École Crescent Park

“We don’t learn from experience, we learn by reflecting upon experience.” John Dewey. 

 Reflective practise is essential for teachers and learners.

At Crescent Park Elementary we are focussing on teaching and providing opportunities for students to learn and practice explicit social emotional learning (SEL) skills. Staff and students are actively involved in explicit SEL instruction; and practice and model these skills with their peers, self, and adults. Some examples of evidence informed SEL practices at Crescent Park include:Growth Mindset, MindUP, Second Step, CASEL 3 Signature Practices, Ensouling Our Schools Book Club, Zones of Regulation, Brain Fit Super Powers monthly themes and Super Flex: Social Thinking Curriculum.

A supportive classroom climate helps students to feel emotionally safe, part of a community of learners, motivated, and challenged. This type of environment creates a strong foundation for students to engage fully and take academic risks. This includes: community-building, belonging and emotional safety, and student-centered discipline. Integration of SEL into academic instruction weaves academic learning with opportunities for students to practice and reflect on social and emotional competencies, such as perspective-taking and developing a growth mindset. For example, teachers incorporate partner and group activities that promote relationships, communication skills, and effective teamwork. Explicit SEL instruction provides consistent opportunities to cultivate, practice, and reflect on social and emotional competencies in ways that are developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive.

Teachers integrate SEL practices with academic instruction. Teaching students about growth versus fixed mindsets helps students see failure as a first attempt at learning (FAIL) and builds resiliency and perseverance. "A growth mindset thrives on challenges and sees failure not as evidence of a lack of intelligence but as motivation to grow and stretch abilities. Holding a growth mind set creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval; failure becomes an opportunity to learn." Elena Aguilar, Onward (2018).

The research, Durlak et. al., (2011) clearly demonstrates a school focus on "SEL leads to improved academic outcomes and behaviours. When students have supportive relationships and opportunities to develop and practice social, emotional, and cognitive skills in different environments and contexts, academic learning accelerates." CASEL.org (2022).

Parents at Crescent Park  support our SEL programs. The parents regularly complete the  homework component to our Brain Fit super power monthly themes. 

Developing the Core Competencies of Social responsibility and Communication our students, during morning meetings worked on building  positive relationships, specifically, being kind to others,  working or playing cooperatively and  build relationships with people of their choosing.  After discussing the importance of cooperation and what empathy  during their morning meeting, students wrote about the importance of cooperating and what empathy is in their journals.  Their conversations and writing demonstrates their developing ability to Connect and Engage with Others, Acquire, Interpret and Present Information, Explain/Recount and Reflect on Experiences and Accomplishments.

Samples of students' reflections:

"It is important to cooperate to be a good team member.  It is important to cooperate because if you don't, not everyone will feel included.  If you don't work together then it wouldn't be good teamwork."

"Cooperating is important because first of all, no one feels excluded, participate and be a good listener.  An example is maybe you don't know something but if you cooperate maybe your partner knows it. You should make everyone feel included when you are doing something, and make sure no one feels excluded, and that is why it is important to cooperate"

"It is important to cooperate because you need to listen to other peoples ideas.  If you only let your self talk, then you won't know what they have to say and what if they have a better idea than you.  You need to listen to others because they listened to you so you should listen back.  You need to make them feel like they are included because you wouldn't like it if you were excluded.  So don't exclude them."

"How to show empathy.  Empathy is when someone helps you when you are feeling sad or upset.  It is when you put yourself in the other persons shoes.  Like if they buy something really special and then lose it, you feel sad and upset for them, with them, that is showing empathy.  I show empathy when I open doors for the big kids"

"How to show empathy.  For example if you were to fall on concrete and get a cut if someone comes and helps you its called empathy.  It's also called empathy if someone falls off the swings and gets a splinter and you feel bad for them and help them by calling a supervisor.  Empathy can also be when someone brings a toy to school and lost it during recess and you feel bad for them and try to help find it.  Empathy means you feel bad when someone else is feeling sad or bad."

"Empathy is when you put yourself in someone else's shoes.  Empathy means to feel sorry for someone, it also means you want to help someone when they are suffering.  Someone could help you or you could help them.  Either way, they are both feelings of empathy.  When you feel sad or hurt, and someone feels bad for you, they are showing empathy. Empathy is a great way of showing kindness."

Many of our students participate in Wilderness Wednesdays to develop the Social Responsibility Core Competency of Contributing to Community And Caring for the Environment.  Teachers work with their students to develop awareness and take responsibility for their physical, and natural environments by working independently and collaboratively for the benefit of others, communities and environments.

Samples of cohort student reflections in nature and what they noticed:

Ask part of their math curricular competency in patterning, the kindergarten students also noticed and created patterns in nature:

To support our student learning goals, teachers will continue to integrate SEL competencies with curricular competencies. At a learning lunch this year, one of our District helping teachers provided this framework to help teachers design their lessons:

She provided these examples

Teachers will continue to use this framework to plan for instruction to ensure our SEL focus is linked to improved outcomes for student achievement in our curricular competencies.