Validating and Invalidating Teacher Behaviors in Elementary School Classrooms

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 10:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Diverse Primary School Perspectives: Educator and Student SEL (Table 1)

Abstract

Social and emotional learning (SEL) refers to the process of learning intra- and interpersonal skills that promote social and emotional well-being. For children, one of the primary settings for SEL is in the classroom. Validation, one of the five pedagogies of SEL, is the affirmation of students’ emotions, experiences, and identities (Authors). This research identified validating and invalidating teacher behaviors in the classroom. School leaders recorded classroom sessions in grades K-5 and scored the videos identifying SEL content. Researchers analyzed the instruction to identify what teachers say and do when a student experiences validation or invalidation. Five themes were identified (normalizing, acknowledging, affirming, ignoring, and minimizing) that can be broken down into thirteen validation themes and eight invalidation themes.

Authors

• Maya Gracie Steiger, Yale University

• Almut K. Zieher, Yale University

• Christina Cipriano, Yale University