Self-Regulation and Self-Advocacy Skills in a Fifth Grade Mathematics Classroom

Social emotional learning has recently been at the forefront of many educational discussions because of its link with children’s academic success (Weissberg & Cascarino, 2013). Since mathematics is a cumulative subject, students who struggle to self-regulate and self-advocate at a young age will spend less time on task and be at risk to fall behind their peers academically. The research question addressed in this project was: how can social emotional learning strategies around self-regulation and self-advocacy be integrated into mathematics instruction at the fifth-grade level? An extensive literature review revealed that a strong student-teacher relationship and a plan to set goals are two of the most important strategies for social emotional growth. The final project integrates research recommendations to create a curriculum of 15 morning meetings to be used in a fifth grade mathematics classroom. These meetings utilize strategies from both the Responsive Classroom and Social Thinking programs to build a positive classroom community centered around mathematics