One of the biggest components of social-emotional learning is focused on self-awareness. It is an important factor of social-emotional learning to learn how to understand your own emotions.
This is where contemplative writing comes in. If you are trying to create SEL lesson plans, you may find that contemplative writing exercises are especially helpful. Here's what you should know about contemplative writing and SEL plans.
What Is Contemplative Writing?
Contemplative writing is a type of freewriting about a topic. The topic should encourage students to delve into their own emotions and thoughts. It is often helpful to begin with a prompt. There are many ways you can take this kind of project.
For example, you might consider these types of prompts:
- What do you value most in the people you surround yourself with?
- Which personal value is most important that you embody?
- What is a relationship you would like to improve, and how could you do it?
- What is a problem you need to solve in your life?
How Can You Encourage Students to Get the Most Out of the Lesson?
There are a few ways you can ensure that students get the most out of a writing assignment. One way to do this is to tell students not to judge themselves as they write. They shouldn't self-edit. They should just focus on writing their feelings, even if they have not completely explored them yet.
It is also important that you do not focus on spelling and grammar as part of this lesson. This is an exercise that is purely about getting thoughts on paper.
Why Is Contemplative Writing Good for SEL?
Contemplative writing is great for SEL for a number of reasons. For one, this form of writing helps students explore their thoughts. They start with a topic and delve into their feelings about it, which can provide a lot of information about themselves they didn't know before. This pertains to academic and emotional subjects.
Additionally, this form of writing helps students establish creativity. This helps them understand others as well as they see the broader picture. If students read their responses in class, everybody learns about each other as well. This can provide a chance for growth and emotional connection.
SEL Lesson Plans Are Important
Social-emotional learning is a critical component in education. With tools like contemplative writing on your side, you can focus on helping students get to the root of their feelings and truly explore their emotions. SEL lesson plans can provide additional information about social-emotional learning.
When my kids got old enough to start school, I knew that there had to be something I could do to help them out. I wanted them to feel confident in their abilities to take care of things, and so I worked hard with them to reinforce daily school lessons. I talked with them each day about what they learned and worked with them carefully to take care of homework, and within a few days, things were going better. I wanted to start a blog to encourage other parents to implement more educational opportunities at home, since it can have a power effect for your child's education.