By: Joe Lancello

At last week’s Oskaloosa School Board meeting, the Board set its goals for the upcoming school year. At the top of the list for school staff is something called social emotional learning.  Oskaloosa Superintendent Paula Wright explains the key parts of social emotional learning.

“The first one is self-awareness, self-regulation.  Talking with students and helping them understand how to be aware of your own emotions and how you can deal with those emotions when it comes to other people.  Self-awareness, self-regulation.  If you get angry, how do you handle that?  If you’re sad, how do you handle that?  Again, it depends upon the level of the student.  Really helping kids understand and mature into young adults.”

“In order to get the students to their academics, you have to have a relationship with students as a teacher.  ‘You have to capture their heart before you capture their head’ is a common saying.  It’s all about building relationships with kids and helping kids understand how their emotions impact their learning.”

School starts in Oskaloosa next Monday (8/26).  On Tuesday night (8/20), there’s an open house at Oskaloosa High School for ninth graders and new families starting at 6pm at the George Daily Auditorium.  And Oskaloosa Middle School has an open house Tuesday at 5pm that will be for sixth graders and families new to the Oskaloosa district.  That open house is also at the George Daily Auditorium.