The purpose is process: Exploring humanizing social emotional praxes in elementary education

Abstract

v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTIONSocial emotional learning (SEL) is defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the flagship organization for SEL in the U.S., as: the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish, and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. (2020a, para. 1) By learning about various abilities (i.e., self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making) and related skills intended to facilitate students' social relationships and manage their emotions, SEL purportedly guides students to develop the social emotional competence to be successful in school, future careers, and life.Despite its popularity in PK-12 U.S. public schools, however, SEL frequently runs the risk of becoming "white supremacy with a hug" (Simmons, 2021). Students from marginalized backgrounds-students of color, gender-nonconforming youth, and/or youth whose families are forced to survive economic instability or poverty in under-resourced communities, among other students with identities that are subjugated-are often subjected to SEL as white supremacy, an enactment devoid of a sociopolitical analysis that legitimizes and honors their emotions and relationships. Schools and teachers often implement SEL to control students, particularly students of color (Kaler-Jones, 2020), creating "spaces that are safe from righteous rage, or worse, plans to weed out children who display it" (Duncan-Andrade, 2009, p. 9). This qualitative dissertation therefore explores how educators may approach and implement social emotional praxis that is both humanizing and healing for students most neglected and harmed in and by schools.