Tanji Holmes
Design Portfolio
Deeper Social Emotional Learning Curriculum
Project Managers: Tanji Holmes, Yesheng (Esther) Li, Jing (Gloria) Li, Katy Tucker, Lujia (Viola) Yang
Our curriculum and lesson plans were specifically created to shift the educational landscape to give students the agency to lead within their learning journey! The term deeper learning is the outcome of shifting from traditional ways of teaching where students are less involved in the learning process. It’s properties are highly aligned within the domain of social emotional learning (SEL). By merging the two, we are able to create an optimum learning environment!
A vital component of our SEL curriculum and lesson plans is its ability to allow students to engage in deeper learning through agency. When students are given the agency to be leaders of their learning experience, it creates a powerful learning experience. Traditional systematic ways of teaching with student-teacher hierarchy create an environment where students are at high risk of performance driven learning versus intrinsic deeper learning. Our Curriculum and lesson plans are structured in a way that fosters students roles as leaders in their learning journey.
Throughout our lesson plans, students are the directors within each activity. By intentionally neutralizing the traditional student- teacher roles, we’re able to give the students the ability to choose and create within their means while teachers act as support facilitators. In doing so, students are able to dive into their creativity and showcase what they find meaningful within the lesson!
Contributions
• Equal lead in creating and designing social emotional curriculum for middle school students centered around student agency to help maximize the opportunity for learners to engage in deeper learning
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• Designed each lesson plan to shift the student-teacher hierarchy giving each student the variability and agency to learn authentically with the teacher aiding as the facilitator to promote deeper learning
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• Designed teacher resources based on teacher empathy interviews in the form of:
User Guide: a detailed layout to introduce educators to the curriculum by providing a brief understanding of SEL, why SEL is important, and how educators can incorporate it Environmental Guide: a layout reference that helps educators create an unique environment to maximize the opportunity for deeper learning
Question- and-Answer Guide: a way for educators to quickly gain clarity to any potential questions they may have.