Social Emotional Learning Continued By Debbie Johnson
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and all of it’s permutations are part of a national movement that has been brewing for decades but found solid start in 1994 with the formation of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and emotional Learning (CASEL). The diagram illustrates their history from their web site www.casel.org .
Illinois was the first state to adopt SEL standards in 2004. Since then all 50 states have set social-emotional standards and many have integrated SEL into their student academic learning standards.
Is this in Floyd? If you ask any of our school board members they will say no but a visit to the Virginia Department of Education site can help answer that if you are a good detective. If you search in the search block for social emotional you get no hits. But if you snoop around through Support and Prevention you see Social Emotional Learning. Why hide something which by their definition is central to “every part of the school experience”? https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/prevention/social-emotional/index.shtml
“The vision of social emotional learning in Virginia is to maximize the potential of all students and staff to become responsible, caring and reflective members of our diverse society by advancing equity, uplifting student voice, and infusing SEL into every part of the school experience.”
You can further check out the Virginia definition of Social Emotional Learning on this page and links to specific policy. Focus is on the basic five tenets of the CASEL doctrine. Self Awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills, and decision making. All very nice words, but the DEVIL is in the details. Upon closer examination this is first categorizing children through surveys of personal information and then leading them gradually through a process of managing thought and action otherwise thought of as collectivism.
Where is this headed without interference? There is now an agreement between US based SEL program called Conscious Discipline, a recently merged organization of AdvancED and Measured Progress called Cognia (AdvanceED is an accrediting organization for districts and Measured Progress is an assessment organization), and the Beijing based Maxlink Education Group to implement it’s SEL education practices across China. https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/k-12-dealmaking-sel-provider-partners-chinese-company-advanced-measured-progress-renamed-cognia/ . This is fitting with the surveys parents are seeing in the schools and points to the real indoctrination that these programs support. Is the goal to make the US like China? It doesn’t seem China wants to be more like America.
While taking a break in November and having breakfast with my mother at a local café I encountered this movement within the community. It was Veteran’s Day in a small Pennsylvania community on the edge of coal country. Some women with orange outfits and Orange tinsel tassels on their heads came barging into the café and declared the day Happy Orange Frog Day. They handed the waitress a book which I managed to obtain. The Orange Frog – A parable based on Positive Psychology as taught in Harvard’s famed Happiness Course by Shawn Achor. The book is produced by the International Thought Leader Network https://ithoughtleader.com/ . In a parable form which doesn’t quite connect, which has seldom bothered the CRT crowd, the frogs choose between four ponds. The first pond has nice houses and new cars and manicured streets and all the frogs are green. It’s a perfect place except the frogs must work hard to maintain their lifestyle. It then moves through ponds two and three where some frogs develop orange spots. Pond 4 is the perfect pond but one big problem is that there were herons there that eat frogs. As orange spotted frogs were cast out of ponds two and three they go to pond 4 and find out that herons do not eat orange frogs so they live happily ever after in a perfect world and no hard labor. If materials initially appear all cheerful and wonderful – look deeper!
These mind games are taking place all over society. Recently there has been much angst about Governor Elect Glenn Youngkin in the fake news press regarding masking children and mandatory vaccines. Beware the narrative! While Glenn Younkin may not be the MAGA candidate desired by many he’s far better than the alternative we had and it was soon discovered that indeed the media had twisted the message in order to support a narrative that Republicans have buyer’s remorse even before the Governor takes office. Listen to the words of the actual person and not the media interpretation. Winsome Sears on the other hand is standing up to the media and not allowing them to spin their stories! Listen specifically to the person and not to what the media is “quoting”. I was very encouraged by Winsome Sears’ knowledge of the fact that CRT is definitely in Virginia schools and it is disguised throughout the system, not just in specific classes. This gives hope that school boards will no longer be able to spin a narrative or plead ignorance about this destructive indoctrination of children. https://resistthemainstream.org/winsome-sears-directly-challenges-dana-bash-claim-that-crt-is-not-in-virginia-curriculum/?fbclid=IwAR2jMckaUjlvBo72WM_hlz9vDi-C14NUkw9vUjsvfJb67XQTsQ_qK9QI-YI
The last school board meeting of the year is scheduled for 7:00 PM Monday December 13. If you care about what happens in Floyd schools it is imperative to attend. The board was coerced into meeting at 7:00 PM so parents could attend. They committed through the end of the year. It’s guaranteed they want to change it back to afternoon meetings when parents are working. Even if you can’t attend, write to your board representative – or to all of the representatives to keep the evening time. You can find all things school board related at https://www.floyd.k12.va.us/domain/76 .
Deberosa Digs 