously we do need SEL, with all these shootings and our crime rate being so high.

You might not think it’s important at your little privileged school but it is. It’s important for all children to learn not to be adults with no sense of reality and emotional regulation skills.

This. Some schools are doing amazing work with this. Check out Langley’s Conscious Discipline program. Instead of one ineffectual SEL class, it’s a whole school approach. Truly ground breaking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh you realize not every school does the same thing right? So just because your school sucks doesn’t mean they all do. And obviously we do need SEL, with all these shootings and our crime rate being so high.

You might not think it’s important at your little privileged school but it is. It’s important for all children to learn not to be adults with no sense of reality and emotional regulation skills.

NP. I think SEL is super important, but I’d really like to hear about its use with the most unregulated kids, such as those in DCPS’ emotional disabilities self contained classes. The only folks I hear raving about SEL are super parents of kids who seemed to learn these skills at home.

[Anonymous]

I’m our school at least it’s like health class for the mind. Learning to identify feelings, the biological mechanics, taking about how to use your body to manage emotions, learning to put yourself in others shoes. I think it’s high time behavior and social health is taught alongside physical Heath and academic skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m our school at least it’s like health class for the mind. Learning to identify feelings, the biological mechanics, taking about how to use your body to manage emotions, learning to put yourself in others shoes. I think it’s high time behavior and social health is taught alongside physical Heath and academic skills.

+1

Especially now that we know what those traumas throughout childhood do to a child’s ability to learn and regulate their emotions. We want to educate them academically but also help them become happy, adjusted adults.

[Anonymous]

SEL is very important when it's done well. However, many schools don't do it well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh you realize not every school does the same thing right? So just because your school sucks doesn’t mean they all do. And obviously we do need SEL, with all these shootings and our crime rate being so high.

You might not think it’s important at your little privileged school but it is. It’s important for all children to learn not to be adults with no sense of reality and emotional regulation skills.

Wait - In other threads, we’re told it’s “disgusting” to assert that some parents are not competent to make the best decisions for their children regarding IPL. But here, PP criticizes us for not recognizing that some students won’t learn basic skills of adulthood unless the schools step in. So confusing.

[Anonymous]

If I wanted my child indoctrinated with specific ideology I would go to private.

The public school job is to teach you how to think, not what to think.