Social Emotional Learning and Behavior Management

I am a firm believer in the idea that learning cannot happen if students are struggling with emotional or behavioral difficulties. As such, I spend much of the first weeks of school establishing expectations, structures, and boundaries so that my students feel safe to experience learning, make mistakes, ask questions and make connections. In my past school, I was a founding member of the school's SEL team which identified school wide social emotional needs, and initiated learning programs and school environment shifts which promoted an honest and optimistic framework for students to learn and practice such key aspects of the human experience as empathy for self and others, self expression and self control, positively interacting with others, and problem solving. Of course, this is one aspect of behavior management, and so I am also well versed and practiced in setting and following through with logical consequences and behavior plans when necessary.