After-School Programs in Hollywood and Pembroke Pines, FL: Providing the Right SEL Curriculum
As society moves to a faster pace, and as life starts evolving to a more complicated process, it is very probable that children of this generation will have greater feelings of stress and anxiety. This means that the usual coping strategies for these young individuals may not be enough.
This is where afters-school programs and special curriculum come in. At the moment, after-school programs for Hollywood and Pembroke Pines, FL schools are being put together and developed to provide the students with a well-needed support program for non-academic learning.
But what exactly is an SEL curriculum?
SEL stands for social and emotional learning. The curriculum that Hollywood and Pembroke Pines are working on revolves around this type of learning. According to the Social Learning Theory, where the idea was founded on, effective social and emotional learning for kids gives higher probability for more active interest in gaining knowledge and sustaining engagement with the process of learning. It is also a strong reinforcement for tool for character education for younger kids. Although social and emotional learning is not considered as a formal program, especially for traditional schools, it can stand for itself as an important aspect of holistic development and character education.
Why do we need to have social and emotional learning curriculum integrated with our school's academic program?
Data from the 2005 Risk Behavior Survey indicated that children between the ages of 8 to 14 have increased feelings of anxiety and depression due to family and environmentally related reasons. Succeeding surveys have shown that the numbers have continuously been climbing as well. Because of these factors, schools have taken into greater consideration, the need for some sort of support group or program for these kids, thus, the development of after-school and enrichment programs. Aside from Hollywood and Pembroke Pines, Broward County has also started applying SEL curriculum into their system to cater to the social and emotional needs of these young children. After observing K-5 children under the said after-school program, the select schools from the three areas with the addition of Dade County, found our that children exhibited less destructive behavior and greater coping skills with everyday experiences. Observation of Broward and Dade County have also supported their idea that after-school learning has to go beyond academic tutoring.
As a solution for the increased need for academic tutoring programs and enrichment programs of Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Broward County and Dade County, an integration of both SEL and academic learning has been developed within the after-school programs.
This integrated program uses instructional methods of teaching that are active, participatory, and developmentally appropriate. Activities are designed in such a way that it will (1)encourage open dialogue between kids and the teachers, (2) initiate decision-making as a group and as an individual, (3) allow kids to exhibit problem-solving skills, and (4) encourage independence. By the end of the program, children should be competent in the five core areas of social and emotional learning, which are (1)self awareness, (2) emotional control, (3) social awareness, (4) relationship building, and (5) good decision-making.
Schools offering after-school programs in Hollywood and Pembroke Pines, FL have been garnering wonderful recognition for its positive effects on young children. It will no longer be a surprise if other schools from surrounding counties adapt the same programs. Some have even started adapting the SEL curriculum in summer camps.
According to Alfred Bandura, father of the Social Learning Theory, children can learn from modeling and observation. It's only up to the teachers, tutors, parents, and the community to exhibit the right behavior they can adopt so they are better prepared for the outside world.
