Phillip Massa
April 1, 2012
Uy
Blog 9
A
particular statement that stood out for me in Steven Maran’s and Jonathan Cohen’s
article Social Emotional Learning: A Psychoanalytical
Perspective was, “[that] a psychoanalytically informed perspective about
SEL represents a framework that educators may utilize to further understand and
to generate questions about how we can teach and learn with children as well.”
For me this is extremely vital in creating, not only a positive learning environment,
but also a positive working atmosphere.
So far
through my observations, I have seen both positive and negative learning environments.
I feel comfortable to say I understand what it takes to create a quality and
positive learning environment (although the task isn’t easy). However, it seems
to be the work environment that causes problems for many teachers. With all the
responsibilities that teachers have in the classroom, they also have a
liability and accountability with coworkers and administration. This
accountability is student performance, meeting benchmarks, paperwork, teacher
performance, co-teaching, planning, etc. It’s easy for teachers to become
frustrated and disheartened just being in the classroom. However, when a work environment
becomes tense and negative it’s almost impossible for educators to perform at a
quality level.
As much
as we investigate the classroom and social emotional learning, I think it’s as
important to investigate social emotional learning at a work level. Constant
pressure and lack of support from administration would directly affect teacher
performance. Of course this negative work environment would directly correlate with
social emotional learning in the classroom. The teacher likely won’t be able or
willing to build a relationship with the students because of multiple reasons
such as, they’ve become jaded from such unfair politics, they’re burnt out,
they’re looking for a new job, etc. In all if the work environment is a positive
one, then these students will likely suffer for it.
In all
its vital as young teachers that we choose a school that has a supportive administration
and will back our decisions in the classroom. It’s important to build a
relationship and positive environment for our students, and if administration doesn’t
agree with our practices then tension will arise. We need to care for our
students and we also need a job. Sometimes that job isn’t the best situation
for a young teacher. We need to use our knowledge and training in SEL to create
both a positive learning and working environment, because one without the other
can’t work productively.
Phil,
ReplyDeleteYou could not be more right when talking about finding a school that has a supportive administration. I know that is one of my biggest fears getting into teaching. I am worried that no matter what I do, the administration will not back me. What if we think we are doing everything right? Our students are happy, parents are happy, we are good, positive role models but the administration is unhappy with us. It seems that it is a balancing act to make everyone happy (including ourselves) but who should we be making the happiest? Overall, I know that keeping a job is important but as a teacher it is my job to provide students with a safe and positive learning environment so they are able to learn. I guess as young teachers we just need to do what we think is best and if an administration isn’t going to back us for doing what we think is right, then maybe that’s a school we don’t want to be working for anyway.
Phil,
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head when it comes to the need for a positive environment. Not only can being in a negative environment kill your ability to stay motivated and do your best, it can also have a huge impact on the student's ability to learn the material. If either the student or teacher breaks down due to negative forces, no learning will get done. For us, it means having a supportive staff and making sure that we are always positive with out students.