1. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Module 3
Emotional awareness – What it is and how it can help
people take charge of their lives
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2. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
“Self control is strength. Calmness is mastery. You have to get to a point where
your mood doesn’t shift based on the insignificant actions of someone else.
Don’t allow others to control the direction of your life. Don’t allow your emotions
to overpower your intelligence.”
−Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)
South African political leader and statesman
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3. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Module 3 Objectives
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to…
 Explain why it is important for children and young people to
be aware of their emotions.
 Give one or more examples of how emotional awareness can
enhance learning.
 Describe an activity that would help your students to build
emotional awareness, including self-regulations skills.
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4. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
A lesson for Mr. Munro
The story of Mr. Munro’s lesson is
fictional, but it is based on real
incidents that that take place every
day in schools around the world.
As you listen, think about:
 Why the students are unruly
 The objective of the teaching strategy
suggested by Mrs. Malcolm
 Whether this kind of strategy would
work at your school
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5. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
What is ‘emotional awareness’?
 Emotional awareness is the ability to:
 perceive ourselves as individuals
 understand and express our emotions
 think deeply about our feelings, thoughts and actions
 Emotional awareness leads to:
 self-management (focus attention, set goals)
 self-regulation (control impulses)
 emotional intelligence
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6. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Why is emotional intelligence
important?
 Emotional intelligence (EI) enables us to:
 handle new situations with confidence
 make better choices
 have more clarity about our interactions with others and the world
around us
 become more resilient and open to change
 At school, EI helps students:
 develop a ‘growth mindset’
 face increasingly complex challenges
 reduce stress
 get along and collaborate with others
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7. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
What do the scientists say?
 Emotional awareness is
regulated by executive
functioning, located in the
brain’s frontal lobe.
 Emotions that originate in
other areas of the brain, such
as the temporal lobe, are
regulated by executive
functioning.
Temporal Lobe
Brain facts:
Weight: 1.46 kg (3 lbs.)
Nerve cells (neurons): 86 billion
Synapses: 1 quadrillion
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8. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Classroom strategies to help engage
learners emotionally
 Working with students to set realistic learning goals
 Using calming techniques such as guided meditation and
breathing
 Linking subject matter to current issues and students’ lives
 Considering more than one perspective on events and issues
Child labor in 19th century England and 21st century Indonesia
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9. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Why should we help students set
realistic learning goals?
1. Realistic goal-setting teaches
children and young people to
take responsibility for their
own behavior and actions
2. It promotes a positive ‘can-do’
attitude
3. It forms a life-long habit that
enables people to reach
longer- term life and career
goals.
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10. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Goal-setting in four easy steps
1. Define a big goal, for example for a
term or year.
2. Discuss the purpose of the goal.
3. Break down the big goal into smaller
steps.
4. Brainstorm the potential obstacles.
MY BIG GOAL
My first step
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11. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Role models matter
Renee Level, Dean of Discipline at Cumberland High School in St.
Catherine, Jamaica
UNICEF/Jam/Ross Sheil
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12. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
How to be a good role model
 Display self-awareness and
emotional self-control
 Practice careful and engaged
listening
 Offer guided advice and coaching
 Create subject related SEL
activities around issues that
students care about.
Pollution flowing from land to sea at Kingston Harbor, Jamaica
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13. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Examples of SEL strategies from
around the world
Context Location Strategy Objective
Pre-school China Close observation of children’s
emotional states; calm
intervention when necessary.
Children learn to control
impulses and regulate
negative behaviors.
Lower primary Uganda Teacher orchestrates a ‘shower’
of positive reinforcement from
the whole class for individual
child’s accomplishment.
Motivates children to
demonstrate skills and
achieve goals.
Upper primary Bhutan Infusion of ‘Gross National
Happiness’ principles and skill
areas into the curriculum.
Develops students’ emotional
well-being and open-
mindedness, among others.
Secondary Yemen Students design masks that
illustrate a range of emotions,
then discuss how they feel while
wearing each mask.
Creates a ‘safe’ context for
adolescents to be able to
identify, describe and share
emotional states.
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14. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
The Takeaway
 The ‘emotional’ component of SEL is closely linked to the
social component as well as to the ability to think rationally.
 Being aware of our emotions enables us to control them.
The ability to regulate our emotions is also known as self-
control, self-regulation or ‘emotional intelligence’ (EI).
 Emotional intelligence is increasingly recognized as essential
to achieving academic success as well as realizing one’s full
potential in the workplace.
 Teachers can help to build this skill set from early childhood
up through adolescence by connecting lesson content to
learners’ lives and by acting as exemplary role models.
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15. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Self-Checkout
1. Which of the following best defines ‘self-awareness’?
o capacity to understand and feel the emotions of others
o ability to perceive ourselves as individuals and manage our
emotions
o skill of working with others to solve problems
o knowing how to perform well on examinations
2. The lesson that Mr. Munro learned was…
o how to enforce the school’s disciplinary codes
o where to go to get help in assessing student performance
o how to use group work in place of whole class instruction
o how to help students focus by engaging them emotionally
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16. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Self-Checkout (continued)
3. Which of the following is NOT a direct benefit of building emotional
intelligence?
o ability to handle new situations with confidence
o increased incidences of bullying
o capacity to solve complex problems
o ability to control impulses
4. What is the role of executive functioning in helping students learn?
o it acts to regulate emotions
o it is located in the frontal lobe of the brain
o it acts to improve fine motor skills
o it helps us breathe and digest food
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17. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Self-Checkout (continued)
5. What is the first step in helping children and young people set goals?
o discuss students’ career opportunities
o brainstorm potential obstacles
o help to define the goal
o identify assessment measures
6. Which of the following is an example of ‘scaffolding’?
o sitting down with students to find out what is troubling them
o modeling a step-by-step approach to problem solving
o linking the lesson with contemporary issues
o suspending disruptive students from school
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18. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Think like a TEACHER
Describe a strategy that you would like to try out in your
class, school or other learning environment to improve
students’ emotional well-being. What is the objective of
the strategy, and what are the first steps you would take?
Strategy Objective (What
will students be
enabled to do?)
What are the first steps?
1.
2.
3.
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19. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
What’s next?
The first three modules have introduced
you to some of the concepts that
underpin social and emotional learning.
The main topic of Module 3, how to build
emotional awareness leads to the next
big question.
How can teachers help students build strong
social relationships?
Module 4 begins with the story of how a football coach in
Cambodia helps students build more positive and inclusive
social relationships at their school.
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20. Learning to Get Along
How to Integrate Social and Emotional Learning into Your Teaching Practice
Self-Checkout
1. ability to perceive ourselves as individuals and manage
our emotions
2. how to help students focus by engaging them emotionally
3. increased incidences of bullying
4. it acts to regulate emotions
5. help to define the goal
6. modeling a step-by-step approach to problem-solving
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