Social-Emotional Pedagogy as a Tool for Powerful Teaching

MATC Synthesis Paper

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in
Teaching and Curriculum
Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Heather E. Temrowski
PID A46644348
November 18th, 2020
Social-Emotional Pedagogy as a Tool For Powerful Teaching ​ ​ 1

Abstract

Throughout my time as a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Teaching and

Curriculum (MATC) program at Michigan State University, I have had the opportunity to grow

and reflect upon my own teaching practice. My experiences within this program have weighed

heavily on the development of my educational philosophies and the ideals that I value as a

teacher. Over time, certain ideals came into focus more than others and I found myself enthralled

with the courses that comprised my program concentration: Educational Psychology. I have

always had an interest in psychology, and being able to study the human mind and human

behavior alongside teaching pedagogy was a dream come true. Through these experiences, I

have realized that quality teaching extends far beyond engaging instruction and meaningful

curriculum. While those elements are certainly important, I believe that the key to quality

teaching lies with the implementation of social-emotional curriculum. The MATC program has

shown me that when pedagogy encompasses social-emotional learning, it allows for formation of

purposeful, authentic, and powerful teaching.

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Introduction

Time and time again, I hear stories of overwhelmed educators. “I can’t do it all,” “How

do they expect me to get this stuff done,” “My kids are being terrible today” just to name a few.

We’ve all heard it, and maybe we’ve even said it once or twice. In today’s day and age, teachers

are expected to do so much - successfully implement multiple curriculums, assess students

regularly for evidence of understanding and growth, adhere to the social-emotional needs of our

students, communicatie fluidly with parents, participate in professional development

opportunities - the list goes on. There is so much on our plates, and more often than not, it seems

that there is not enough time in the day to make it all happen effectively.

Through my time as an undergraduate student in the College of Education at Michigan

State University, a teacher intern, a full-time practicing educator, and student in the Masters of

Teaching and Curriculum (MATC) program, I’ve certainly felt this way too. I recall times in

undergraduate courses where I felt unsure of my decision to follow this path. I recall times

during my internship year where juggling graduate coursework and effectively teaching my

students felt impossible. I recall times where I felt nothing but defeat at the end of a school day

in my own classroom. However, my time spent working through my MATC courses have

shifted my perspective. I’ve come to believe that in order to find true success in our demanding

roles as classroom teachers, we need to scale back our expectations for accomplishing “all of that

other stuff” and start with the basics. We must focus our time and attention on connecting with

our students. My experiences within the MATC have developed my belief that building

relationships, fostering collaborative social and emotional learning experiences, and teaching
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social-emotional content lies at the forefront of not just a successful teaching practice, but a

powerful teaching practice.

Early Experiences with Social-Emotional Pedagogy

I began my journey with the Master of Arts in Teaching and Curriculum (MATC)

program when I entered into my internship year as part of Michigan State University’s College

of Education requirements. Over the course of the year, I student taught in a 5th grade classroom

at Hickory Woods Elementary in Walled Lake, Michigan and was given the opportunity to

observe and learn from a highly skilled mentor teacher. Early on, what struck me the most was

the time and attention she spent building relationships with each student. Pacing guides aside,

she did not dive into any academic curriculum until a collaborative learning community based on

belonging, respect, and connectivity was established. Her primary focus was on connecting with

her students and I found it incredibly admirable and effective to dedicate so much energy into,

what I thought at the time, came second to the implementation of academic content.

Alongside my role as a student teacher, I completed four graduate-level courses through

Michigan State University. These courses served as an extension of my undergraduate learning

and a gateway into the MATC program. One of these courses, TE 801, focused on effective

mathematics instruction. As part of this course, I was asked to create an activity for my students

to complete collaboratively, an activity known as a groupworthy task. I remember feeling like

this was an opportunity for me to try and build a connection with my students like my mentor

had - an opportunity to engage them in a collaborative task that allowed them to practice social

skills and interact within the established norms and cooperative group roles I planned to embed
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in my lesson plan. I worked to create my groupworthy task ​(Artifact I)​ and after peer feedback

sessions and careful revision, I implemented the lesson with my students. I observed my students

working collaboratively - successfully adopting their assigned group role and adhering to the

group norms laid out within my task. I observed them communicating clearly with each other,

looking to me for help when needed, and truly leaning on each other to find success within the

task. It was at this moment that I could see the impact that social connectivity had on my

teaching practice. I realized that when time was spent building relationships and establishing

social and group norms and expectations, powerful teaching could take place.

Experience Informs Decision

Following my internship year, I began my first year of teaching at Pleasant Ridge

Elementary. Alongside passionate colleagues, it was here that I was officially introduced to

Social-Emotional Learning as a sector of the educational practices. A major initiative at my

building was to implement the Social Thinking Curriculum into classrooms at each grade level -

beginning at the kindergarten level and working its way up through third grade. This curriculum

focused on establishing expectations in all school settings, utilizing common language, and

modeling through social stories to construct meaningful relationships with learners. As a first

year teacher teaching second grade teacher, Social Thinking was a completely new concept to

me. I had never studied it, let alone implemented its ideas into my teaching practice. Over the

course of this year, I became fascinated with the notion of Social-Emotional Learning and the

Social Thinking curriculum. I saw the positive impact it had on my students’ learning and
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behavior in my classroom, and allowed me to create a classroom culture rooted in kindness and

respect. I knew that this was something I wanted to pursue further.

Given my past experiences with Michigan State University and my current experiences

with SEL (Social-Emotional Learning), I made the decision to apply for the Master of Arts in

Teaching and Curriculum program during my second year of teaching. When asked to identify a

concentration, the choice was simple - Educational Psychology. Following my acceptance to the

program, the first course I enrolled in was TE 808: Inquiry into Classroom Teaching and

Learning. The overarching goal of this course was to identify an area of my teaching practice

that I sought to improve, and then conduct action research. This research would be carefully

analyzed and used to inform my future instruction. I immediately thought about my focus with

social thinking and wondered if there would be a way to measure my students’ levels of

understanding and growth in this area. How could I assess them? Were the social skills I was

teaching carrying over into academic learning? Ultimately, I chose to examine my formative

assessment practices through the lens of verbal communication skills. Within the text

Assessment is for Learning: Supporting Feedback,​ ​author ​Susan V. McLaren discusses the

importance of a seamless formative assessment - one that engages students and captures their

learning quickly and authentically. McLaren writes, “The learner is often slowed down and

de-motivated by the need to record their thinking at every stage...” (McLaren, 2012, p. 228). This

notion helped me develop my complete action research plan. Throughout TE 808, I tracked my

students’ verbal articulation of reading learning targets derived from Common Core literacy

standards using the technological platform SeeSaw ​(Artifact II).

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My action research led me to several main findings. I realized that my students who

typically struggled to articulate their learning found success when responding to prompts

verbally. I also found that my higher performing students were able to explain their thinking

more deeply and thoroughly when expressing their ideas through verbal communication. I

realized that the work I had done in teaching communication skills and working so diligently

with my students had truly paid off in more ways than one. This action research project reminds

me of the MATC Program’s first goal: critical inquiry, and the value this can bring to you as an

educator. I was also reminded of standard two: understanding subject matter, how to teach it and

how to design curriculum, instruction and assessment to foster students’ learning. As I reflect in

my experiences here, I fully understand the value in engaging in inquiry-based research and am

thankful to have had the opportunity to participate in it myself. I also realize how important it is

to truly understand the curriculum at hand and to develop assessment practices that align with it,a

s well as the needs of learners in the classroom.

Diving into Educational Psychology

As my second semester as an MATC student rolled around, I was very eager to begin my

first course within my concentration - CEP 866: Psychoeducational Interventions for Children

and Youth. This course focused on the analysis of at-risk youth, the presence of risk factors, and

developing an understanding of the interventions that best support these learners. As part of my

learning in CEP 866, I was asked to identify a student in my classroom who presented risk

factors. I observed her behavior in multiple school settings, took diligent annotative records, and

analyzed my findings in order to develop an intervention program that effectively would meet

the needs of my students, as well as learners similar to her. The program I developed​ (Artifact
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III)​ focused on developing three of McWhirter’s Five C’s of Competency: Concept of Self and

Self Esteem, Communication with Others, and Coping Ability (McWhirter et al., 2013). After

the intervention was designed, I moved on to the implementation process. Here, I spent time

one-on-one with my student having conversations, teaching coping skills, and administering

questionnaires in efforts to develop her overall positive self concept.

As I worked through this course, the connection between Social-Emotional Learning and

powerful, effective teaching became even more apparent. Once I took the time to deeply

understand this student and her needs as a human being, I felt that I was able to meet her

academic needs much more effectively. This experience made me think of the MATC program’s

first standard: understanding and commitment to students and their diversity. I believe that this is

a crucial element to implement in a teaching practice. Taking the time to connect with students,

to get to know them as people, to establish and build rapport, truly does go a long way.

Following the completion of CEP 866, I enrolled in another one of my concentration

courses - CEP 832: Educating Students With Challenging Behavior. With a focus on intervention

support and behavior disorders, I felt incredibly challenged and thankful to be getting exposure

to content that I felt would greatly benefit my teaching practice as a whole. My running project

throughout CEP 832 was to identify a student who displayed challenging behavior, conduct

annotative observations, and analyze my findings for evidence of behavioral patterns.

From here, I designed an intervention plan ​(Artifact IV)​ that I felt would help to decrease

the presence of the disruptive behavior and increase the presence of expected behavior. This

entire process opened my eyes the value of establishing classroom expectations and getting to

know each student on an individual level. Through social-emotional pedagogy, I believe those
Social-Emotional Pedagogy as a Tool For Powerful Teaching ​ ​ 8

tasks become possible. Connecting this learning to the MATC, I instantly thought of goal two:

accomplished teaching. When I embed SEL practices into my teaching, I feel a much fuller sense

of accomplishment. I feel that I know my students better, that my students feel more respected

and valued, and that I am reaching them as a whole child - not just a data point in my classroom.

These elements, combined with content-area instruction, pave the way for thorough, powerful

teaching.

Reflecting on Social-Emotional Pedagogy

As I neared the end of my MATC journey, I enrolled in my final concentration course -

CEP 800: Psychology of Learning in School and Other Settings. Rooted in theory and

experience, this course challenged me to consider not just others’ ideas about the psychology of

learning, but my own ideas about learning and how it takes place. Throughout this course, I was

constantly reminded of the MATC programs’ fourth standard: reflective, systematic inquiry and

study/refinement of one’s practice. I was constantly being pushed out of my comfort zone to

examine others’ theories about the learning process, consult research on how learning takes

place, and engage in creating my own identity as a teacher and life-long learner.

It was in this course that I connected my passion for social-emotional pedagogy to the

learning process itself. I was asked to choose a topic, gather information, and then deliver an oral

presentation to my professors and classmates via Zoom. Here, I chose to research the correlation

between social anxiety and student learning ​(Artifact V). ​My findings only confirmed my original

hypothesis that the presence of social anxiety decreased the likelihood that students would

engage in powerful learning experiences. This research validated my beliefs towards

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implementing social-emotional pedagogy in the classroom, and it also helped inform my final

assignment for this course - to write my own theory on learning.

My personal theory of learning​ (Artifact VI)​ encompasses all that I believe to be true

about teaching and learning, relies heavily on the experiences I have had in the classroom and

with the MATC program, and speaks to the impact I hope to have on my students throughout my

career. If I have learned one thing through my experience in this program, it has been that

social-emotional pedagogy should and must come first. By establishing connections, building

relationships, and taking the time to understand each child on an individual level, purposeful,

authentic, and powerful teaching can take place.

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REFERENCES

Mclaren, S. V. (2012). Assessment is for learning: Supporting feedback. International Journal of

Technology and Design Education, 22(2), 227-245. doi:10.1007/s10798-011-9195-z

McWhirter, J.J., McWhirter, B.T., McWhirter, E.H., & McWhirter, R.J. (2017). At risk youth.

Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Volante, L., Beckett, D. (2011). Formative assessment and the contemporary classroom:

synergies and tensions between research and practice. Canadian Journal of Education, vol. 32,

no. 2, p.239-255.