May 2, 2023

AIL 620: Learner Literacy

Susan ChenPresented by

Kindergarten Teacher, Shepherd, Experienced Learner

My Community of LearnersIn my school, my students are taught to be Respectful, Responsible, and Safe. My classroom rules reflect this:

1. We keep our hands, feet, and other objects to ourselves.

2. When Mrs. Chen is talking, we are not talking.

3. We always do our best!

How do Rules help my community of Learners?

According to Richard Davidson,“Education that shapes the child's brain and likely produces these kinds of alterations lay the foundation for all future learning for emotion regulation and for social functioning.”

Emotion RegulationEmotions are part of life. There isn’t a time of the day where we don’t feel

something, whether it be boredom, excitement, anticipation, happiness, sadness, or even a sense of nothingness. But what we do with these emotions are what differentiates learners from non-learners, and bullies from non-bullies.

Davidson states, “if you do something to intervene in a way that changes behavior it's got to be the case that you're changing the brain.” Therefore, teaching rules, having children understand the reasons behind them, and leading them to accept these rules internally stops possible negative behavior, thus causing a change in the brain.

Social FunctioningSocieties without rules do not last, and a population that does not have rules

internalized does not survive. Davidson states, “Qualities such as patience, calmness, cooperation and kindness should really now best be regarded as skills that can be trained.”

Although he states that early environment and family genes do NOT play a role in emotion regulations for social functioning, I find this difficult to believe as I see daily the effects of the environments our children come from, and unless he is referring to taking the child completely out of those elements, I believe all we can do is promote positive brain changes while we have them in the school setting, and hope that these behavioral interventions are more permanent than the ones they learn outside school.

So what does this look like in my

classroom?

Every negative behavior is a chance to learn.

Susie hit Bobby because he wouldn’t give her the pencil she wanted. He hits her back because he doesn’t like to be hit. Both students run to the teacher to tell on each other.

Emotionally, not getting what you want needs to be dealt with and the student needs to be taught how to handle this disappointment. Emotionally, getting hit and how to handle

being hurt needs to be handled. Socially, this is unacceptable because as an adult, there are harsher consequences.

Practicing what should have happened cements these positive behavioral interventions. At the beginning of school, my class practices reaction emotions and social qualities with each other DAILY. I give them a scenario, and sometimes they will be given the correct responses, while other times, they are left to figure out what is right as a group.

After the first few weeks of school, daily practices move to weekly, and then as situations happen. Classes and children are different, and what happens in one class may not happen in another.

How does this connect with Kolb’s Learning Theory?

Concrete Experience: I wanted a pencil, and my friend wouldn’t give it to me. I experienced anger.

Reflective Observation: My teacher asked me to share with the class how I felt when I didn’t get what I wanted. My friend was asked why he didn’t give me the pencil. I reviewed the experience.

Abstract Conceptualization: Then, my teacher reviewed the rule “We keep our hands, feet, and other objects to ourselves,” and I realized I should not have hit him. My classmates said I should have used “I don’t like that” words.I learned from my experience.

Active Experimentation: The next time it happened, I tried out what I learned and the next time he wouldn’t give me the pencil I wanted, I used my words, and he listened.I tried out what I learned.

And now, my favorite quote from Davidson’s lecture:

“If you are learning skills to calm you, you will improve the function of the prefrontal cortex. It will be less jangled by threats that occur in your environment and you'll actually not only show improved emotion but you will also show improved cognition, you will do better on tests like this of working memory which other research indicates underlies a lot of academic performance.”

WORKS CITED

Davidson, R. (2016, December 1). Bookmark The Heart-Brain Connection: The Neuroscience of Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning. Speech presented at Bookmark The Heart-Brain Connection: The Neuroscience of Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning in CASEL Forum, New York City. https://www.edutopia.org/richard-davidson-sel-brain-video