Social-Emotional Development

Students may develop at different rates through their education. Therefore, not all approaches to instruction will work for all students. It is important for an educator to take this idea into consideration when planning units of instruction. Following are some ways that an educator can do that:

1. In the case of independent practice of new concepts, instead of going directly into independent practice after instruction an educator can use an elbow-partner guided practice activity instead. For example, after solving a few expressions independently, students would then have to turn to their elbow partner and explain how they solved the expressions. Their partner would do the same to them. This could allow them to bolster their social development by having to work to explain to one of their peers instead of just the teacher.

2. Educators can foster social-emotional development by allowing students to self-assess during units of instruction. When using a self-assessment rubric to bolster learning the teacher and the student will go over the a self-assessment rubric, see how they rate their learning in respect to the work they are producing, and then rate themselves in the final ‘growth mindset’ category (Fraser, 2018). Students being able to rate themselves creates a type of emotional development that can lead them to rate themselves more honestly in the future. Also, when students take the time to think about their performance in academics it can allow them to reflect more honestly on their abilities. Honest assessment of abilities can lead to more realistic and fulfilling goals being set by students.

References can be found in the REFERENCES PAGE.