Emotional Education Encourages

Excellence
Megan Siroky
Reasons for Research
● Prospective elementary school teacher
● Influenced by practicum observations
● Interested in learning more about classroom management and
motivation
○ To discover a concrete way of managing my future
classroom
○ To build a positive classroom environment that develops
student motivation
Social and emotional learning (SEL)
● The process by which students develop and enhance
their ability to integrate thinking, feeling, and
behaving to achieve important life tasks (Elias, et. al,
1997; Norris 2003).
● Key skills:
○ Self-awareness
○ Social awareness
○ Responsible decision-making
○ Self-management
○ Relationship management/skills
SEL and Classroom Management
● Strategies that promote students’ self-regulation (Skiba,
et al., 2016).
○ Respect
○ Working cooperatively
○ Listen and follow directions
● SEL teaches self-regulation (Elias, et. al, 1997).
● SEL promotes:
○ Prosocial behavior
○ Academic Excellence

(Durlak, et. al, 2011; Elias, et. al, 1997; Jones, et al., 2014; Young, 2005).
SEL and Intrinsic Motivation
● SEL creates a positive learning environment
(Zins & Elias, 2006) which develops intrinsic
motivation (Raffini, 1996; Young, 2005).
○ High task-mastery orientation
● Students feel: confident, resilient, supported

Examples of SEL strategies:

● I Messages
● Morning Meetings
Quick-Think
● How did you learn best in school? What motivated you?
Why it Matters
● Social, emotional and academic growth are
interdependent.
● When a classroom environment is comfortable,
safe, supportive and engaging, students become
knowledgeable, responsible and caring lifelong
learners.
Reflection
● More thoughtful about my pedagogy
● Attentive to well-developed research
● Eager to continue researching and improving my practice