February S.E.L.F. Newsletter
Your Monthly Toolbox for Social & Emotional Learning
Responsible Decision Making
You might not spend very much time thinking about your outfit or your drive to work, but you make decisions every step of the way. Cornell University research shows that the average adult makes “about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day,” including an average of 226 decisions about food, reports Frank Graf at UNC-TV.These small choices are mostly subconscious, but they reflect years of practice in choosing your own path. While you have these years of experience, kids don’t. They have very few choices and don’t have the tools to approach these decisions in a logical way. The sooner students can learn decision-making skills, the better prepared they will be to face major challenges that extend well beyond taking the highway on a morning commute. Research support that having decision-making skills can help students cope with anxiety as they age.
There are some ways you can give your students the ability to make decisions on their own.
Here are a few tips for doing it right.
1. Let Your Students Lead the Classroom
Teaching students good decision-making can be as simple as letting them be in control of how they learn.
2. Discuss Various Scenarios and Solutions With Students
One of the best decision-making skills kids can have is to come up with multiple solutions and options to reach an end goal.
3. Simulate Real-World Scenarios in the Classroom
In the classroom, budgeting can be recreated with “school dollars.” Students can earn money for good work and buy perks like choosing the games at recess.
4. Let Students Live with Their Choices
Consequences teach them to think through their ideas and understand that choices can have both positive and negative results.
5. Step Back from the Decision-Making Process as a Whole
One of the best things you can do as a parent or teacher is to take a step back from the decision-making process. Let your child or student weigh the options on their own mental scales and determine the best way to proceed.
For more of this article, visit https://blog.ozobot.com/teaching-strategies/why-we-need-more-decision-making-lessons-in-the-classroom/
"I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. ~Stephen Covey
Students and Staff at Rivers Edge Elementary Celebrated Kindness Week by being the "I" in KIND and participating in daily acts of kindness.
Students at Windmill Point Elementary are being welcomed to school everyday with a reminder to practice Kindness!
Students at Floresta Elementary shared Kindness Notes with the students and staff to spread kindness across their campus and beyond.
Collaborative Learning
Students in Ms. La Terra's leadership techniques class engage in collaborative learning structures as part of the School Connect SEL curriculum. Students participate in creation of a classroom contract to emphasize student voice and community building.
Relationship Building
Ms. La Terra prioritizes building relationships with her students throughout her classroom structures including creating a student interest survey that she highlights to build connections as she manages response rates in her classroom.
Celebrating Success
Ms. La Terra takes time to celebrate with her students and allow them to share their successes with each other to create a relationship centered learning community.
Please join us in SELebrating Ms. La Terra and the amazing work she is doing with her students!
School-Wide Responsible Decision Making Ideas
Secondary Responsible Decision Making Resources
Important Dates This Month
Parent Connection
The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning defines responsible decision making as “the ability to make constructive and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on considerations of ethical standards, safety concerns, the realistic evaluation of the consequences that stem from actions and the well-being of self and others.”
There are simple ways that we can work on responsible decision making with our children. Small, consistent moments of practice and reflection over time will help fine-tune a child’s ability to think through consequences and the effects of various choices and actions. A child doesn’t “Just say no to drugs,” without a great many small experiences of saying no to minor issues of concern. Typically children do not act as “upstanders,” sticking up for their friends who are being bullied, unless they have received coaching, practice and support for doing so. Here are some ways you can reflect on your relationship with your children and how you might incorporate practice, reflection and coaching on responsible decision making.
- Articulate your love and acceptance for the child in the midst of poor choices.
- Reflect on your language.
- Ask good questions.
- Talk about your own thought process.
- Initiate family problem solving.
- Look for ways to show care.
- Use and discuss consequences.
- Discuss children’s and young adult literature.
Department of Social & Emotional Learning
Email: sel@stlucieschools.org
Website: https://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/departments/student-services/social-emotional-learning/
Location: 9461 Brandywine Lane Port St. Lucie, FL 34986
Phone: 7724685804
Facebook: facebook.com/stluciesel