Social-Emotional Learning
(SEL & States of Mind)
“You have to Maslow before you can Bloom"
What Is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success and is an integral part of education and human development.
SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.
Well-implemented SEL programs positively affect students’ success in school. Studies show that social-emotional skills—such as problem-solving, self-regulation, impulse control, and empathy—help improve academics, reduce negative social behaviors like bullying, and create positive classroom climates.
Social-emotional skills also help children successfully manage everyday life. They help students focus, make good decisions, and become supportive members of their community well beyond school.
**SEL Research: List of Articles; How SEL Helps Children Succeed; The Case for a Holistic Approach to SEL
Source: Committee For Children & CASEL Website
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Five SEL Competencies
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has identified five interrelated sets of cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies (see more about CASEL below). The definitions of the five competency clusters for students are:
Self-Awareness
The ability to accurately recognize one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior. The ability to accurately assess one’s strengths and limitations, with a well-grounded sense of confidence, optimism, and a "growth mindset."
Self-Management
The ability to successfully regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations — effectively managing stress, controlling impulses, and motivating oneself. The ability to set and work toward personal and academic goals.
Decision-Making
The ability to make constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on ethical standards, safety concerns, and social norms. The realistic evaluation of consequences of various actions, and a consideration of the well-being of oneself and others.
Relationship Skills
The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. The ability to communicate clearly, listen well, cooperate with others, resist inappropriate social pressure, negotiate conflict constructively, and seek and offer help when needed.
Social Awareness
The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The ability to understand social and ethical norms for behavior and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
Source: Empowering Education Website
What Is SEL and Why SEL Matters
What Is Social-Emotional Learning
What is SEL
What is Social & Emotional Learning
nftb-karenvanausdal-v1.mp3In this podcast from the National PTA Website Karen Van Ausdal talks about Social and Emotional Learning. She discusses what life skills do children need to thrive? There’s a lot of learning happening in schools that goes beyond academics. Karen shares what Social and Emotional Learning looks like, why it’s important and how families can support.
CASEL
(Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning)
The CASEL website is full of SEL fundamentals, implementation strategies and resources.
Social and Emotional Learning Fundamentals: SEL 101 with CASEL | Run Time: 25:09 | Oct 11, 2021 | This is a CASEL webinar presentation on the definition of SEL and CASEL framework for those seeking to learn more about the competencies and key settings.
The CASEL Guide to Schoolwide Social and Emotional Learning | CASEL’s process helps schools coordinate and build upon SEL practices and programs. Schools can use the Guide to Schoolwide SEL to create an environment that infuses SEL into every part of students’ educational experience and promotes equitable outcomes for all.
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Social and Emotional Learning Video Library | Categories and links to high quality videos you can use to learn more, share, and generate discussion with your school community.
CASEL Website Links
Newsletters (past and a way to subscribe for free)
Social Emotional Learning Video Series
SEL is Essential to Success in PBL
- All teachers, but PBL practitioners in particular, should take notice of a published paper by Lucas Educational Research. This white paper affirms that SEL is essential to success not just in school, but in PBL specifically for a number of reasons.
- A comprehensive review of hundreds of studies confirmed that SEL raises academic performance, improves classroom behavior, and bolsters the ability of students to resist stress, depression, and other emotional challenges that, due in part to the ongoing pandemic, continue to persist at high levels.
The Five Social and Emotional Competencies
Cultivating a Climate of Wellness
Alexis Shepard writes about the practice of using wellness checks as a social emotional learning tool. “You have to Maslow before you can Bloom,” the saying goes.
One of the most important things teachers can do to support students’ social emotional health is cultivate a climate of wellness within the classroom. A climate of wellness is an environment in which students feel that their presence, voices, and opinions matter.
If you’re an educator, especially in the K12 setting, then you likely understand and believe in the significance of social emotional learning (SEL). Social emotional learning informs students’ self-esteem, their interactions with their peers, and relationships with their teachers. Students come to school from diverse backgrounds with their own individual traumas. It’s important to ensure that they feel safe and valued within the classroom.
Connecting Emotional and Social Well-Being with an Academic Mindset
This podcast with Dr. Dr. Bena Kallick and Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacob helps to answer how can we help our students with social and emotional learning as we concurrently build their academic mindset? Based on decades of implementation throughout the world, the Habits of Mind, a set of 16 dispositions for efficacious thinking, lift the lives of learners as it shifts a school’s culture. The Habits, when started in the early years, grow and become a compass for everyone in the school community to be thoughtful-full of thought and sensitive and caring.
Learning to Measure the Size of a Problem to Foster Self-Regulation
When elementary students compare the relative importance of a range of problems, they learn to take charge of their reactions. Teachers at Lister Elementary School, in Tacoma, Washington, help students compare and contrast the sizes of problems by having them fill out a Big vs. Little Problems worksheet with actual examples which in turn helps students better understand self-regulation and emotional control.
Also check out the book: The Zones of Regulation and this explanatory webinar about the book.
Learn About Open Dialogue
What happens when everyone involved in a child or young person’s life assembles around them to hear them speak, with no adult agenda? Human connection.
This is the first principle of Open Dialogue, a beautiful initiative at Korowal School in the Blue Mountains of Australia.
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When there is an issue, a network meeting is called where everyone (including family, teachers, mental health practitioners and friends) sit together and listen to the young person. They talk through what is happening and together form a plan which the young person is in agreement with.
This process has been transformational for the school, and also economical in terms of reducing complex communications between parties. Everyone brings their energy to the room in that moment, for that young person who feels heard and cared for.
This introduction to Open Dialogue is revolutionary for not only schools but for all of us in our complex web of relationships.
Children As Leaders
"Children are Leaders", developed by CASEL and supported by The Allstate Foundation, provides SEL conversation guidance to help children build on their interests and strengths. This guidance is organized by grade bands with the hope that it will inspire rich discussions to help children to see how they can lead. Also check out SEL Guidance: Leading Today for Tomorrow
SEL Videos for Children
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The following are lists of SEL videos for elementary students.
Responsible Decision Making (scroll past the ads)
Self-Awareness (scroll past the ads)
Social Awareness (scroll past the ads)
Self-Management (scroll past the ads)
Relationship Skills (scroll past the ads)
Responsible Decision Making (scroll past the ads)
SEL Resources
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6 Ways To Empower Students With SEL | TeachThought | Mar 12, 2022 | An important question for educators to ask is, “How can we empower educators and students to a better well-being with a framework that cultivates humanity’s most positive traits both intrapersonal and interpersonal?”
What Is Social-Emotional Learning? | Teachthought | February 21, 2022 | Social-Emotional Learning is a significant step forward in making 'school' more humane and whole. It both helps promote the ability to think and do things that lead to well-being and healthy relationships while also using the significant presence each of these naturally plays in the lives of students to also promote academic growth.
Socio-Emotional Learning, Well-being, and the Global Competencies: Five things we know | New Pedagogies for Deep Learning | Also see: Webinars and Videos
What Is Social-Emotional Learning? | Committee For Children Website | Information about SEL teaching and learning
How to Choose an SEL Program for Your School | Edutopia | October 5, 2021 | A few pointers for school leaders seeking a social and emotional learning program that is a good fit for their students and staff.
Second Step Elementary Digital Program | The program is a US centric web-based social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum that allows for consistency from classroom to classroom and easily scales across schools and districts. Its digital format enables continuous improvement based on up-to-date research and feedback. The new program is offered as a one-year, three-year, and five-year subscription. There are also culturally adapted versions of Second Step® social-emotional learning (SEL) programs for schools around the world.
CASLE SEL Publications | A series of publications hosted on the CASLE website.
Various SEL Articles from Edutopia Website | Edutopia |
How to Embed SEL Into Your Instruction | Edutopia | April 8, 2021 | Careful explanation of the ‘why’ behind social and emotional learning can prime students to build their communication and collaboration skills.
3 SEL Practices That Early Childhood Educators Can Use Every Day | Edutopia | November 29, 2021 | These simple social and emotional learning activities can make a big difference for the youngest students.
Integrating SEL Into Writing Instruction | Edutopia | November 18, 2021 | A writing unit for first grade can help develop prosocial classroom behaviors, a reliable indicator of future academic success.
Back to School SEL Activities
Source: TechNotes Blog
Texas Computer Education Association (tcea) has shared a plethora of SEL related activities/ideas that you could use at the beginning or throughout the school year. You will find activities for Icebreakers, Bellringers, Leadership, Library, STEM, SEL, Templates, Tools, Ideas to Try, Coaching and much more.