Saralynn Hardy-January blogpost

SEL Connection: According to CASEL, responsible decision–making is the ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. 

• What is invasive curiosity and how can we hold space to best model positive curiosity while supporting classrooms where risk taking is needed and encouraged? 

According to Jagers, Skoog-Hoffman, Barthelus, and Schlund in an American Federation of Teachers piece written post-pandemic in the summer of 2021, “Curiosity reflects the deep need to continuously surface and curate information about oneself in relation to others and the physical world”. 

I see invasive curiosity, in my understanding, as the need to create order and belonging and find identity and connection, but in ways that might develop into intrusion, or that have a propensity for creating distrust instead of trust, accusation or fault-finding instead of compassion, and discord instead of shared relevance and empathy. When my students display what I would consider invasive curiosity, it can seem as if they are trying to find a “label to stick on it”, whatever IT is, (a situation, a word, a feeling, or another human). They seem to be trying to organize, categorize, and compartmentalize an experience or an understanding. As if relating it to prior knowledge, past experiences, and previous understandings or perspectives. 

In order to best model positive curiosity, I strongly believe that we must make the time and create the safe space to have potentially uncomfortable conversations with students. That facilitating compassion, empathy, and a strong commitment to understanding others is part of what my job requires. That my role in the lives of my students is to help open their eyes to how curiosity can be channeled into something good, that creates positive connections and helps us all to develop into greater individuals. One of the basic foundational expectations within my classroom is that we will operate within the understanding that all are created equal and beautiful and that our differences are what bring richness and beauty to each of our lives, in every way. 

Jagers, R. J., Sk00g-Hoffmann, A., Barthelus, B., & Schlund, J. (2021, August). Transformative Social and Emotional Learning. American Federation of Teachers. Retrieved January 19, 2024,from https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2021/jagers_

skoog-hoffman_barthelus_schlund

• Reflecting on the discussions we have had in our PINE Project Workshops, how can this month’s SEL Connection about responsible decision making be integrated into classroom settings? Feel free to specifically use the picture books we read this month, but do not feel as though this is your only choice. You get to decide how to integrate these ideas into your student’s learning. 

I feel that responsible decision making work can be integrated into the daily life of our classroom through purposeful planning, specific instruction, the use of teachable moments filled with grace and positivity, and of course, modeling and practicing how to make responsible choices as learners and citizens of a community. The book that we read today, “Two White Rabbits”, brought strong reactions from my students, who expressed outrage, sadness, confusion, passion, and also significant differences in both opinion and understanding. They were innately drawn to discussion of responsible parenting, responses of government and organizations to protect children and the innocent, differences in how people are treated based on skin color, amount of money, and their place or origin, and indignation about why the United States would keep CHILDREN out who had no one left to care for them. 

I feel that sharing these beautiful and powerful texts with students is opening the doors for rich dialogue and processing of ideas and perceptions that I would not otherwise have broached as topics of conversation and discussion. I will be honest that I am uncomfortable with the topic of “haves and have-nots”, something that was addressed in today’s discourse. I am amazed, proud, impressed, and astounded by the level of maturity these fourth grade students are showing in handling topics that adults often struggle to untangle without emotional volatility.