Name: Kortney Smith

Research Purpose:

Inquiry is important to my instruction because it provides me with a deeper understanding of practices I am choosing to implement
in the classroom and the effects that practice has on my teaching and my student’s learning. By researching and asking questions
about the methods I am using, I can adjust my teaching and find better ways to support my students. Inquiry is also important
because it provides me an opportunity to share findings and research with colleagues so they too can reflect on their own practice.

This research connects to the earlier portions of the “Think-Pair-Plan-Reflect” assignment because I am seeking to understand
more about a tenet of quality teaching that was reflected in my artifact, as well as the artifact of a classmate. The tenet I want to
explore and develop a deeper understanding about is SEL and positive relationships. In my artifact analysis I discuss how my
artifact helped to foster positive self-identity because students were taking ownership of their learning and were made to feel
successful. I also mention how during the lesson I cultivated positive interactions between teachers and students through praise
and respectful listening. My classmate, Kelsey, also had a tenet of positive relationships between students and teachers. A
conversation Kelsey and I had was about how concise or elaborate our tenets needed to be. She had more detailed tenets,
whereas my tenets were brief with much implied. Having a tenet of SEL is brief and after readings/videos from the course, I have
realized that some educators view SEL as manipulative. This is something I had never considered so I would like to know more
about the benefits of SEL and which aspects of it can be manipulative. Then, I will be able to be more detailed with my tenet
instead of having the umbrella term “SEL,” which can imply potentially manipulative practices.

Research Question(s):

● How do we use social-emotional learning in the classroom without manipulating students?

○ In what ways does social-emotional learning manipulate students?
○ What aspects of social-emotional learning are designed for goals of student well-being, not academics?

Data to Collect: Purpose / How you will use/analyze each piece of data
you collect?

To inform my research, I will collect data by recording a lesson in While I watch the video of my teaching, I can notice when and
my classroom. This type of data is appropriate for answering my why I used social-emotional learning. Was my use of
inquiry because it will allow me to see and hear which ways I’m social-emotional learning used to manipulate a child into
incorporating social-emotional learning into a lesson and what my learning or support their well-being?
goal was for students.

I will also conduct interviews to inform my research question. By
talking about social-emotional learning with other teachers, I can
try to understand their motives.
I will conduct 3 semi-structured interviews with 3 different
colleagues about how they use social-emotional learning
throughout their day in the classroom. By talking with
colleagues, I can discover what aspects of social-emotional
learning they use in the classroom and what their intentions
are for students.

Action Plan: Timing:

● Incorporate the data you want to collect, as well as resources
you will use (i.e.. readings, colleagues), into this action plan
● Try to keep this plan in sequential order

Read: ​Are educators using SEL to empower or to manipulate? I will read this in August shortly before school begins.
Brzycki, D. G., & Brzycki, E. J. (2019). ​Are educators using SEL to
empower or to manipulate?
https://www.eschoolnews.com/2019/02/18/are-educators-using-se
l-empower-or-to-manipulate/

Read: ​Why Are Schools Still Peddling the Self-Esteem Hoax? This reading will also be done prior to school beginning.
Social-emotional learning is rooted in ‘faux-psychology.’
Finn Jr., C. E. (2017). ​Why Are Schools Still Peddling the
Self-Esteem Hoax? Social-emotional learning is rooted in
‘faux-psychology.’
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/06/21/why-are-schools-s
till-peddling-the-self-esteem.html

Record lesson in my classroom and collect data about my use of Within the first 3 weeks of school.
social-emotional learning.

Have my Young Fives teammate watch my lesson and provide This will happen within a week of when I watched my lesson.
feedback about my use of social-emotional learning for a different
perspective.

Read: ​The effects of a multiyear universal social-emotional I will read this article within days of receiving feedback on my
learning program: The role of student and school characteristics. lesson.
Bierman, K. L., Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., Greenberg, M. T.,
Lochman, J. E., McMahon, R. J., & Pinderhughes, E. (2010). The
effects of a multiyear universal social–emotional learning program:
The role of student and school characteristics. Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 156-168.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/10.1037/a0018607

Interview 1 with a 1st grade teacher. First week of October.

Interview 2 with a 2nd grade teacher. Second week of October.

Interview 3 with a Kindergarten teacher. This Kindergarten teacher Third week of October.
is receiving her master’s about social-emotional learning and
mindfulness so I would like to hear her take on the positive,
non-manipulative aspects of social-emotional learning.

Compile all of my research findings and share with the school Mid November.
psychologist, occupational therapist, and social worker to see
what they think about the findings and what their opinion is on
social-emotional learning.

Share all findings with my grade-level team and possibly the entire End of November.
school building (K-2).