Course Name

Social and Emotional Learning

Contact Hours: 15

Course Description

This course is for teachers, parents and anyone involved in helping young people with their learning. The course covers the basics of - what it is; why it is important in schools and in the home today. It also provides information on the concept of Emotional Intelligence and how it affects the learning and basic functioning. Participants will understand the connection between emotions, learning and how behavior patterns develop and therefore how to remove the emotional blocks to learning. This combines some basic aspects of counseling in the classroom and in the home, but it goes beyond that. Focus will be on creating a supportive, nurturing, non-threatening environment to enhance learning.

Outcome

The student will: Understand the process of learning- how information is carried to the brain and how the brain responds. Understand how emotions affect this process of learning. Explore ways of improving his/her methods of teaching by enhancing the emotional climate of the learning environment. Explore ways of improving the social and emotional climate in the home and the parenting process.

Assessment

The student will complete a brief essay-type assignment at the end of each lesson. These will be reviewed by a course instructor. Students acquiring an overall percentage of 70 and above will be considered to have passed the course.

Outline

Lesson Plans Introduction to Social and Emotional Learning. This lesson introduces the topic of SEL. It explains how emotions affect learning and why including SEL in the curriculum is important for both the teacher and the student. Understanding emotions:Defining emotions is difficult. However it is necessary to have some understanding of what the term means in order to include it in SEL programs. This lesson presents a compilation of how some of the experts define emotions and feelings. The process of learning:This lesson describes how the body takes in information, transports it to the brain and processes it there. It also describes how emotions affect this process. In addition it helps to understand how behavior patterns develop as a result of the processing in the brain. Emotionally intelligent parenting: This lesson is specifically for applying the theories and concepts to bringing up children. The lesson covers what the term means and how to be an emotionally intelligent parent. There are many well designed SEL programs that vary widely in their focus and approach. However there are some basic skills that most SEL experts have agreed on should be included in an SEL program. This lesson will examine these skills and offer a sample of activities commonly included in SEL programs for you to try in your learning environment