Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) for Everyone!

“One day . . . or day one.” -- Anonymous December: Cherokee Month of the Snow Moon SEL: #4 Relationship Skills                     Digital Learner: #4 Creative Communicator   A kind word to one in trouble is often like a switch in a railroad track. . .an inch between wreck and smooth sailing.                                                                                                                                                             – Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) When we read a story to a child, it is a gift of time ...

  “One day . . . or day one.” -- Anonymous December: Cherokee Month of the Snow Moon SEL:  #2 Social-Awareness SEL:   #5 Responsible Decision Making      Digital Learner:  #6 Computational Thinker Moving is disorienting to me. After I discovered one-half of my land had been sold, at age 67 (my retirement), my attorney advised me to sell it and move before winter set in, or spend $60,000 and the next five years in a lawsuit. I moved. My outdoor cat became an indoor cat in my new apartment. He was not happy with me, nevertheless, he began to explore his new digs. I was in the living room one evening minding my own business. Bam! Bam! Bam! What on earth? I had no screen doors or blinds to blow and it wasn’t windy. Nothing in the garage. I finally went upstairs and the cat was trapped in the cabinet under the bathroom sink. I opened the door, he looked at me with total disgust, and stomped away, tail held high. I bungee-corded all of th...

"One day . . . or day one.” -- Anonymous November: Cherokee Month of the Hunt Moon SEL:  #1 Self-Awareness          #4 Relationship Skills Digital Learner:  #2 Global Collaborator ·        What worked well? ·        Areas for improvement: ·        Future considerations:       I ask these three questions after every business meeting, Zoom session, artist’s conference, etc. “It takes a village. . .” to independently publish children’s picture books. The questions work well in personal settings especially if there is family conflict. The easiest way to resolve issues is to put everyone in the same room, allow no cross-talk and honestly share, using the terms above. Allowing discussion about what has been happening for each person is effective.   Reflection without judgment is important. It involves a level of emoti...

" One day . . . or day one.” -- Anonymous October: Cherokee Month of the Harvest Moon SEL:  #3 Self-Management SEL:   #4 Relationship Skills      Digital Learner:  #2 Creative Communicator                               #7 Innovative Designer To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.  – Seneca C. 4 B.C. – C. 65 B.C. I can go on the Internet and look at videos about how to fix my car. Unless I grab the right tool box (not the paint kit), choose the right device, apply it effectively, then add all of the necessary fluids and parts, my car won’t run. For me, emotional healing/recovery and being able to sustain it, requires the same select-the-right-tool-and-apply-it-correctly sequence. Relationship skills are hard-earned through a process of trial and error. Reading a page-a-day out of a ...

“One day . . . or day one.” -- Anonymous Cherokee Month of the Nut Moon SEL:  #5 Responsible Decision-Making       Digital Learner:  #6 Computational Thinker   When the stars threw down their spears,  And watered heaven with their tears.  –William Blake 1757-1827 Acceptance. After deep periods of grief and sorrow, my friend reminded me that grief has a mind of its own. Acceptance can calm the soul and produce mindfulness. As I embraced and engaged my Inner Child, I realized how perpetually sad she had become. Time to change through validating the fact that she had reason, back then, for wishing she had never been born. Children with ACES (adverse childhood experiences, Brown 2009) can struggle for decades emotionally, financially, physically, and mentally. Healing takes time with a variety of creative resources. Thank goodness we are far more aware in the 21 st century than we were in the 1950’s! Our schools and communities are now i...

“One day . . . or day one.” -- Anonymous Cherokee Month of the Nut Moon   SEL:   #1 Self-Awareness          #2 Social-Awareness Digital Learner:  #2 Global Collaborator Professor Rudine Sims Bishop (2017) suggested that effective children’s books reflect the child’s world and helps them to see into cultures or lives not their own. Mirrors and windows. This could be nature, science, another country or region, space, or simply another way of living. In Montana, we are a land of farms and ranches, sheep and cattle. Diverse indigenous peoples share their heritage with us. I did my student teaching at a school named Cayuse Prairie . Cayuse is the Salish word for horse. The land surrounding the school is where the Salish nation kept its horse herd. Being from Denver, this world was not mine. Yet, the concept of mirrors and windows was helpful to reflect self-awareness and gain social-awareness through the world around me. Pl...

" One day . . . or day one.” -- Anonymous Cherokee Month of the Green Corn Moon SEL:  #2 Social Awareness          #4 Relationship Skills        Digital Learner: #2 Global Collaborator       #3 Digital Citizen   My brother is involved with a group of tremendously creative people who figured out a way to celebrate holidays during Covid-19 restrictions. With permission, on a Sunday afternoon, in an empty parking lot, they parked their cars 12 feet apart, required masks, then opened their trunks, hatchbacks, and van doors. For Halloween, everything was sealed in plastic bags piled high on each side: Sweets or Sours. Children in wheelchairs, others with siblings and friends got to trick-or-trunk safely.   For Easter, many non-sugar treats and toys were again, present in the hatchbacks and side doors of vans. Those who wanted jelly beans and chocolate rabbits were not disappointe...