Person-Centered Focus

by Imani Coaxum

A Person-Centered Focus Versus Academic-Centered Focus

  The most important difference between Social/ Emotional Learning and traditional Academic based learning is that this new SEL approach is more “person focused”. Person focused meaning that students are being taught to be more self-aware of their actions. Educators are now focusing on the student’s performance rather than just on their academic performance.

  “Children need to be aware of themselves and others, that they need to give consideration to the situation and relevant norms. They also need to manage their emotions and behaviors and to possess social skills that enable them to carry out solutions effectively with others.” Zins, J. E. (2004). Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What does the research say? New York: Teachers College Press.

  This need for students to be aware of themselves is what helps them perform better as a student. So, it can be said that this person-centered focus is an avenue for helping students excel in school. It all begins with identifying and recognizing your emotions. This could be as simple as implementing a lesson plan for a kindergarten class using emotion charts or having students use a color to determine an emotion. Then there is responsible decision making. One concept with this is problem solving. For a middle school class, you can have students come up with skits or small plays about solving problems, and what problem solving looks like to them. There is also relationship management, and one component of that would be help seeking and providing. This can be used with high school students and applying for college or making a life plan for the next four years. Either way, these approaches all contribute to viewing a student as a whole person by looking into these social or emotional awareness concepts.