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In the reading, “The Puzzling Child”, one of my biggest takeaways was the idea of Exploratory talk, “Exploratory talk allows children to bring their experiences into the conversation, which is consistent with the view that learning consists of making connections between old experiences and ideas and new ones.”. I think exploratory talk is something that should be discussed more because I think discussions in classrooms that are more slow paced, and allows students to talk about their experiences allows everyone to be seen and feel like they matter in the classroom. I think it also allows for an independent learning experience because students are encouraged to explore ideas for themselves. In the reading, “Developing social and emotional aspects of learning”, one of my biggest takeaways were the characteristics of successful SEL-related efforts in schools, specifically the relational characteristic which, “promotes the development go positive relationships in classrooms, schools, and other settings, as well as between subgroups in the setting.”. I think this is a very important component to consider in the classroom, especially at an elementary school level. It is important that students feel that they can learn and socialize in a positive learning environment, which makes me think about all of the morning meetings we have done so far. These meetings provide students with a sense of belonging, and a positive start to their day at school, which I believe is very important to SEL.

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When reading "The Puzzling Child" one of the biggest takeaways was that the teacher needs to "expand their view on what counts on knowledge and to include all of the children's real thinking."  When teaching it is important to understand that the students thinking is different from our but just because it is different and they think differently does not mean they are wrong. I believe that the children/students learn from their own thinking and gives other students the opportunity to dive into deeper thinking. As an educator you need to be aware and be able to analyze each students individual thinking levels.
When reading the article on social emotional  aspects one particular part that stuck with me is that social emotional learning is so much more then we think it is, it involves self regulation, self management, relationships, problem solving and decision making. "Programmes must be embedded within safe, caring, well-managed and cooperative classroom environments, as well as wider settings that provide equitable opportunities for positive participation and recognition".   I also agree that students who are able to develop good social emotional skills will be able to develop good academic skills. Elementary level children I believe thrive on the positive relationships and build off of the relationships they build both academically and socially.

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After reading Ballinger's "The Puzzling Child" and Elias' articles on social and emotional development, I was struck by the importance of understanding and appreciating the unique characteristics and strengths of each child, moving away from rigid expectations. It highlighted the significance of nurturing empathy, self-awareness, and emotional regulation for overall well-being. One major takeaway is that education should encompass more than just academics, recognizing the need to empower children to navigate human interaction and cultivate resilience through emotional intelligence. Additionally, the role of adults in modeling and teaching social and emotional skills, fostering positive relationships, and promoting collaboration between educators, parents, and caregivers were highlighted. Specifically, these readings emphasized the need for a safe and supportive environment that encourages children to express and manage their emotions effectively. Overall, these insights underscore the holistic approach to education that addresses the social and emotional needs of children.

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Angelina Sangiovanni

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Angelina Sangiovanni

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Across the two readings, I learned a lot about the importance of other things besides academics in the classroom. Specifically, the Elias article was talking about how building character through social-emotional learning is an important part of what the teacher should include in their classroom. One thing that the authors wrote in this article that really stuck with me with this takeaway was the last line where they mentioned how we need to prepare "students for the tests of life, rather than a life of tests” (432). With this quote, it’s clear that the authors want us to understand that students need to use school to obtain skills like the CASEL 5, including self-awareness and relationship skills, that they can carry into other aspects of their lives not just in an academic setting. I completely see this theme intersecting with the other article, where while discussing what a puzzling child might mean, Ballenger explains how teachers must not just strictly go by the textbook answer for everything but instead try to find validity and have students explain their thinking further to truly understand it. This researcher was analyzing a conversation had in a science classroom, where a student that the author deemed a “puzzling student” gave an answer that at the surface level wasn’t exactly what the classroom teacher what have thought of when hearing the question, but realized what the student was able to do with her response. The student was able to take such a strictly academic question and tie it in with her own experiences, not only learning the content but also being able to apply that content to other domains. The application process is what is going to be important for the students to take beyond the classroom, not just specifically how plants grow, but also how we know that through our own growth. Overall, it’s really clear that these authors all demonstrate the classroom as a space for learning a large variety of skills and gaining interpersonal relationships, rather than just academics.

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After reading Ballinger's "The Puzzling Child" and Elias' "Developing Social & Emotional Aspects", I noticed a common theme across the two articles. Both authors highlight the importance of the connection between social-emotional learning and academic achievement. “The Puzzling Child” article focuses on the importance of recognizing how students learn differently, For example, the author discussed how one student’s thought process was less clear than her peers. “She is thinking hard, the power of her approach as scientific and mathematical thought is less easy for many educators to see”. The author encourages educators to applaud participation because it is positive reinforcement and makes students more likely to raise their hands. On the other hand, “Developing Social & Emotional Aspects” explores the 5 social behaviors of Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). These behaviors consist of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making and problem-solving. All these skills help students in the classroom to learn and develop socially. Overall, both authors agree that social-emotional learning is strongly connected to academic achievement. Therefore, educators should prioritize getting to know their students, teaching them how to interact with their peers, and teaching them to regulate their behaviors.

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Arianna Irizarry

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Arianna Irizarry

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Within both of these readings, there is a lot to consider about the factors outside of a classroom. Specifically after reading "The Puzzling Child" by Ballinger, my thoughts on what is right vs. wrong have changed. Through classroom discussion, students and teachers can learn from each other based on individuals' past experiences, perspectives, and ideas, that shape one's ways of thinking. Ballinger suggested a new term called "exploratory talk" which "...allows children to bring their experiences into the conversation which is consistent with the view that learning consists of making connections between old experiences and ideas and new ones” (Ballinger, 305). As a teacher, it is crucial to never rule out one specific child in academics based on their background or home life. Like Elena, there are many other children who may not show proficiency in school, based on their background, language, and sociocultural context, but they do make connections! Elena's connection was crucial as she
allowed and guided her peers to go beyond the curriculum and get deeper and more complex views and concerns. She and the other children are excited to discover the importance of their own experiences and the questions that arise. The "SEL" article by Elias, emphasized the importance of SEL, and more specifically, SECD to promote student achievement.
Elias stated that "SEL is connected to academic achievement, because it embodies skills necessary for succeeding in the classroom, and the life of the school, the family, the community, when the workplace, and, indeed, in life in general” (Elias 424). The SECD is a foundational piece that all schools need to adopt in the classroom. Relationships and strong emotions influence learning and it is patterns of interpersonal interaction that determine the effectiveness of classrooms, other school settings, and the school as a whole. This was also seen in the "Puzzling Child" article, as Elena would have not shared her thoughts and past experiences during the science talk if she did not have a strong foundation of SECD.

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Holly Montick 

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Holly Montick 

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“The Puzzling Child” by Ballinger highlights exposing a “puzzling child’s” ideas through “exploratory talk” which heavily impacted my thinking. Through this type of talk, students have authority and can engage in a student-led discussion. Although some of Elena’s ideas were unexpected, they all aided in conversation and broadened the realm of thinking for her and her peers. Students can bring their experiences into conversation, pause when needed, and engage in self-correction. The author did an amazing job of showing that Elena’s insights have value, and that “exploratory talk” can allow teachers to see the academic potential of “puzzling children” like Elena.

“Developing Social & Emotional Aspects” by Elias relates to Ballinger’s article in the sense that SEL is correlated to academic performance. This article discusses how SEL programs create “an overall school climate allowing disadvantaged students to affirm their positive values” which “has a positive impact on learning and potential for closing the achievement gap.” Although Elena was not “disadvantaged” her strengths were often “invisible” to educators prior to the implementation of “exploratory talk”. In my opinion, this type of talk relates to SEL considering that SEL involves self/social awareness and relationship skills. Both SEL programs and “exploratory talk” highlight “puzzling” or disadvantaged student ideas/insights.

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Cynthia Ballenger’s The Puzzling Child reminded me much of the teacher research we are studying in our ED 550 course.  Maurice J. Elias and Dominic C. Moceri’s Developing Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning discussed how impactful social and emotional learning is on a student's mental development and academics. A point of discussion that Elias and Dominic bring up that addresses similar to how Cynthia makes multiple points of how teachers should put themselves into their observations is Their choice of the latter as the main dependent variable is important because they realize that success in school alone is not the end product; indeed, school success has become defined narrowly in terms of academic test score performance, there is a considerable reason not to equate school
success with life success unconditionally” (Elias & Moceri 426).
These authors have reflected on their observations in their experiences and observations to discuss dilemmas in education on the importance of allowing students to bring their own experiences from life into the classroom in an environment where they can practice the pillars of SEL.
Being a teacher, many responsibilities are expected and asked. We are the world's nurturers, but to nurture and teach, teachers have to be able to see situations from various perspectives. As well as provide multiple perspectives for their students.

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Patrick Migliorati

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Patrick Migliorati

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My biggest takeaway from Elias was the results of the SEL intervention work in schools. Students were able to improve on their self-efficacy, academic performance, positive behaviors, and learning-to-learn behaviors. There was also a decline in certain negative behaviors such as withdrawal, substance abuse, aggression, and anxiety (p.424). From my experience with students with behavioral issues, using more SEL strategies towards the students has shown better results than simply focusing just on academic success. The success in their academics comes from building strong relationships with these students and showing them that you care about their learning and well-being which is an aspect of the SEL approach. This approach also aligns with the concept of the puzzling child as well. Listening to the way students talk can help teachers shape the way they educate these students who might be struggling with certain lessons. This focus allows teachers to broaden their view of what they consider knowledge and can try to see where the students are coming from with their thinking. Most of the time there are more than one way to approach a question, especially in science and keeping an open mind as a teacher can lead to more student success.

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In The Puzzling Child, the author talks at length and gives examples of how children often have rich and valuable ideas and understandings, but are dismissed for expressing their knowledge in different ways. Children who are ELLs, or are in less advantaged schools are seen as incapable of having scientific conversations or designing experiments with the depth that students in a more privileged setting/school could. However, these assumptions are wrong, and can be very harmful to students of all kinds. The text went on to demonstrate the different ways in which students can demonstrate scientific knowledge and thought while talking with one-another, and the teacher. They showed how students of all backgrounds are just as capable of having meaningful discussions, and should not be dismissed. Though they were different, see a common theme across the two articles. The SEL article spoke about how there is more to the school experience than simply preparing students for tests, and narrowly defined academic achievement. If students are to succeed as individuals and as students, their emotional and personal needs must be met. Teachers must see students as valuable, important people first and foremost. In both articles, the authors talk about the importance of looking past the basic, established standards of what makes a good student, and meeting children where they are, and as they are.

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While each article addresses similar topics from varying viewpoints, they do both capture the core idea of a child and their ability to learn. The concept of the puzzling child stuck out to me as very interesting as they explain that children who aren't doing as well academically are still valid learners with good thoughts that just need to be better understood by the teacher. I think the biggest takeaway for me is the "CASEL five" because it breaks down the areas of social-emotional learning into very comprehensible sections that are achievable by students of all ages. These ideas also work very well together even though they aren't presented together. For example, students who are considered "puzzling" are not the result of poor SEL but by putting an increased focus on SEL can help to develop the skills required to work around the idea of being considered a "puzzling" student.

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After reading Ballinger's "The Puzzling Child" and Elias' findings on the importance of social-emotional instruction, I was most moved by the idea that rigid academic standards, dry curriculum, and unmoving expectations have an incredibly harmful impact on students' long-term learning. In Ballinger's article, the student, Elena, was compared to another student named Serena who had higher academic success. Ballinger finds that, although Serena consistently gives answers that the teacher is looking for, Elena is able to articulate her ideas in a completely different context, ultimately enriching the entire class' ability to understand and conceptualize the scientific concept being studied. This highlights the importance of allowing all students to fully express their thoughts and ideas without shutting them down or assuming they are wrong because they aren't regurgitating the response we want them to. This idea is similarly addressed in Elias' findings--they describe how standards markers of success, like high standardized test scores and academic achievements are not at all an indicator of a student's ability to succeed in life outside of the classroom. This highlights the necessity for teacher's to focus on fostering their students imaginations and social emotional skills just as much as they are focused on academics, in order to create well-rounded, critical thinking, empathetic members of society.

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Through reading both articles it became clear to me that there is a really strong connection between SEL and academic performance in the classroom. In “The Puzzling Child”, it hits on the importance of all dialog between students in the classroom. The way in which Marcia designed this science lesson, it gives a chance to the puzzled student (Elena) to express their knowledge and make the discussion more rich.  This type of teaching gives students like Elena confidence in the classroom which positively affects her social skills with her peers. Similarly in the other article “Developing social and emotional aspects of learning: the American experience”, the author explains that those students that were receiving SEL intervention are also performing better in their academics. This being said, it is clear that not only is SEL important for learning social interaction, coping skills, life skills, etc. but it is also important because it aids academic success.

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After reading the Elias article, I learned about the importance of social & emotional learning and how it affects the achievement gap/ academic achievement/ poverty-related gap. SEL is more than just a set of skills, and having a pedagogy that incorporates SEL and an intervention structure supports the internalization and generalization of those skills over time and more importantly, across contexts. More attention has been given to the integration of SEL and character development and the need to organize school programs and structures to address core values and essential life habits/skills. The Ballinger article opened my eyes to the importance of appreciating the different ways that children learn, make their knowledge known, and their sensemaking tools/words. We need to expand our views of what counts as knowledge in order to include every child’s real thinking. We should reflect on and challenge our own assumptions and what ability and thoughtfulness look like. What struck me most about the article was the importance of and the ways we can analyze students’ language and how they say it, and really listen to what they say and mean.

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Rachael Cavanagh

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SEL & Puzzling Behavior - Rachael Cavanagh

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One of the biggest takeaways I have after reading "The Puzzling Child" is that teachers need to be able to recognize and appreciate the different characteristics that their students have. Essentially they need to be able to recognize that broadening their perspective and being open to learning something new is essential. I think that as teachers, there is the misconception that we are teaching and that students are learning when I think that teachers and students both teach and learn. Learning from one another is essential for building a solid community, and students can also help to teach about certain aspects of themselves. This then brings up a lot of essential aspects of having proper and well-structured SEL in the classroom. Suppose students are taught about specific skills, such as being socially and emotionally aware of others. In that case, they will bring these skills into adulthood and see the benefits years after they are taught them. In the Ballinger article, I think that Elena and Serena being compared provides some fascinating insight into the two of them academically. We know that Serena performs better academically and does excellent at always finding the exact answer the teacher is looking for. In comparison, Elena struggles to verbalize and show her knowledge as efficiently as Serena. I think sometimes educators are quick to move on to another student or shut down specific responses that aren't the exact answer that they are looking for. I think allowing students to share and attempt to explain their thinking is essential. Often, students are cut off before they are even given the chance to vocalize their understanding and, as a result, are less likely to want to share again. It creates unnecessary anxiety about answering questions and being heard in the classroom. My biggest takeaway from this article is that I need to learn to be patient with my students and ensure that everyone is allowed to share and work through their ideas.

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After reading "The Puzzling Child" and "Developing Social & Emotional Aspects", it is clear that both authors wanted to shed some light on the overall connection between social-emotional learning and academic performance. In Ballinger's article, it brought up an instance in which a student who was more advanced academically (Serena)  was compared to another student who was not as strong academically but was able to develop her ideas in a way that provided the whole class with a different perspective on the concept (Elena). This emphasizes the importance of allowing students the opportunity to express their thoughts and ideas within the classroom. Students have a right to speak up and work through different concepts in ways that work best for them. Many teachers get nervous when that happens because they feel as if the student is straying away from the curriculum. However, what they don't realize is that through allowing the student to discover new ways of looking at something, they are forming connections, further developing their knowledge, and maybe even helping other students along the way. The way in which we learn and the way in which young elementary students learn is completely different, but allowing them to communicate and collaborate their ideas with one another may help students such as Elena who aren't as strong academically to receive an equitable education.

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After reading Ballenger's article, I realized how important it is for myself as the teacher and other students should listen to others during open discussions. I learned that no matter what the academic level is of the student, never doubt that they don't have great ideas. As stated in the article, "...we hear much more than usual from 'puzzling students' like Elena, and we are able to see their intelligence." Elena was a student who struggles, but in the discussion described in the article, Elena was able to show her thinking and help the teacher and other peers learn from her that opened up a new perspective. Also, Elia's article taught me the importance of incorporating SEL in the classroom. Elias stated, "...students who increase their social-emotional competencies will become more self-aware and develop better academic self-efficiency as they see a better correlation between effort and outcome..." This quote describes that when students are exposed to reinforcement in which they practice motivation, working harder, engagement, decision making, and relationships, then they will become a stronger learner. By using SEL in the classroom, these skills will be infused in lessons and class work so the students are getting the practice they need in a generalized manner.