Bringing Real-World Issues into the Classroom

Introduction

Educators have the opportunity to bring real-world issues into their classrooms and to connect those issues with students' lives. However, educators must be careful not to overload students with too much information; rather, they should focus on providing only enough information for students to understand the topic in question.

It is important that educators are able to bring real-world issues into their classrooms in a way that supports social-emotional learning.

It's important that educators are able to bring real-world issues into their classrooms in a way that supports social-emotional learning. In order to do this, they must first understand the impact of these topics on their students and be prepared to handle any potential reactions.

When discussing difficult topics like bullying or violence with students, it is crucial that you have an objective perspective on the issue at hand. You don't want your own biases or emotions getting in the way of teaching them how to respond appropriately when faced with such situations outside of school hours as well as within them (which could lead them down some unhealthy paths).

Social-Emotional Learning

Social-emotional learning, or SEL, is a way to teach children how to manage their emotions and behaviors. It's also known as emotional intelligence, or EQ.

Schools often focus on academic subjects such as reading and math but neglect social skills such as empathy and self-control. This can lead to poor outcomes in school performance and behavior problems later on in life. SEL programs help children learn these skills by giving them real-world experiences that challenge them emotionally but then show them how they should have behaved instead of just telling them what was wrong with their actions or words.

Current Issues

As a teacher, you are likely aware of how important current events are to your students. The more you can teach them about current events and the world around them, the better equipped they will be in their future careers. In order to bring this material into your classroom effectively, there are several things to keep in mind:

• First and foremost, it is important that students learn how to process information from text-based sources such as news articles or blogs. This involves being able to critically analyze what they read by asking questions like "Is this piece biased?" or "What does this mean for me?". It also means taking cues from other sources (such as videos) when possible; for example, if an article says something about climate change but another source says otherwise then maybe we should take both pieces of evidence into account before making any conclusions ourselves!
• Next up comes critical thinking skills--the ability not only process information but also synthesize new ideas based on previous knowledge gained through observation/experimentation etc..

Curricular Opportunities

Curricular opportunities enhance and reinforce students' learning. Depending on the context, enhancing or reinforcing students' learning can be dangerous or empowering. Let's look at different examples of curricular opportunities that are real-world issues within these two contexts:

• Dangerous Curricular Opportunity: when teaching about crime data and incarceration enhancing or reinforcing the belief that all people who are in jail or prison are prison may lead students to believe that all people in jail or prison are guilty when that is not true.
• Empowering Curricular Opportunity: when teaching about bullying you can explain some of the motivations behind bullying such as trauma, lack of connection from peer groups, boredom, etc. to enhance and reinforce students' learning behind some of the warning signs for when someone may do behaviors related to bullying. This lesson not only encourages self-reflection, it gives students the opportunity to empathize with the reasons why someone bullies while still holding people who bully accountable for their behaviors.

Curricular Threats

Curricular threats disrupt students' learning. Depending on the context, disrupting students' learning can be dangerous or empowering. Let's look at different examples of curricular threats that are real-world issues within these two contexts:

• Dangerous Curricular Threat: when teaching U.S. History presenting all Native American Tribes/Nations as either savages or pacifists during the arrival of European colonists and colonizers. This curricular threat does not include the various perspectives and interactions between Indigenous Nations and European colonists and colonizers. Students' learning will be disrupting in this context because they will not understand that each Indigenous Tribe and Nation interacted with European colonists and colonizers in very nuanced ways that either increased or decreased political tensions .
• Empowering Curricular Threat: when teaching about immigration in the United States of America providing students with the most updated immigration data provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in regards to the different types of people migrating to the U.S. and their specific reasons for migrating to the U.S. Teaching about immigration through disaggregating data will provide students opportunities to dispel any misconceptions they may have for the people migrating to the U.S. and their motivations.

Conclusion

We believe that it is our duty as educators to provide students with the tools they need to navigate the world around them. This includes helping them understand current events and social-emotional learning. There are many ways for teachers to do this, but we hope this article has provided some insight into how you can bring real-world issues into the classroom in a way that supports social-emotional learning!

Let's review our three tips for bringing real-world issues into the classroom:

• Tip #1: Be Intentional About the Issues You Seek to Address with Students
• Tip #2: Identify Potential Curriculum Opportunities and Threats to Students' Learning
• Tip #3: Consider the Social-Emotional Learning Impacts on Students