Socio-emotional development is an important aspect in the mental growth of children in the classroom. Peer pressure, social anxiety, and bullying are issues that can greatly affect learning. Parents, teachers and other stakeholders are trying to address these social concerns. Studies suggest that schools which promote positive socio-emotional development experience reduced negative social behaviors which in turn improve children’s success in the classroom and their relationship with others.
Socio-emotional development matters as it helps children to be kind, respectful and have the ability to empathize. The advantages go beyond this as, during the first years of life, this development can structure the brain to improve mental wellbeing, academic performance, and good interpersonal skills that will come in handy for the rest of the child’s life. Structured socio-emotional lesson plans and programs have been integrated in many school curriculums with these benefits in mind. There are various methods that could be used to promote socio-emotional development in the classroom. Play is an important aspect in academic atmosphere especially for the younger ones. This means inclusion of fun routines in the lesson plans that will keep the children attentive; this works especially well during the tougher lessons (Felner, Jackson, Kasak & Mulhall, 1997).
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The children should be made to understand how their actions affect others around them. This will help teach that the respect they expect from others is what they should show to others. This can be done practically by comforting a child who is distressed. It can also be done by recognizing students’ feelings; these can be incorporated into lesson plans by use of stories or other means. One more method that can be used is by teaching the students how to resolve conflicts among themselves without resorting to violence. It would be much easier for the teacher to step in and mediate but more beneficial to the students if the learnt how deal with such situation by themselves. For example, if two students are fighting over candy, it would be a good opportunity to show them that they can share the candy, and remain friends, instead of one of them taking the whole sweet and leaving his/her friend upset. This would also apply in situations where children need to learn to share toys and take turns reading stories in class (Linares, Rosbruch, Stern, Edwards, Walker, Abikoff & Alvir, 2005).
Teachers can alter their methods to be able to provide for children’s needs. This could spread to use of stories, games and even technology. Whatever works for some students, may not work for others, and this has to be acknowledged.
References
Felner, R. D., Jackson, A. W., Kasak, D., & Mulhall, P. (1997). The impact of school reform for the middle years. Phi Delta Kappan, 78(7), 528.
Linares, L. O., Rosbruch, N., Stern, M. B., Edwards, M. E., Walker, G., Abikoff, H. B., & Alvir, J. M. J. (2005). Developing cognitive‐social‐emotional competencies to enhance academic learning. Psychology in the Schools, 42(4), 405-417.
