Schools across the country are putting considerable energy and resources into teaching SEL (Social Emotional Learning). SEL is the driving force for every SHAPE America conference that I have attended recently. The belief is that SEL is not taught anywhere else in school, so it needs to be a priority in health/PE. There was an undertone that SEL would also ensure job security, but that is a whole other conversation. Teachers across the country (especially PE) have been asked to incorporate SEL into their curriculums. Well, I have some good news. Sportsmanship is SEL! However, a major reason that sportsmanship is so hard to teach to students is because the concept is actually very hard to define.
Most students will answer with concrete examples of how to be a good sport when they are asked, “What is sportsmanship?” They will say things like “shake hands and say good game at the end of a game” and “passing the ball to teammates.” Some students will give concrete examples of how to be a “bad sport,” like cheating or bragging. However, being a “good sport” is not always clear as the examples given. To one student, cheering a game winning shot is celebrating the teammate who did a good job, but to another, it is bragging. Both students are “in the right,” and both students need to use empathy to understand each other’s point of view. Sounds a lot like empathy, which is a component of Social Awareness, which is one of the pillars of SEL. Let’s take a look at the five pillars of social and emotional learning:
· Self Awareness
o Identifying Emotions
o Expressing Emotions
o Mindfulness
o Self-Confidence
o Recognizing Strengths
· Self Management
o Managing Emotions
o Resilience
o Stress Management
o Impulse Control
o Self Motivation
· Social Awareness
o Empathy
o Discovering Differences
o Diversity Appreciation
o Civic Engagement
o Respect for Others
· Relationship Skills
o Conflict Resolution
o Active Listening
o Cooperation
o Teamwork
o Communication
· Decision Making
o Identifying Problems
o Solving Problems
o Analyzing Situations
o Goal Setting
o Leadership Skills
Having a clear working definition of sportsmanship will go a long way in building SEL skills for the student. This mantra I like to use with the students is, “Be Fun to Play With, Be Fun to Play Against.” With this simple definition, they will now have the ability to analyze their own behavior and determine if they are “being a good sport.” When they are not being a good sport, we can remind them of the definition, and they can course correct. Using this mantra with the students hits so many of the core tenants of SEL:
· Self Awareness
o The students’ will be identifying and expressing their emotions in situations like the happiness of shared success or the anger of someone cheating.
· Self Management
o Students will have to manage these strong positive and negative emotions during gameplay. When things are not going as planned, building the resiliency to continue playing through adversity makes a good teammate. Situations in a game can be very stressful, and we have to manage that stress so we can continue to play. Especially when we feel like a player or ref has wronged us, controlling our impulse to lash out is critical (which is amplified in high stress situations).
· Social Awareness
o Being fun to play with and fun to play against requires empathy to understand how to act as a good teammate, as well as a good opponent. Having respect for others includes teammates, the opposing players, the coaches, and the referees.
· Relationship Skills
o Especially when people are not being fun to play against, students will have to employ conflict resolution techniques, which require active listening and communication. It should be a no-brainer how cooperation and teamwork fit into sportsmanship.
· Decision Making
o The students will analyze their behavior and others by using the mantra, “Be Fun to Play With, Be Fun to Play Against.” This will help them identify problems and come up with solutions.
If you are interested in a free lesson plan on sportsmanship that I start every year with, you can find it here in the website store. In next week’s blog, we will look at how a question I ask upper elementary during conflict resolution utilizes every single pillar of SEL.