I am not going to replicate what is in the article I am giving you a link to. You are quite capable of reading it for yourself. What is interesting is Christopher Pappas has linked emotional intelligence to e-learning and what we can do as teachers to acknowledge and build in the personal and social capabilities as we work with technology in our classrooms. ACARA supplies indicators and elements for us so it is a matter of ensuring we are addressing those as we implement tasks and content via technology.
The social capabilities are about understanding relationships and learning to communicate effectively. This video puts it all in perspective so you can keep the tech-life balance.
We are following Dylan William’s guidelines for building a teacher learning community and so I have to submit an action. At the moment the plan is a bit out of kilter with what we were discussing in our group yesterday because we were looking at exploring an element and seeing how that would play out in real life in our classrooms. I think in the end the two will mesh quite well. I am using my year 8 class to look at self-awareness and self-management. I shall then blog about it and in the mean time look at things which will help fulfill the goals on my plan:
Teacher Learning Community Australian Curriculum foci:
What is one thing that you will find easy to change in relation to the Australian Curriculum capability or cross-curriculum priority that is the focus of your TLC?
I have looked at the P&S capability quite closely. Much of it comes from what we were doing in student wellbeing which is part of our core teaching strategy these days. Much relates to TeFL and I am getting to know that pretty well. It is also something I have had to address in depth as a year level manager and member of school services team.
What difference do you expect it to make to your practice?
I think I will attend to details better and it will encourage me to keep the student teacher feedback loop going. Much of it lends itself to good classroom/individual discussions around social and personal issues and gives you a way of talking about these things more directly because it is there as part of a national expectation. I see it as a very positive approach. It might escalate workload if we have to assess 32 students and a number of classes in these competencies.
What is one thing that you would like to change that will require support?
What help will you need?
I have found with Wellbeing and now with my Personal and Social Capability blog that it is not something which particularly has traction in the blogosphere or on the internet. The world does not want to know about social development and wellbeing as such. It is seen as alternative and a bit silly. Hard to believe, but it is a fact. I need to find ways of giving it traction and that will require support to find out what Netizens respond to. Mark McCrindle will probably be of help. He has a good online image and can make these sorts of things work online.
What other changes would you like to make later on in the year?
What help might you need?
I don’t know. This is a voyage of discovery and will need to be journeyed and journaled. I need to know we are interpreting the indicators in the same way and that we have a sound understanding of what we mean when we talk about the elements. I also want us to know that the indicators for each element really do apply to that element. That kind of clarity and agreement are essential if we are to teach these things across the nation. I am also wondering if there is a difference between if we apply them to individual students and then to whole groups/classes. Every student has to be able to attain these capabilities so I am assuming it is done individually but there is justification in working on them as a class approach.
The Personal and Social Capability has four elements :
self-awareness
self-management
social awareness
social management
I put those into Flickr Poet and got this interesting montage. I had to go through a few montages before I settled on this one. The internet tag of capability seems to relate to military might. Not quite what I was looking for. The internet tag of social is almost exclusively understood as social media. The social awareness and social management then ought to include digital citizenship when we talk about the personal and social capabilities. A person in the real world and the virtual person. Either of them can build a powerful base for success in life so I wouldn’t be looking at military might but personal awesomeness! The power of one.
ked emotional intelligence to e-learning and what we can do as teachers to acknowledge and build in the personal and social capabilities as we work with technology in our classrooms. ACARA supplies indicators and elements for us so it is a matter of ensuring we are addressing those as we implement tasks and content via technology.
personal and social capability 