Maslow's Before Bloom's
The need for Social Emotional Learning in the classroom
As American psychologist, Abraham Maslow’s work dictates, humans are more capable of taking on the challenge of new learning once their basic needs, such as food, shelter, rest, and security, as well as their psychological needs, such as belonging and self-confidence, are met. Without first fulfilling these needs, a teacher can not begin to approach Bloom’s taxonomy, the framework that categorizes learning tasks based on difficulty and transferability, as students can not devote their full attention to both simultaneously.
Developing a learning environment in which students feel safe to take the risks necessary to gain a complex understanding of concepts and ideas is the first step in being a successful teacher.
In order to meet this goal I
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Begin by cultivating within students a growth mindset: the notion that we are all learners and that we are capable of learning as long as we continually devote ourselves to the task (Dweck & Yeager, 2019). Learning is innate; we take risks as infants in order to learn how to live. Yet, as we progress through life with negative feedback, we become increasingly more fearful of challenges (Haimovitz & Dweck, 2017).
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As an educator, it is my responsibility to decrease this fear and encourage risk-taking in my learners.
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Use language that helps students "make sense of learning, literacy, life, and themselves" Peter Johnston (2012, p. 4). ​​
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Know and value all students, their background, experience, and knowledge they bring with them to our learning environment.
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