I recently retired from the public school system in Texas after 26 years as a high school social studies classroom teacher. Throughout my time in the classroom, I experienced the tremendous value of social and emotional strategies, and employed them even before there was a common language or framework for understanding social and emotional learning (SEL).
I am now a museum educator at the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin, and I find myself in a phenomenal environment for SEL work. Indeed, I see museums as the “new frontier” for SEL. There are a few of us in the field who see the connection, but it’s rare to hear from other museum educators about the relevance of SEL, and even rarer to see museum educators included in the list of educators who can and should leverage SEL in their work. To me, this is a big oversight.
Art Museums Are Perfect Partners
Museums are natural partners to support the work of educators in classroom and schoolwide settings, in addition to being cultural institutions with the capacity to serve families and caregivers in their own SEL work. As members of the “Communities” ring of the CASEL wheel, art museums in particular offer a unique opportunity to integrate SEL into guided lessons for visitors of all ages, and into professional development for educators.
Visual arts help learners of all ages explore issues of identity, belonging, empathy, community, and curiosity. I have the privilege of seeing hundreds of students, their teachers, and their chaperones standing, or sitting, or even lying down in our galleries, learn more about themselves and the world around them. I see students thrive as learners when they are tuned in to their own emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and values as they consider a work of art. I watch learners of all ages use art to forge stronger and more positive relationships, understand and empathize with others, recognize and appreciate diversity, and demonstrate respect for others’ perspectives and feelings. As community partners, art museums provide unique learning opportunities that align with and support learning in other school-family-community settings.
SEL Begins With Us
These experiences, however, do not happen without our intentionally incorporating strategies we know contribute to SEL. And that begins with training our talented cohort of volunteer gallery teachers in leading student visitors in meaningful activities, from the selection of artworks to deeper exploration of art and artists, to individual mindfulness exercises and collaborative activities. At the conclusion of every student visit, we allow time for self-reflection and group sharing. A single visit with us allows us to tap into key SEL competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship skills.
We at the Blanton have paid particular attention to ensuring that our work in SEL aligns with Texas’ state standards for K-12 students. Our “Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills” (TEKS), has an entire subchapter requiring the teaching of “Positive Character Traits and Personal Skills.” We have compared our own instructional strategies for students and educators to those required by the state and have discovered that, no matter the language used, we are collaborating with others interested in the health and well-being of all learners.
As a classroom teacher, I naturally used SEL strategies to create a warm and inclusive learning environment—one where I was a learner just as much as any of my students. I grew in my own capacity for all of the SEL competencies. And now, as a museum educator for school programs, I am discovering ways to continue to support the learning of students and educators, but from the perspective of a member of the “community.”
I am grateful for the creation of a common language and understanding of social and emotional learning, allowing for alignment and powerful partnerships between schools, families, and community members. I look forward to finding more of my museum peers who are dedicated to exploring the potential of SEL partnerships with our schools, and I look forward to bringing the museum experience into the broader SEL conversation.
The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.
Carlen Floyd is the museum educator for School Programs at the Blanton Museum of Art. An award-winning educator, she was a classroom teacher for 26 years with the Austin Independent School District before joining the education team at the Blanton. She currently works with K-12 students, pre-service teachers, and classroom educators and district administrators, encouraging them to allow art to inspire them to learn something unexpected about the world and themselves. She can be reached at carlen.floyd@blantonmuseum.org.