SEL in the Classroom
SEL in the classroom
SEL in the classroom may look different for everyone, depending on what your students need. SEL is a "framework that focuses on the core social and emotional skills necessary for students of all ages to be healthy and successful" (Hoerr, 2020, p. 4). Evidence has shown that having a strong SEL foundation in the classroom from elementary through high school can positively impact students' academic and behavioral outcomes (Hoerr, 2020, pp. 4-6). When looking to incorporate SEL into a school or classroom, teachers, administrators, and other professional staff must remember that improving and managing their own SEL is vital in ensuring students' SEL learning is successful (Hoerr, 2020).
Hoerr (2020) discusses five critical components and formative skills of SEL that must be included in the practice for success: "empathy, self-control, integrity, embracing diversity, and grit" (p. 20). These formative skills are ones that students will need to use in their everyday life.
In the box below, you will find different resources on how SEL is used and successfully practiced in the classroom. More specifically, there are some great sources on how to teach kindness, empathy, and open-mindedness: all key characteristics for students' social and emotional success!
SEL in the Classroom Resources
- Second Step CurriculumSecond Step is a program that many schools use to build their social and emotional life and learning skills. This is a link to their site to learn more about their curriculum and mission. They offer programs such as:
*Second Step® Early Learning
*Second Step® Elementary
*Second Step® Middle School
*Second Step® High School
*Second Step® Out-of-School Time
*Second Step® SEL for Adults
*Second Step® Bullying Prevention Unit
*Second Step® Child Protection Unit - 41 Teachers, 41 Different Ways: Exploring Teacher Implementation of a Universal Social-Emotional Learning Program under Routine Conditions.A thorough study conducted across 13 elementary schools examined the use of SEL in 41 primary teachers' classrooms. Get results and expertise from teachers and over 200 lessons implementing SEL skills. Focus of these lessons included analyzing whether the teacher's changes were related to instructional quality
- All Learning Is Social and Emotional : Helping Students Develop Essential Skills for the Classroom and Beyond.This source begins by stating that all learning is social and emotional, aside from SEL programs. Teachers demonstrate how to implement SEL into everyday content through real-life examples. The main focus of this source is to implement SEL in a way that becomes fluent in students' everyday lives.
- Fostering social-emotional learning in the classroomTeachers face daily challenges with meeting the academic standards and needs of a diverse group of students. Now, with social-emotional learning programs, teachers face more challenges. This source discusses emotional intelligence and how it can be fostered through SEL practices in the classroom.
- Integrating Social-Emotional Learning With Interactive Read-AloudsThis article explores the use of read-alouds in the classroom as a means to address students' social and emotional learning (SEL) needs. Educators, professionals, and families have expressed concern about the mental health of students, and this article examines how stories and read-alouds can help teach values and reinforce social and emotional skills to tackle these concerns.
- Layers of learning : using read alouds to connect literacy and social emotional learningThis book examines how read-alouds allow us to learn more about ourselves and about literacy. Through these read-alouds, this book explores how read-alouds foster literacy, impart life lessons, and cultivate caring communities.
- Promoting emotional education engaging children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficultiesThis book emphasizes the importance of nurturing and developing emotional competence in students. When emotional competence is developed, other aspects of a student's personal and emotional growth are also improved. Based on research, the book discusses creative strategies for promoting emotional education, creating emotional security, and fostering positive emotional experiences in students. Through evidence-based practice, this book discusses innovative approaches to fostering emotional education, emotional security, and encouraging feelings in students.
- Taking Social-Emotional Learning Schoolwide : The Formative Five Success Skills for Students and Staff.This book delves into the effective implementation of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in schools. To achieve success, the program must be integrated throughout the school. Using real-life examples, the book provides answers to important questions about developing SEL skills in students across the school.
- Teaching Empathy and MindfulnessMindfulness and empathy are two critical skills needed for effective SEL practices. The article provides information related to several online tools, websites, and videos for educators that can be used to teach empathy and mindfulness to students.