Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and would not trust DCPS (where I have worked) with SEL. For one thing, it does have an element of character education/values which public schools won't drill deeply into (too scared). Yes, they will do anything "safe" which in DC means very lefty stuff, but they won't actually drill into ethical choices that might imply judgement/ boundaries. I have had extensive SEL training and been in great "SEL schools"--they are the ones that already had good programs in place vis a vis character education, counseling, positive discipline so SEL was not a huge lift. DCPS does not. Still, better than old posters from the 80s about being nice falling off the wall?

You do realize DCPS is broad right? DCPS pushes SEL on schools but not how to do it. So rather than trusting DCPS you must trust the school.

Lefty stuff? I guess we are saying the right doesn't believe in human values and rights now. And you must be new because DC is the left. People can get out if they dislike it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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 ...

SEL was the response to parents like you who probably threw in "mental health" on their banshee list of complaints.

?? SEL was the response to fact that kids with good emotional management are more successful in school and life.

- dp

way to miss the point

Anonymous wrote: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.

Then go private B. If you want a fake white history and to make your kids think real equality exists, spare us all and PAY for that fake reality.

I am a teacher and would not trust DCPS (where I have worked) with SEL. For one thing, it does have an element of character education/values which public schools won't drill deeply into (too scared). Yes, they will do anything "safe" which in DC means very lefty stuff, but they won't actually drill into ethical choices that might imply judgement/ boundaries. I have had extensive SEL training and been in great "SEL schools"--they are the ones that already had good programs in place vis a vis character education, counseling, positive discipline so SEL was not a huge lift. DCPS does not. Still, better than old posters from the 80s about being nice falling off the wall?

If done well SEL can be great, but it is challenging to implement in a virtual environment (as is anything). I get where OP is coming from, because actually SEL is currently making me very angry. AT my daughter's Middle School, the "SEL" mandate from Central Office usually translates into movies. Sometimes the movie can last more than one class period. Assuming their best intentions, I think that the teachers are trying to give the kids a break. They feel that the kids are working hard and that the situation of being in front of a screen all day sucks, it probably also sucks for the teacher, so why not have them enjoy a movie and check the "SEL" box too? Therefore my daughter endures an unengaging program for most of the day. At least half the time the supposed "synchronous instruction" is a waste of time with the teacher popping in for a few minutes and then leaving them with often mountains of work to do, which we catch up on during the weekend (which seems to me a sort of negative SEL messaging - "I don't really care about you. You are a box for me to check").

As for my elementary schooler, "SEL" takes place in the form of a weekly all-school meeting. There is more effort this time going into the SEL, and I encourage her to watch it every week, but she simply does not find it engaging and usually I cannot convince her to watch it. Because many children are skipping this meeting, emails every week come from the school reminding parents to have their children attend this vital "SEL" component. Again the effort really is there, with great programs planned. This is simply to say that online education is really not the most engaging, and maybe efforts should focus on core subjects.

Great teachers incorporate SEL into their teaching, without needing any help from Central Office. The elementary school teachers are doing a great job of this, and so are a couple of the middle school teachers. How it works is that the elementary school teachers want to make sure the child's camera is on. They want the child to write the answer to the math problems on the whiteboard, and they want to see that. When the child is obviously doing something non school related, they do not put up with that and will threaten to get in touch with the child's parents. I'm not sure if this qualifies exactly as "SEL", but the relationship is there, and it is real. Also when my child started in person, the kids loved doing their the self-portraits and were all the more engaged in their core subjects. At the Middle School level, the teachers doing the best with DL often take some of the class time warmly to greet each student. They engage the students throughout the class period and never abandon them. When virtual school is delayed by two hours, and class is at 9am, they send an email to their students and they still hold their class, because they know that their students need them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok if it's done well, adapts and the curriculum innovates. For my kids, it was extremely redundant and boring. I'm not sure either of them are approaching life and decision-making differently after years of it. A year of COVID and learning about resiliency and disappoint has probably done more for them.

As a teacher, I am ok with some integration into the classroom but I absolutely hate it being forced onto me professionally and the expectation that I practice SEL with my colleagues. I am a super introvert and I don't want to feel vulnerable, talk to my colleagues about my SEL needs and I don't want to feel pressured into participating in all the extra activities.

+1

I think making us do any time of SEL as adults is really inappropriate. I don’t want to spend meetings or PD time learning how I can manage stress and discussing my personal life and challenges with colleagues. I find it wholly unprofessional and something I should be expected to do.

Wow. If this is what your school expects you to do, then that's really inappropriate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1

but it’s not education - it’s pseudoscience at worse, poorly and partially delivered at best. if my kid needs therapy he’ll get it from a professional. and as a mom of a kid who has actual social issues at school, I can also assure you that they use “SEL” as window dressing, while failing to do the hard work of actually helping the kids who need it.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP teacher from early in the thread here. Though it’s really just given lip service at my school I heartily applaud schools that employ a school-wide consistent, evidence-based program (or at least ANY program that clearly is benefiting students). It is SO important to teach skills around emotional regulation!!! My particular school has fewer issues in this area but ALL schools and most humans could stand to work on these issues. Keep it up DCPS but give it the time and funding it needs. I like the idea of regular sessions or specials around it.

Having kids come from a school that does this just be careful what you wish for, I look back on the amount of time my kids spent on SEL as an opportunity cost. If there is some evidence based progressive curriculum with professional standards, goals, outcome measures, mastery, fine.

totally. I mean - just have the kids do yoga for 30 mins. at least that’s exercise and flexibility.

and moreover how can there be “mastery” for “emotional learning?” For untroubled kids, they naturally grow emotionally. for troubled kids, they need a lot more specific support that I don’t think a classroom teacher can/should do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP teacher from early in the thread here. Though it’s really just given lip service at my school I heartily applaud schools that employ a school-wide consistent, evidence-based program (or at least ANY program that clearly is benefiting students). It is SO important to teach skills around emotional regulation!!! My particular school has fewer issues in this area but ALL schools and most humans could stand to work on these issues. Keep it up DCPS but give it the time and funding it needs. I like the idea of regular sessions or specials around it.

Having kids come from a school that does this just be careful what you wish for, I look back on the amount of time my kids spent on SEL as an opportunity cost. If there is some evidence based progressive curriculum with professional standards, goals, outcome measures, mastery, fine.

totally. I mean - just have the kids do yoga for 30 mins. at least that’s exercise and flexibility.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok if it's done well, adapts and the curriculum innovates. For my kids, it was extremely redundant and boring. I'm not sure either of them are approaching life and decision-making differently after years of it. A year of COVID and learning about resiliency and disappoint has probably done more for them.

As a teacher, I am ok with some integration into the classroom but I absolutely hate it being forced onto me professionally and the expectation that I practice SEL with my colleagues. I am a super introvert and I don't want to feel vulnerable, talk to my colleagues about my SEL needs and I don't want to feel pressured into participating in all the extra activities.

this is actually a really important point. for someone who has been through trauma or is just very private/introverted, “SEL” techniques like meditations can actually be harmful. actual therapists and mediation teachers know that there is no one size fits all.

Anonymous wrote:PP teacher from early in the thread here. Though it’s really just given lip service at my school I heartily applaud schools that employ a school-wide consistent, evidence-based program (or at least ANY program that clearly is benefiting students). It is SO important to teach skills around emotional regulation!!! My particular school has fewer issues in this area but ALL schools and most humans could stand to work on these issues. Keep it up DCPS but give it the time and funding it needs. I like the idea of regular sessions or specials around it.

Having kids come from a school that does this just be careful what you wish for, I look back on the amount of time my kids spent on SEL as an opportunity cost. If there is some evidence based progressive curriculum with professional standards, goals, outcome measures, mastery, fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok if it's done well, adapts and the curriculum innovates. For my kids, it was extremely redundant and boring. I'm not sure either of them are approaching life and decision-making differently after years of it. A year of COVID and learning about resiliency and disappoint has probably done more for them.

As a teacher, I am ok with some integration into the classroom but I absolutely hate it being forced onto me professionally and the expectation that I practice SEL with my colleagues. I am a super introvert and I don't want to feel vulnerable, talk to my colleagues about my SEL needs and I don't want to feel pressured into participating in all the extra activities.

+1

I think making us do any time of SEL as adults is really inappropriate. I don’t want to spend meetings or PD time learning how I can manage stress and discussing my personal life and challenges with colleagues. I find it wholly unprofessional and something I should be expected to do.

I also find that if more adults got therapy we wouldn't have so many problems at work so sadly work is forced to do it.

What is this even supposed to mean? Exposing your personal vulnerability in a professional setting is foolish. The sad part is that adults go along with it and then complain when the information they willingly provided starts turning against them. Maybe this is why schools are so dysfunctional.

DP (actually OP). I actually don’t mind specific supports in the workplace to help resolve conflict, but totally agree that feel-good trainings on “resilience” or whatever the buzzword dubjour is are totally inappropriate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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 ...

SEL was the response to parents like you who probably threw in "mental health" on their banshee list of complaints.

huh? I know this because my child actually has mental health/social issues. SEL as delivered at out school neither helps him nor stops the other kids from being mean to him nor does it actually get teachers/admins to engage in evidence based practices to support him. But they sure do love to say “but we do SEL!!” whenever I bring an issue to him. And, I can guarantee that parents like you are precisely the ones who throw empathy etc out the window the second you think your precious child is in any way inconvenienced.

Anonymous wrote:PP teacher from early in the thread here. Though it’s really just given lip service at my school I heartily applaud schools that employ a school-wide consistent, evidence-based program (or at least ANY program that clearly is benefiting students). It is SO important to teach skills around emotional regulation!!! My particular school has fewer issues in this area but ALL schools and most humans could stand to work on these issues. Keep it up DCPS but give it the time and funding it needs. I like the idea of regular sessions or specials around it.

No. Teachers are not actually therapists or trained in CBT.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1

but it’s not education - it’s pseudoscience at worse, poorly and partially delivered at best. if my kid needs therapy he’ll get it from a professional. and as a mom of a kid who has actual social issues at school, I can also assure you that they use “SEL” as window dressing, while failing to do the hard work of actually helping the kids who need it.

spoken like a true karen who doesn't get she's part of a system where not all kids have access to private therapy and the only thing they get is in school (aren't you screaming for IPL)

and its pseudoscience? really? eye roll at anyone who thinks teaching kids to breathe to calm down is pseudoscience.

my child benefits from it greatly. and i can see how in DL he's not getting it. i need to step it up and do it with him but work, chores, reg stress and i forget

oh ffs. if the children are traumatized and need therapy then they need therapy, provided through the school as part of an IEP or 504. Lessons on “take a deep breath” delivered by a BA are not going to help.

maybe you could have benefited from some SEL in your younger years.

not everyone has access to therapy like you think they do

I mean this is the whole point I’m making. Rather than delivering accesible education (including effectively addressing individual behavioral issues) or delivering actual therapy, they’re giving a 20 minute lesson on “take a breath” and putting up a poster on empathy, and then ostentatiously blabbering about “SEL.”