Sometimes it feels like the universe keeps bringing something to

my attention when a topic keeps popping up in articles I read,

conversations I have and in a number of small but continuous
moments.Specifically this has happened for me recently around
the topic of challenging behavior, and in most cases has included
conversation about social and emotional learning.

As soon as we start talking about all kids, my thinking jumps to

the first question you use as an indicator of a school’s culture of
learning. Do you believe all students can learn? When we look at
happy kids, or kids on their good days, it’s easy to say yes, and to
have high hopes, and to imagine possibilities for them.

If we expand our view and reframe this question a little to be

‘Do you believe all students can learn all of the time?’, then the
conversation goes a whole other direction. Many teachers would
scoff at this and quickly reply ‘Of course not!’. Taking this
question as an opportunity to have an authentic conversation can
be powerful.

Unpacking responses can provide many insights into how

educators are interpreting the social and emotional readiness of
all students. It can also provide insights into how teachers are
perceiving behaviors, and their interpretations of these behaviors.
Now, hopefully this question doesn’t become about making
excuses for when or why a student might not be ready to learn.

Rather, this is an opportunity to discover and consider all the

aspects of a child and their life that set the stage for when a
student enters a school. These influences, which are often
beyond a students conscious control, effect whether a child is
ready to learn.
A survey release this year from Microsoft found that 79% of
educators worldwide believe that positive emotions are very or
extremely important for helping students to achieve academic
success. While this brings to light what many educators have felt
for years, it doesn't let us know how or when to action.

The emergence of PBIS has provided a construct for providing a

continuum of supports through tiers with aim to support all
students regardless of their needs. In my experience, most
teachers are more comfortable thinking about these supports in
relation to academics, but not as comfortable when it is in
reference to behaviors.

In thinking about behaviors, it takes the application of many lens,

considering what works for all, what works for some, what might
work for a few, what works some of the time and what is needed
individually. These lens might need to be applied individually or in
tandem in order to help all students to be ready to learn.

There is research to support this, but we all know that PBIS or

responses to behaviors can’t just be about the things, whether
we’re talking about rewards or consequences. If we’re rewarding
or applying consequences without considering how it contributes
to building student autonomy, we’re putting our energy into the
wrong places.

As educators, we have to go beyond the surface level of

behaviors in order to better understand our students. Research
indicates that there are five social and emotional skills teachers
can help students to develop: self-awareness, self-management,
social awareness, positive relationship skills, and responsible
decision making.
A starting point in all of this work is to assess the current reality,
not just in your building, but with individual students. You have to
consider the function of their behaviors, but not by interpreting
behaviors solely through the lens of them being about what a
student desires to obtain or wants to avoid.

All behavior is communication. Kids with social, emotional, and

behavioral challenges lack important thinking skills. Digging
deeper with this in mind, some behaviors communicate the lack of
a skill which is needed in order to respond adaptively to a specific
problem.In these instances, students need to collaborate with
teachers in order to find solutions.

There has to be a shift from believing students do well if they want

to, to thinking that students do well​ if they can​. This shift allows
educators to go from being reactive to behaviors, to proactively
making a plan to support the development of social and emotional
skills.

In all of this thinking, there needs to be space in these

conversation for possible cultural differences. You can’t have
tunnel vision as to what collaboration with students will look like.
Research has found that administrators are likely to promote
behaviors associated with their own Eurocentric culture, which
can create divides with students and families.

Research notes the importance of adopting a perspective of

valuing healthy abnormality. PBIS can not be about conformity.
Responses to challenging behaviors can not be driven by a desire
to conform students to one cultural norm.
This may require learning and adapting from educators in order to
understand behaviors beyond our own experiences. When
considering the social and emotional issues some students may
be facing due to cultural differences, it is easy to see how student
may not be able to articulate challenges they are feeling or
processing.

Some educators may feel like all of this may not be “fair” to ask of
them or that it sounds like more to “do”. However, intentionally or
not, teachers have always taught nonacademic skills. Lessons on
handling life’s social, emotional, and behavioral challenges are
embedded into our classrooms on a daily basis.

Besides, if you’re not supporting student in their social and

emotional learning, it would be predictable that you’re spending a
lot of time responding to behaviors, communicating with others
about behaviors, and reaching out for help in responding to
behaviors, while inevitable feeling frustrated through this journey.

As Daniel Pink says, “Control leads to compliance; autonomy

leads to engagement.” If we want engaged students in our
classrooms, we have to move beyond compliance to expectations
to teach them how to be drivers in their own learning.This includes
collaborating with students to work with them on skills they are
lacking.

Making shift leads to less for the teacher to “do” and “deal with”.
As William G. Spady said, “All students can learn and succeed,
but not on the same day in the same way.” It’s our responsibility to
reach out, meet them where they are at, and to support them in
growing forward.