A recent survey cited "the pandemic and a greater focus on racial injustice as driving the rise in interest in social and emotional learning in their schools."

​Social Emotional learning is not new. At the heart of SEL, is an understanding that a stressed brain is not learning. If our students are coming into the classroom in a state of anxiety or fear or hunger or if they feel the classroom isn't an emotionally safe space for them, they will not learn. Their amygdala is hyper focused on keeping them safe. Learning about the distributive property or the Mexican-American war, or whatever your class is focused on, is not a top priority for that student.

Your teacher training toolbox has to include a few tools to take the emotional temperature of the your students and find ways to get it to a place where learning can take place.  Understanding the basics of how the brain processes emotions can help to move your students out of the stressed stage and into the learning stage. 

Here's a 5 minute strategy to get your students into the learning stage:
​1. High five each other for showing up.
2. Slow deep breathing to calm your nervous system
3. Find something you're grateful for today
4. Share something you're excited about
5. Remind students that most emotions last 90 seconds; it's the rumination that keeps us stuck in the feeling.

Watch Grey Matters on Vimeo today: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/Greymattersdocumentary

To help your students successfully move information from short term memory, i.e.. what you taught today, into long term memory, i.e. retrieving it during another class, on a related subject, or for a test in a few weeks from now, try these: ​​
​
1. Art
Studies have shown, when art is incorporated into content, it increases retention, and retrieval. Think of it this way - you're offering your students a different way to remember the information. Maybe it's a flow chart to visualize process, or a funny comic strip (complete with stick figures) to map out complex sequences.  

Still not sure where to start?

This list of graphic organizers might help.  Graphic organizers help to organize content heavy instruction, into manageable, bite-sized pieces. 

2. Consistent Note Taking

Taking notes is key.  But what does it mean to have good notes? Start with giving your students a format for note taking, outlining the central idea at the beginning of the lesson and the goals for the section. This helps to narrow their focus and outline the expectations.  Recommend a two column method - one column for making notes, and the second for the questions generated by the notes.  Build in a few minutes where students can share their questions; this will help you to understand both their knowledge gaps and their perspective.  

This format is from Cornell University and while it's recommended for high school and up, I think it's easily adapted to early elementary and middle school year.

3. Relevancy and Recall

The more you can connect information to real-world examples, or things that are relevant to your students, the greater the likelihood it will be remembered. Things make more sense when we have some degree of personal connection, we can discern a similarity, or connect it something we already know. That's why, when we are explaining something, we usually say, "It's kind of like...", in an attempt to connect the new, to the known.

In this clip, from the trailer of Grey Matters, at second 0:33, Zoe talks about wanting things to be more connected, to see the bigger picture.  

4. Active Retrieval 

Encourage students to quiz themselves.  Whether it's covering up the information and trying to remember everything on a list or using flashcards where the definition is on one side and the vocabulary word on the other, or whatever the content lends itself. Additionally, work in quizzes into your instruction, as well as, review time.  

Read more about active retrieval practices here.

​When it comes to long term memory incorporate the visual arts into your lesson; offer students a choice of how they would like to demonstrate their knowledge in a visual format - maybe it's a graphic organizer of some kinds, a poem, or a drawing.  Consistent note taking is key; ensure students know the objectives of the unit study. Following on this, illustrate the connection of what they are learning to what they already know. And finally, encourage active retrieval practices or quizzes. 

Share your in-class practices in the comments.