210
B U I L D I N G B L O C K S F O R S O C I A L- E M O T I O N A L L E A R N I N G
Virtual Learning Tip Ongoing SEL projects can be assigned in the virtual environment as well, encouraging students to become creative when they are away from the screen. This can be an opportunity to encourage them to build their relationships with their families.
Maria’s class came to gather for morning meeting, but as they sat down, the circle they made was not big enough for Daniel to fit. Maria inwardly groaned, knowing that this small problem could set Daniel’s day on the wrong foot. Suddenly, she had an idea. “Hmmm . . .” she said, modeling thinking aloud. “I notice that there is not enough room for everyone on the carpet. I notice that Daniel is still coming to join us but there is not enough room for him.” As the class glanced around at each other, Maria turned to Daniel. “Daniel, when you walk over here, I wonder what you can do? First, I bet you can look at the circle and see where there might be room for someone to move. It looks like there is room between Imron and Sally. Do you think you could tap Imron on the shoulder and ask if he can scoot over?” Daniel looked confused by this, as he normally pushes his way into the circle, causing yelling and complaining from the other students. Imron turned to look at him and nodded, preferring this idea to being pushed. Maria continued, “Daniel, let’s try. Carefully walk up to Imron and put out one finger. Yes, just like that. OK, now tap him lightly on the shoulder. You can say quietly, ‘Can you move over?’” Maria coached Daniel through asking for space on the carpet and waited patiently while the class all shifted their positions so that Daniel had room. Once everyone was situated, Maria turned to her class and said, “Wow, you all were problem solvers today. We had a problem—there was not enough room for everyone—and you worked together to solve it. Daniel, you did a great job recognizing there was a problem and calmly finding a solution.” Daniel, clearly proud of this, beamed. “Now,” Maria continued, “we are ready to begin morning meeting. Make sure your eyes are on me!” To herself, Maria laughed. That could have been a disaster! she thought. In the moment, it felt like it took an hour to get everyone situated, but it was only about ninety seconds. If I’d let them work it out themselves, or if I had just told Imron to move over, there still would have been pushing, and in the end I would have given up a lot more time than ninety seconds—only to repeat the same chaos tomorrow. Hopefully, now that they feel ownership of this problem-solving routine, they will try it out again tomorrow!
©2022 by Solution Tree Press. All rights reserved.
9. Teachable Moments
