[DataDoxy]

I came across an article called "How Social-Emotional Learning Transform Classrooms" from a a group of researchers from the University of California, Berkley. I thought you (or your child's teacher) may be interested in it.



Inside the article, was this story:


"This student came to me with a core of defiance—she would rip up her papers, run away, and be quite obstinate. Most teachers would have labeled her oppositional-defiant, created a big file on her, and sent her to a counselor. Because I’m trying to embody SEL (social emotional learning), I chose to be calm, persistent, caring, and kind with her. I gave her permission to use a “feeling wheel” to label her emotion, and then sit in the “peace place” until she was ready to join the rest of the class. It gave her the power to know that she didn’t need to act out in order to avoid a task. She started to open up to me and tell me why she was so sad and disappointed. It took about two months to turn her around – so that instead of acting out, she could tell me her story or draw a picture, then let the situation go and bounce away.
I learned that, even though it can be hard to not take a child’s behavior personally, when you are mindful, you realize that the bad behavior is a cry for help. I think of a quote I read in a book: “When a child gives you a noose, you throw back a lifesaver.” Children will give you a noose to hang them with because they believe in their own worthlessness and they expect that you will, too. They don’t expect to trust adults or that someone really cares about them. This child is in second grade now and she’s mostly bouncing and happy because she no longer needs to express her pain by misbehaving. She’s also become quite a little writer, expressing very deep and profound things, showing a wisdom beyond her years in her ability to process her emotions."


Found at http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/arti...rms_classrooms