Social-Emotional Learning and the Brain. Marilee Sprenger B.
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adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and that positive childhood experiences can counteract some of the resulting trauma. Social-emotional learning has the power to create some of those positive experiences. Furthermore, many of the SEL strategies overlap with those related to trauma-informed practices.
A recurring theme in this book is that every child has a story, and I hope that the information shared in the following pages will help rewrite some of those stories and reinforce others. The path for educators is clear: build relationships so students feel love and a sense of belonging; teach empathy so students feel understood and can provide understanding to others; make students self-aware so that feelings are understood; help students regulate feelings so they can attain and use prosocial skills; support students in becoming skilled in social awareness so they build an understanding of how to interact with people; teach students how to handle relationships so they can work and play with people who come from various backgrounds and cultures; and finally, teach students how to choose and make wise decisions that will affect the future.
It bears repeating: every child has a story. I have a story. I am one of those adults who grew up believing that I was not good enough, that I could not fit in (although I pretended to), let alone belong anywhere. I grew up with rules that no child should grow up with: don't show your feelings; never, ever cry or your mom will leave you; never trust others—especially men (they will cheat and leave). I am one of every six adults who has experienced four or more ACEs during my lifetime (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). I know the fight-or-flight response well. As a result, my physical and mental health are at risk.
I am not sharing this information to elicit pity. Many people have had far worse experiences than mine. I did not live in poverty; I had two parents at home; I had the food, clothing, and shelter that I needed. I am sharing this information because of the two people who saved me, who literally kept me from the depression and despair hovering over me as a child, who made me realize that even though I never knew what would happen at home, I could go to the dependable, positive place that was school. Those two people were teachers. My 1st grade teacher, Miss Pauli, let me come in early to her beautiful, welcoming classroom, and she let me talk. She listened. She complimented my work and encouraged me. Fast-forward to 5th grade. Miss Williams made me feel important, that I was good enough. She is the reason, beyond any doubt, why I became a teacher. I wanted to make kids feel the way she had made me feel. She listened, she cared, she touched—gentle hugs and pats on the head or shoulder—and she checked in throughout the day to make sure we were all OK. A few other people were positive influences along the way, and I was OK until my first depressive episode in college. I eventually sought the help I needed, and I am doing well.
But I'm worried about the kids. According to John Medina (2017), humans today could live to be 115 to 122, under ideal conditions. Perhaps those conditions include healthy eating and getting enough exercise, but they must certainly also include lower levels of stress, positive relationships, family ties (within the family you were born into or the family you create), feeling empathy for and from others, and having a sense of belonging. Social-emotional learning addresses all those conditions. Furthermore, SEL improves academic achievement by an average of 11 percent, increases appropriate social behavior, improves students' attitudes, and reduces depression and stress (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011).
I have been a student of the brain since 1992. I have traveled, trained, and spoken with educational leader and author Eric Jensen, who has taught me much about the brain and how to find out more. Through my research, I have identified the connections in the brain that are related to the social-emotional learning competencies delineated by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL): self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. This organization, which began as a group of educators and researchers committed to advancing social-emotional learning, has had a huge impact in this area for more than 20 years.
By following the work of Daniel Goleman, one of the cofounders of CASEL and author of the groundbreaking book Emotional Intelligence (1995), and the work of neuroscientists such as Bessel van der Kolk (2014), we can see how SEL affects various areas of the brain. For instance, in this book you will learn how our "gut feelings" are directly related to the decision-making areas in our brain.
In reading the work of Daniel Kahneman, author of the best-selling book Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), we learn about the brain's two thinking systems. System 1 is fast, automatic, emotional, and unconscious. System 2 is slow, effortful, and conscious. System 1 is at work when our students react without thinking. SEL strategies will teach students to stop and use System 2 before they respond. One of the strategies I used with my students when they needed to respond in a situation was to ask this question: "Are you checking System 2, or is System 1 in charge?" The more students practice taking a breath and giving some thought to a situation or decision, the more likely they are to respond appropriately.
From brain structures to brain chemicals, learning takes place on an emotional level. Awareness of emotions and being able to regulate those emotions lead the way to building positive relationships, successfully solving problems, and making responsible decisions. Understanding the brain helps both students and teachers rely on strategies that will activate the appropriate parts of the brain and will be suitable for whatever experience they encounter. For example, when students know that getting upset activates the limbic (emotional) brain and blocks the connection between the thinking brain and the emotional brain, they realize the importance of having and using strategies to calm themselves before speaking or acting.
Brain Structures and Chemicals Related to SEL
One of the simpler ways to look at the brain is from the bottom to the top. The spinal cord is connected to the brain stem, the lowermost part of the brain. The brain stem contains the first filtering system for information that comes into the brain via our senses. This system is called the reticular activating system, or RAS; it filters out about 99 percent of incoming information. If the information entering is in some way threatening, the RAS may halt the flow of information in favor of sending out an alarm throughout the brain. When the next level, the limbic system, receives the alarm, many activities begin. First, the amygdala, the brain's second filter, examines the information. The hypothalamus, which is part of the limbic system, sends out chemicals to prepare the body and brain for a fight-or-flight response. Other chemicals, such as adrenaline, which is released from the adrenal glands, cause the heart to beat faster and increase the rate of breathing. Unless the body is in immediate danger, whatever the stressor is, the thinking brain should decide what next steps to take. But the pathway from the thinking brain (the frontal lobe; in particular, the prefrontal cortex) down to the reflexive brain (the limbic system and the brain stem) is slow. If we put all our focus on the amygdala, the limbic structure in charge of emotions, it will (along with the hippocampus, a structure related to memory) bring to mind all the horrors of this particular stress-inducing phenomenon. For example, if we are approaching a large German shepherd and previously had a bad experience with a similar dog, that memory will drive our brain and we will expect a repetition of the bad incident.
Emotions influence where new information is processed in the brain. For learning to become memory, it must be directed through the emotional filter (the amygdala) along the route to the reflective, higher brain—the prefrontal cortex. When this happens, the brain takes a responsible look at the situation and finds a better way to handle it. Perhaps, in the German shepherd example, the thinking brain will notice that this dog is on a leash and would be unable to reach us.
Several chemical "cocktails" run our brains. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin are some of the most common. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is also involved in many situations, both positive and negative. Cortisol is released when we are a little anxious about a presentation, an interview, or meeting someone for the first time—examples of good stress. It is also released when our brains are preparing for survival. That fight, flight, or freeze situation—bad stress—prompts the release of much more cortisol.
And what is the antidote to stress? According to Foreman (2019), the antidote is trust.
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