National University claims that social-emotional learning curriculum is not only beneficial to children and adults, but it increases student performance in academics and attendance. It helps to increase self-awareness and behavior in and out of the classroom.

In general, what does SEL look like in schools? There are many ways to implement SEL in the classroom. Schools may adopt entire SEL curricula and set aside time in the daily schedule to teach the strategies explicitly, or teachers and staff could implement the strategies throughout the school day, modeling and influencing students. Only three states (Illinois, Kansas, and Pennsylvania) have fully developed SEL standards in place at this point, but all 50 states have implemented SEL at the preschool level (National University, 2023).

Who Benefits from Social-Emotional Learning?

The five fundamental SEL competencies identified by CASEL as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and making responsible decisions are able to be taught to and implemented by every population and demographic of students and adults. However, it may be less obvious how social and emotional learning opportunities can be made accessible to the student group of English Learners (EL). After all, communication is required to teach, learn, and implement the five competencies. Here are some ways to engage English Learners in the development of these competencies.

Ways to Engage English Learners in Social Emotional Learning Curriculum

Use Visual Aids

The use of visual aids in all subjects can be extremely helpful in removing language barriers, but especially impactful in social-emotional learning curriculum activities. When goal setting, charts and graphs can help English Language Learners (ELL) visualize the steps to success. In building relationship skills, pictures of faces showing various emotions or events break down language barriers.

Helping students learn organizational skills by labeling and marking items in the classroom, hallway, and common spaces can also help to make SEL content accessible and practical for English Learners. The use of visual aids will increase engagement of English Learners, as well as increase English fluency and vocabulary, which will in turn support the development of relationship skills with English-speaking peers.

Build Their Confidence

Learning a new language is a scary process for all students. It takes vulnerability for English learners, especially to begin to say things out loud. All English Learners risk embarrassment of mispronunciation or worse, others not knowing what the student is trying to say. It is also intimidating being unfamiliar with a new culture. SEL strategies can help build English Learners’ confidence by teaching them self and social awareness.

To begin to build student confidence, teachers can intentionally create a safe and welcoming space within their classroom. Being conscious of not asking English Learners to respond orally in front of classmates right away but inviting them into one-on-one conversations until they are more comfortable will help build students’ confidence, eventually leading them to participate socially with peers.

Build Strong Relationships

Without building strong and positive relationships with students, it is not possible to create a safe and welcoming classroom environment. Christi Bergin, Associate Dean and research professor in the Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri found that students are more likely to learn when they feel cared for and valued by their teacher (University of Missouri, 2022). For English Learners, building strong relationships is imperative.

Many English Learners have suffered chronic, acute, or event-based trauma. Having a positive adult relationship is one of the most impactful protective factors when responding to students who have experienced or are experiencing trauma. In addition, social-emotional learning lessons may trigger trauma-based responses in English Learners. Having a strong relationship with students will build trust and encourage engagement of students in social and emotional learning.

Set Goals

Setting goals will empower all students, but especially English Learners, to continue to engage in SEL curriculum lessons. At times, the amount of work assigned by teachers is overwhelming to EL students. Utilizing the strategies taught through social and emotional learning, including goal setting, will support student success and engagement. It will also encourage students to continue participating in SEL program components.

The benefits of social-emotional learning within schools are well-documented through research. Engaging English Learners in developing skills within CASEL’s five competencies will also support the development of students’ English proficiency as they learn self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decisions.

Have a passion for ELs/ELLs education or already work with them and want to advance your career? Check out our graduate education dual language programs today!

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What is Social-Emotional Learning?

Social-emotional learning is the process in which children gain and apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to manage and deal with their emotions and feelings. From problem-solving to developing impulse control, SEL provides a foundation for children to be better able to cope with everyday challenges.

How Did COVID Impact Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum?

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily closed schools. When this happened, social-emotional learning programs looked different because curriculums were either taken away or transitioned to distance learning because of stay-at-home orders.

The stress of the pandemic, the social isolation, lack of technology for some students, loss of routines, and no access to school meals increased the need for social-emotional programs to be delivered remotely.

Why is Social-Emotional Learning Important Post-COVID?

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one study found that more than half of student respondents from the Detroit Public Schools Community District experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression. These findings suggest that children needed social-emotional learning even before the pandemic.

Post-COVID, students are still reeling from the loss of learning, socialization, and other increased stressors related to the pandemic. For many students, SEL wasn’t offered during remote learning. This made it difficult for students to progress as they should have with their development of self-control, self-awareness, behavior, and other interpersonal skills that are essential to the social-emotional learning curriculum.

Social-Emotional Activities for the Post-COVID Classroom

To ensure that students continue to develop social-emotional skills, educators may need to rethink existing approaches and teach children how to navigate new social skills needed for life after the pandemic. Teaching and educator positions are social-emotional learning jobs due to how essential SEL is. Here are a few social-emotional learning in the classroom activities to try.

Understanding Emotions

Young students can’t always communicate verbally, so many schools are now trying to support students emotionally by teaching them how to express how they feel by doing a “color check.” This is when a word is attached to a color and students can point to a color to describe their feelings.

For example:

• Green: Alert/Ready
• Yellow: Anxious/Excited
• Red: Angry
• Blue: Sad/Tired

These color checks help students recognize and express their emotions beyond just feeling “good” or “bad.”

Older students can also learn to understand their emotions better by using a mood meter. A mood meter can help students label their emotions and help them understand the cause of the emotion. Recognizing their emotions will help them become more self-aware, which is also an excellent tool to help develop empathy for others.

Adapting to New Social Norms

The pandemic has changed social norms, and today post-COVID, educators can help teach students how to navigate these new interactions. Life during the pandemic meant social distancing and not coming too close to others. If we ever have to go back to these precautions, students must understand how to adapt to these interactions.

For example, young students may need to learn proper touching such as an air hug versus a regular hug, or proper spacing to social distance, such as using taped makers on a carpet, so students know how far to sit away from their peers.

Routines and schedules may have changed, so children need to learn how to establish consistency when these things happen. It’s equally essential for students to have supportive relationships with their peers, teachers, and family. Educators can help students practice social-emotional competencies by building them into the daily academic structure.

Mental “Check-In” Exit Tickets

Instead of using exit tickets to see how well your students grasped the information that was taught in class, try using them to “check-in” on your students’ mental health as a social emotional learning activity.

Ask students to describe how they are feeling or ask them to jot down anything they want to share with you. If you notice students aren’t responding, then ask them to circle an emoji describing how they are feeling. This will give you a better idea of how they are dealing post-COVID, so you help address any distress that may be going on in their lives.

Encouraging Collaboration

A critical component of social-emotional learning curriculum is learning to interact with others. This can be easily done in person or online by encouraging students to collaborate. Assigning students to work in groups or asking students to choose a partner and work together will give them plenty of practice learning what it means to be a good partner. Students will learn to take turns, listen to others, ask questions, and understand how to relate to others.

Create a Space to Address Concerns

The pandemic created a lot of fears. When you’re faced with the unknown, anxiety can arise, and you can assume the worst. Create a safe space in your classroom where students are free to express any concerns or fears. Give students opportunities to share their thoughts and ask questions without judgment.

Social-emotional learning is more critical now, more than ever. For many students, the stressors associated with the pandemic are still in the forefront of their minds and it’s up to educators and schools to ensure students are equipped with the life skills to help them cope.

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The consensus has heightened over the last five years in that research has shown that social and emotional skills are critical to the development, education, and health of children in our schools. To meet this growing need for SEL education, multiple high-quality, research-based, and evidence-based programs are available for schools and districts to implement. These programs promote skills among students that can improve their physical and mental wellbeing, academic outcomes, and college and career readiness success.

What Kinds of SEL Programs are There? 

To understand what type of SEL programs are currently available for schools and or school districts and systems to purchase and utilize, one must understand the types of programs available. SEL has emerged to include several smaller concepts, including character development and education, trauma-informed learning (Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs), and even 21st-century skills.

Personally, my state education department has focused on 21st century soft skills as a more significant part of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. Overall, there are a considerable number of SEL programs currently available. These programs are conducted by early childhood providers and out-of-school organizations, widely varying on different components like focusing on specific skills, teaching strategies, implementation supports, and general approaches to SEL.

In a recent report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, supported by the Wallace Foundation, over 33 different programs were identified and evaluated. Within these 33 programs, several different strategies were present, including teacher modeling and whole-class discussions, while others include more specific activities like read-alouds, games, role-play, music, and more.

How Do I Decide Which is Best for My School? 

When looking to implement an SEL program at your school, several factors need to be considered.

1. What are your school’s specific needs and/or target behaviors that would lead to implementing an SEL program? Are there identified challenges within your student population or demographic information that would lead to a need for a program?Sometimes programs and initiatives are created or implemented in schools with no follow-up or justification, leading to teachers and adult members not practicing “buy-in” to the program, which can lead to failing of the program.

2. Does the program align with existing school, district, and state-wide regulations and initiatives?This is critical as educational leaders determine which program to implement. Having a blueprint for success from local and state leadership can prove beneficial to choosing the right program.

3. Will the program of choice fit into the school’s current demographic setting and culture and climate? Can the program be adapted and implemented with success in individual schools that have unique locations?To avoid using “canned curriculum”, schools must decide which components of the curriculum can be implemented, and even which parts can be broken into chunks and completed over time. Ultimately, logistical considerations like time, training, and cost will determine individual school or district choice for SEL programs. When choosing an SEL program, the program needs to be feasible, align with current structures in the school, and be a relevant fit to the existing context and needs of the student population.

How to Begin a SEL Program at Your School

Like other school-wide interventions and initiatives, whole group buy-in is important. When beginning a SEL program in your school, several factors must be considered.

Establish a Team

Establishing a SEL team will help identify areas of need, through grade-level partnering, leadership teams, or other areas with multiple perspectives. This whole group approach can help when making decisions about the next steps for SEL implementation.

Set Clear Targets and Goals

Setting targets and goals that align to the already established school norms and expectations, particularly around behavior targets, is essential. Successful schools are data-driven, and establishing a SEL program needs to follow the same recipe.

Implementation of the Program

Will it be infused into the academic curriculum, a special designated time of the day for SEL initiatives, or will it be only before or after school? This plan will also need to include the frequency of SEL instruction, and play an important role in scheduling. Additionally, preparing teachers for real practice is key. Rolling out a SEL program with little to no teacher input and involvement can be a recipe for disaster. Teachers must understand the “why” behind the shift, and be given opportunities to participate in sample lessons and skills.

Continuous Review and Monitoring

A system of continuous review and monitoring will allow for the best program to be implemented. What works in the pilot year may not be needed as much in year two and three, etc.

Regardless of your level of teaching experience, our main goal is to educate students. In 2021, this has become increasingly difficult, given the adverse life experiences and circumstances our children have faced or will face. It is paramount that we implement practices within the total school system that can further prepare students for their future. Whether a classroom or school-wide practice, implementing SEL curriculum and initiatives can certainly help students learn.

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Student interest will certainly be piqued at the idea of utilizing some form of social media in the classroom, and teachers will need to be creative at how to make it feel like an authentic use of the social media selected while also having safety measures in place so that students do not misuse technology. Thinking about where to incorporate it into the curriculum is an important first step, and Social-Emotional Learning is an excellent place to start.

How Do Social Media Platforms relate to Social-Emotional Learning?

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is the instructional focus on developing interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to promote student well-being. According to CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning) the five areas of SEL include: Self Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making.

Any educator knows that when we address the “soft skills” in the areas of emotional management and interpersonal skills, we create both safety and connection in the classroom which affords students the opportunity to take academic risks and approach rigorous academic tasks.

Certainly, social media platforms from Facebook to Pinterest are linked to student development in these five areas of SEL. Social media affords people the opportunity to learn about one another, share individual identities, and form connections based on what is shared and spotlighted online. Social-Emotional Learning strives to help students feel confident about their own unique identity, respect the uniqueness of others, and also build meaningful relationships with those around them. Clearly, there is room for social media to be a tool in our effort to nurture the goals of SEL in the classroom.

How Can Social Media Negatively Impact Students?

Within social-emotional learning, it is important to note that social media can develop unhealthy attention and inauthentic growth in the five areas defined by CASEL. If social media platforms are used inauthentically, such as students misrepresenting themselves or their thoughts in relation to others, they are not truly developing the skills needed for self and social development. Risky online behavior and communication will always be a concern and should continue to be addressed proactively, with clear reactive responses outlined before use is initiated. A student should be aware of what consequences will occur if they are inappropriately using technology, and both parents/caregivers and students should sign some form of a contract suggesting understanding of these expectations and outcomes before use.

The most important thing to recognize and stay cognizant of as youth use social media is their developmental need for egocentric feedback. The dangers of social media with adolescents lie in the ways in which their need for approval and connection can lead to an obsession or misuse of these types of connective tools. To combat this, ensure that any use of social media concepts in the classroom are linked clearly to learning goals, have monitoring functions for you, and you consistently parent communication about how and why these tools are being used.

How to Incorporate Social Media into Social-Emotional Learning

As a teacher, you will need to assess both the developmental appropriateness of these activities for your students, as well as the accessibility and technological safety measures you have. If you would prefer not to engage in these social media concepts on technology, many can also be effectively implemented with pencil and paper while still employing the concepts and reaping the benefits of social media platforms!

First and foremost, social media platforms do have required age limits, therefore it is important to model appropriate behavior and not utilize or promote platforms that are not open to the age of your students. For example, if Instagram is for ages 13+, teachers should not be encouraging their students to create accounts or use the platform underage.

Instructional strategies for using social media in the classroom include, but are not limited to:

• Have students create their own Facebook pages about themselves to share about elements of their identity with classmates
• Have students make classroom Instagram accounts aligned with SEL goals. This could be having students post pictures that document their hopes and dreams, or reflect their emotions day to day to demonstrate how emotions change and also to communicate with others how they are feeling and what they may not show on the outside.
• Use Twiducate for safe social network communication. There are safe restrictions that afford students and teachers the opportunity to “tweet” in the classroom to communicate and participate.
• Utilize the site Good Reads to have students document their reading progress and communicate with one another about the books, authors, and genres they enjoy. Students can create book lists, follow one another’s reading selections, and comment to one another as it pertains to their reading interests.
• Have students create Pinterest boards for their hopes and dreams to set positive goals for their future. Sharing with one another, they will develop pride for their identity and respect for the identity of others through the use of this social media platform within your SEL instruction.
• Introduce the app Sit With Us to provide an authentic way for students to connect with others and encourage an inclusive school environment.

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Schools are microcosms of the world at large. The greatest challenges facing our schools (and our society) are social-emotional challenges, so some of the most impactful learning occurring in our schools is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL).

Adults who are self-aware, emotionally literate, practice emotional self-regulation, and model pro-social behaviors for students have the emotional intelligence to lead students through their own growth in SEL and academics. Adults who possess these skills also collaborate more effectively with their colleagues.

Addressing students’ emotional needs is difficult work. By establishing adult SEL as a priority, school leaders cultivate the capacity to deal with stress through self-care and build resilience, which can lead to improved job satisfaction, teacher retention, and improved outcomes for students. School cultures that are grounded in SEL also focus on social justice through ethical decision making, rather than emotional decisions that can be rooted in individuals’ emotional needs and personal biases.

How is Adult Social-Emotional Learning Different from SEL for Children?

SEL for adults must include not only opportunities for learning and practice, but also for collaboration and modeling SEL strategies. SEL for students focuses on the individual’s acquisition and application of skills and dispositions related to their own emotional world. For staff, their social-emotional development must include the necessary skills to lead children in the same pursuits and to work as a team with other adults in the building to support students.

Social-Emotional Learning Activities for Adults

SEL is a habit, so it is important to find ways to weave SEL experiences into all aspects of school culture to create an inclusive culture and encourage adults to identify and deal with their emotions. Greet people with a handshake and a smile. Use their name and engage them in a conversation. Creating a sense of belonging among adults is paramount in making school an emotionally safe place for all, and it gives leaders the opportunity to identify changes in staff members’ affect or the presence of stressors. Support may then be provided before the issue manifests with students.

Establish group norms that go beyond staying within the allotted times or agendas. Instead, consider addressing the question: How do we agree to treat one another? And then, go a step further and establish how the adults will hold each other accountable. At the start of any meeting, consider taking a moment to ask everyone present if there are any good things happening in their lives that they’d like to share, and ask follow up questions. By modeling vulnerability, leaders encourage others to be open with one another.

In order for a habit to last, it must be sustainable. If the SEL “ask” is too great, it won’t be sustainable in the face of other school priorities. The best SEL activities are simple and easy to execute. Some ideas are listed below:

What’s filling your bucket and what’s draining it?

At certain times throughout the year, an entire staff can feel “off.” There’s just a pervasive feeling of being tired or stressed or maybe even sad. When this happens, as a leader, it’s important to identify what issues are impacting the adults in the building. Set up two buckets (this can also be done virtually on an interactive slide platform such as PearDeck). People write (anonymously) things that are draining them emotionally and place them in one bucket and things that are filling them up emotionally and place them in the other.

When everyone has had a chance to contribute, read the items aloud and talk about them. The act of naming a stressor can be very powerful dealing with it. By identifying positives, adults are able to overcome the natural tendency to focus on what is out of place or going wrong.

How are you feeling about this?

Sometimes school leaders contribute to the stress of the staff by sharing something to which they will likely have an emotional reaction. When that happens, take a moment to take the emotional temperature of the staff. On chart paper or an interactive slide, display a continuum (i.e. from “Totally Calm” to “Freaking out”) and ask individuals to place a marker on the continuum to identify how they are feeling.

If the staff feels emotionally safe enough to talk about it, even better! If not, it’s important that the school leader find ways to identify staff members who need support and reach out to them. Provide staff with a feelings wheel that gives them names for specific emotions. Naming emotions leads to empowerment and understanding that allows people to move beyond the emotion and deal with the underlying causes.

1-2-3 Clap

This is a simple game that creates a supportive culture accepting of mistakes. To play the game, adults partner up and are given a pattern (such as clap, stomp, clap, stomp). They are asked to alternate each element in the pattern with their partner and at the end of the round to talk about how difficult it was to complete the task. As the rounds go on, additional elements are added and some are replaced by a “skip” (so the pattern might be clap, skip, stomp, snap…). In the later rounds, if they make a mistake, individuals are asked to throw both hands above their heads and yell “Woohoo!” Eventually, their partners will be asked to celebrate with them. Games like this increase our willingness to hold one another accountable, celebrate mistakes, and take risks.

Challenging Your Thoughts and Beliefs & Examining Your Biases

All people hold biases that can subconsciously influence the decisions they make. Giving adults an opportunity to challenge their thought processes and beliefs by examining their biases is an essential piece of creating a culture that makes ethical decisions. Project Implicit has a series of tasks that use reactions to visual prompts to quantify bias in many different areas from age to ethnicity to gender. The information from these tasks can identify personal biases and school leaders can provide opportunities that educate adults beyond those biases.

Conflict Resolution Tools

Adults who can effectively resolve conflict are rare. Empower staff to be better partners for all stakeholders by building their capacity to self-regulate; check their expectations of others; evaluate their emotional aptitude (and that of other adults) before engaging in a conflict; reflect on their own contributions to the conflict; let things go; celebrate differences; take the first step toward resolution (no matter who was at fault); and identify healthy sounding boards.

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Many different approaches were utilized to achieve this goal, and best practices are currently surfacing around SEL instruction. While there are authentic connections to this work all day long in a classroom setting, it is undeniable that explicit instruction in SEL competencies ensures students acquire the skills we expect them to use to both self-regulate and interact productively with peers.

What are SEL competencies?

One of the most renowned frameworks for SEL was designed by a group called CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.) CASEL coined five competencies: Self-Awareness; Self-Management; Responsible Decision-Making; Relationship Skills; and Social Awareness.

Within each of these competencies, many skills exist for students preK-12 that can and should be explicitly taught and modeled before students are expected to apply them independently. Utilizing these five competencies when addressing SEL ensures that a school program addresses both self-regulation skills as well as interpersonal skills, recognizing both the differences and commonalities between the two.

The Value of Explicit SEL Instruction

SEL is, understandably, content that may be viewed as something that gets woven throughout the day and is applicable across settings. Teachers may find meaningful opportunities to practice social awareness during collaborative group work, and discuss emotions when analyzing characters in literature. While these opportunities for authentic discussions around SEL are valid and important, they are maximized when explicit instruction is provided on individual SEL competencies and skills in a dedicated block of the day.

Some teachers may choose to enhance their morning meeting structure with an added SEL lesson multiple times a week. Others may choose to have it stand alone, separate from a morning meeting or advisory routine, and deliver a clear lesson sequence related to something like calm down strategies or the steps to problem solving. In either model, the thing that truly matters is that the content of the lesson is on nothing other than the SEL skill in focus.

When SEL skills are viewed like math or literacy skills, the mindset shifts for both teachers and students to recognize that behavior can in fact be taught and improved over time, just like a student’s ability to read. Shifting our values to dedicate time to SEL also communicates to students that their habits of mind not only can be grown and changed, but we in fact expect that to happen.

What Is Taught in the SEL Block?

At this point many districts have adopted full curriculum programs like Second Step or RULER that provide clear and spiraled curriculum units for teachers across grade levels. There are many benefits to having a specific program in place, primarily being the access to vetted resources as well as common language across classrooms and grade levels. Students can build off of concepts year to year when a school utilizes a program like Second Step, and developmentally-appropriate learning targets and resources are provided to help students solidify their SEL foundation over time.

If your district doesn’t utilize a purchased program, they should still have an in-house team of curriculum writers providing a civics framework that has a clear lesson sequence with age-appropriate resources that target both emotional management, growth mindset, and interpersonal skills. Whether it is a coined program or grassroots curriculum, there should be enough content that a classroom teacher can teach an average of two lesson blocks a week on SEL so that over the course of the year all five CASEL competencies are strengthened.

Outside of the SEL block, teachers should also be creating routines around goal-setting, classmate interactions, and reflection that afford students the opportunity to put what they are learning into action and set personal goals around SEL competencies, relationship build with peers in the classroom, and also reflect on what is going well related to these social-emotional skills for themselves and others. Adding in these components to the instructional week will create carryover from the SEL block so that skills can be applied authentically.

Can you Assess SEL?

If SEL is going to stand alone as its own class, we should have the means to measure student progress. New programs are emerging for schools to formally assess student progress with SEL competencies and skills. Many states are currently investing in pilot efforts to determine if these assessments are a valid indicator of student growth with SEL. Most assessments are currently likert scale type forms for teachers to fill out about students that monitor how frequently a child engages in observable behavior.

As students get older, self-reflection can be included in these platforms to get a better picture of what is happening for a student emotionally. SEL is, of course, gray by nature, so caution is encouraged when trying to establish a concrete measure for the development of social-emotional skills in students. Nonetheless, efforts to assess student learning in SEL is important to both refining our instruction for students and also valuing the importance of SEL in the classroom.

Last Thoughts From a Teacher

Over the course of this past year, I had the opportunity to coach teachers through our district focus of implementing SEL curriculum with fidelity. One of the most poignant takeaways came from a teacher during our end of year meeting.  She shared that not only did her students grow leaps and bounds because of their SEL lessons, but she in fact became a better teacher, mom, and friend, because she learned alongside her students about managing emotions and problem solving.

When she was able to better understand how her own worries may be manifesting thanks to a lesson in her SEL curriculum, she could empathize better with her students and coach them through moments of challenge. Similarly, explicitly teaching collaborative group skills helped her communicate better with other adults in her life. Delivering lessons on SEL content has not only positively impacted our students, but educators as well.

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There are five core competencies for Social-Emotional Learning.

• Self-Awareness – the ability of students to understand their own thoughts, emotions, and feelings
• Self-Management – the ability of students to manage their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors across different settings and situations
• Responsible Decision-Making – the ability of students to make positive choices about their behavior and interactions with others
• Relationship Skills – the ability of students to establish and maintain healthy relationships with adults and peers
• Social Awareness – the ability of students to understand others’ perspectives and show empathy for them

Strategies for Student Assessment of SEL Competencies

Educators have become increasingly aware of the social-emotional learning needs of students. Therefore, it is important that teachers work on incorporating SEL lessons and assessments into their classroom. If a child is not aware of their emotions, feelings, and how to handle them in many different settings and situations, they cannot be a successful learner. Implementing SEL will develop well-rounded individuals who can regulate their emotions and grow academically as well as socially and emotionally.

Self-Awareness

A great way for teachers or counselors to assess self-awareness is to have students complete a character survey. This will give you a good idea of a student’s thoughts about themselves. It will also tell you if a student is struggling to come up with positive ways to describe their character traits as well as if a student even understands these ideas. Then you will begin to know your students better and you can easily group them into three categories: students who are self-aware and have a positive self-image, students who have a negative view of themselves, and students who don’t really understand self-awareness at all. Then you can plan lessons for each group of students based on their needs.

Another way to assess students’ self-awareness is to simply have them do a daily feelings journal. You can read a few each day and this will help you gage whether or not students are being realistic in their responses or whether you need to work on some ways to help your students be more self-aware.

Self-Management

Self-management is a little trickier to assess. It is mostly by observation of students and how they handle themselves when they get upset, frustrated, angry, or sad. However, after you teach students some strategies for dealing with those feelings in an appropriate way, you can meet with them individually or in a small group. During this time, you can role play with them and this gives you an opportunity to see how they would respond and guide them to healthier choices if they are still struggling to make positive choices. You can also have them complete feelings boxes of things they can do when they are feeling a certain way. Twinkl has a great example of this.

Responsible Decision-Making

Responsible decision-making can also be assessed by observing kids. If you are looking for a more concrete way to gage if kids are beginning to understand how to make responsible choices, there are a few. For younger students, you can simply print pictures of kids doing things such as pulling someone’s hair, helping someone get up off of the ground, someone yelling at a friend, someone sharing their snack, etc. Then you can have them fold a piece of paper in half and cut and glue pictures of good choices on top and bad choices on the bottom. This will give you an idea of their level of understanding and then you can discuss their work with them.

For older students, you can use a scenario and have students work together in partner pairs to come up with three different solutions and then work independently to write about the solution they would choose and why. This really gives you a great understanding of student thinking and their level of needed instruction for further development. Here is a great example to use with students.

Relationship Skills

Relationship skills are definitely something that have to be worked on in school, especially at the elementary level. Students often come to school and do not know how to get along with others or how to engage with peers who have different interests. A great way to make children aware of their relationship skills is to have them do a self-check by using a rubric. Two main times that students interact with each other in social situations are lunch and recess. They also have to learn to work with others in the classroom in partners and groups. There are rubrics for this as well. Here are great examples of rubrics for kids to assess their social/relationship skills at lunch and one for recess. Another idea is to co-construct rubrics for all of these areas with your students after you have mini-lessons on what is important.

Social Awareness

It is probably the most difficult to assess social awareness in kids. Reading stories about things that can spark conversations of empathy and have students write about how they would feel if that happened to them is a good way to start. Another way is to have them write about what they could do to help a friend in a specific situation that should cause them to feel empathetic.

For the bigger things in the world around them, you can begin by teaching kids to give back. You can collect items for the local food drive and animal shelter and discuss why these things are needed. Students can then write about why it is important to help others; this makes them aware of the community and the fact that there are needs far bigger than theirs.

It is fulfilling to help students realize their social and emotional strengths. Assisting them to identify their areas of weakness also helps them to grow as individuals who can contribute to a larger group. Not only will this help them to grow socially and emotionally, it will also help them to grow academically because their minds are healthy.

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Through SEL, humans learn how to build strong, positive relationships with others by showing empathy, making responsible decisions, and being emotionally aware. Further, once the traits are ingrained, individuals are able to set priority deadlines, contribute to teams, and be assertive while remaining calm.

By investing in SEL, a school will have a staff that is more likely to operate at higher levels of thought and approach concerns and problem-solving from a more logical standpoint. In many ways, having strong social and emotional skills can be more important than content knowledge related to job duties. People who are positive are more likely to have longer tenures within a job and accomplish more within the role. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the degree to which an individual incorporates social-emotional learning in their daily life and actions.

SEL should be part of a culture that is embedded in daily operations as opposed to being viewed as an add-on. Rather, SEL and its related philosophies should guide daily interactions among various school stakeholder groups. School counselors are part of the school leadership team, so it is imperative that these key people know that they are valued and respected within the school community.

Operating from a SEL dimension shows value and respect in a modeled fashion. This manner of interaction will be reciprocated in other interactions if it is modeled by leadership. Therefore, using SEL to support school counselors will trickle down and the school’s culture will improve as a return on this investment. SEL can be used by a school leader to grow leadership capacity within his or her school.

Why is Social-Emotional Learning Important for School Counselors?

As vital members of the school leadership team, counselors need to know they are valued and are essential to support multiple stakeholder groups. Other school leaders should incorporate SEL in their interactions with school counselors. An emotionally cognizant culture and climate should be prioritized and discussed.

As these skills are modeled, counselors will be more aware of their own actions and model these traits to other groups. Human interaction is a critical piece of learning and development. By operating with a SEL viewpoint, both the modeler and follower will grow. As a result, the entire school will become more emotionally aware as SEL is paid forward.

Employers often agree that problem-solving and relationship skills are a much greater need in a potential employee. School leaders must model and create an environment in which social-emotional learning for counselors is prioritized.

As school counselors become more emotionally aware, time management, relationship skills, and problem-solving skills will flourish. School counselors need to work as a contributing member of a team that can be assertive and flexible. Further, the counselor must make students, parents, and teachers feel at ease. The key to all of these collaborative skills is understanding others and prioritizing their feelings and needs.

Building a strong social and emotional climate in a school will pay off with stakeholders who feel more valued and are more likely to succeed when presented a new challenge. Communication should be timely, respectful, and show an awareness of the emotions of the intended audience. A school counselor’s words and actions should have a calming effect that conveys support and empathy. Active listening is essential for emotionally intelligent communication.

How to Use SEL to Support School Counselors

Normalize Asking for Support

Principals must be approachable and mindful of the needs of counselors. Counselors will feel valued through regular check-ins in which the principal offers any support needed. Through this process, support is normalized. Support access should not be confused with micromanagement, which hinders SEL. Further, a leader should get to know the duties of the counselor so that he or she can assist when needed.

Respect Professional Boundaries

A key characteristic of a supervisor who is lacking EI is not respecting professional boundaries. Employee retention and satisfaction will dwindle if counselor personal time is not protected and respected. Principals must prioritize the counselor’s time with family and days away from work. By allowing employees to have unencumbered time with family, employee productivity will improve.

Everyone needs to have time away from work. Time off is earned, and a supervisor should only contact an employee in the event of an emergency. Counselors need time to exercise and relax. Emotionally intelligent people do not define their life and value through work, but rather know that how they treat others will define their legacy. Further, work is about quality not quantity.

Foster Autonomy and Self-Efficacy

Trust is a core value of operating through SEL. A supervisor should model self-regulation and effective time management. Praise should be given as the counselor completes a task at an exemplary level.

Micromanagement shows a lack of SEL on the part of the supervisor. If you cannot believe in a counselor to operate without constant direction and supervision, perhaps the wrong employee was hired. Further, the person really lacking in EI might be the superior if he or she is not able to let go and manage only the larger picture.

Through high expectations combined with needed support and earned autonomy, the counselor will enjoy higher productivity and increased self-efficacy while experiencing decreased stress. Positive thinking will result in a person who works better with other team members and excels more in all the diverse counselor roles.

Prioritize Relationships

Modeling and developing strong relationships will support the counselor directly in his or her role. Working on a collaborative team is a focus of SEL, and this skill is woven into almost all counselor duties. A support focus on SEL will help the counselor grow and remain focused on developing strong relationships.

A person who is emotionally intelligent will not be judgmental or close-minded. SEL prioritizes not critiquing others’ work if the person has not stepped in to try to assist in the effort. These characteristics are essential for a quality school counselor. Empathy is a core value of EI. Therefore, supporting a counselor using SEL will pay off by heightening the skills necessary to excel in the position. Supporting a counselor through SEL will enhance counselor competency.

Individualized Professional Learning Plan

Professional development plans should be individualized to meet the needs of an individual employee. Therefore, counselor professional development should be tailored to the needs of the counselor. A principal has to get to know the counselor and support the counselor through SEL to develop a personalized plan.

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Recently, a shift in educational thinking has centered around social and emotional learning. This shift focuses on the softer side of student performance, concentrating more on educating the whole child and less on academic rigor and achievement. Ultimately, connections made to students’ social and emotional wellbeing have correlated to positive outcomes for students in their academic performance.

The need for social and emotional learning is most prevalent in the high school setting, where students today face enormous challenges, both with their personal development and potential future plans that include college and career readiness.

Why is Social-Emotional Learning Important in High School?

K-12 education is primarily designed to foster enriching academic experiences that prepare students to make important choices about life after high school; but it also serves as a network of support for students’ social and emotional needs. Many would argue that the chief goal of our education system is academic success. However, now more than ever, we realize that our students also need social and emotional support along with authentic and engaging learning experiences.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is important in high school simply because of what it encompasses. SEL curriculum often includes practices that help students with key areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. These core competencies are pivotal in the high school setting for students to master.

The high school setting is already filled with trepidation, particularly for new ninth grade students. High school is the first time where students are asked to make adult-like decisions and face rigorous academic challenges, all while navigating the traditional pitfalls that affect teenagers. Implementing a curriculum focusing on SEL practices can benefit individual students, as well as increase the overall climate and culture of a school.

Ways to Support Social-Emotional Learning in High School

Social-emotional learning can be implemented and supported in a variety of ways, and requires schools to often think outside of the traditional classroom setting.

Feeling Welcomed and Connected

Schools that are focused on students’ social and emotional learning start with getting students “plugged in” to all their school has to offer. This is especially critical for new ninth grade students. Oftentimes, students who fail to make connections with adult advocates or peers in ninth grade suffer long-term consequences, including increased chances of dropping out or not graduating on time.

For many schools, connecting students starts with some type of orientation session, geared specifically for freshman students or new students to the school. At my high school, we implemented “Mission Transition,” a one-day, drop-in style event where new ninth grade students and new students to our school, regardless of grade level, could learn more about our student clubs, activities, take guided tours, walk their schedule, and get a general idea of how the first day of school would go.

This event was not only great for students; it made many of our parents feel at ease with our policies, procedures, and protocols, making for a smooth start to the first days of school for all. Events like “Mission Transition” and other orientation-type activities are critical to make a great first impression and start students out on a positive note.

Student Choice/Individual Learning Time

A major component of SEL curriculum is providing all students access to adult advocates in the school building. Yes, students build relationships with their teachers. But oftentimes, particularly in the high school setting, students have relationships with their coaches, directors, counselors, and others that have been formed through extracurricular activities.

A new trend in education is flexible learning time, with schools adopting flexible, modular schedules that include built-in time for student choice. This idea was born out of the need for students to have the ability to make choices on how they spend their time and rethink the traditional bell schedule. Giving students time during the school day to connect with an adult advocate who may not necessarily be their teacher is powerful, and gives students another support system to continue to build upon their social-emotional competencies. Additionally, during flexible learning time, students have access to counselors, mental health resources, and tutoring resources.

Advisor/Advisee Programs

In some SEL models, schools often implement a crucial piece to student success, an advisor/advisee program. In this model, students are broken down into smaller groups, usually 8-12 students, and stay with the same teacher all four years of high school. Schools build into their schedule specific time dedicated to adviser/advisee opportunities, which provides another layer of support for students who need a positive adult role model in their life. This builds community amongst students and their teachers, and often leads to differing activities that students can participate in during their four years of high school.

The concept of the traditional high school model has changed from what it was as early as ten years ago. Today’s high schools are charged with not only preparing students for academic success, but preparing them for the various challenges a global, 21^st-century society will present. Students today are faced with navigating all their high school years have in store for them, with many of them doing so already dealing with negative perceptions of themselves, poor social skills, and an inability to regulate their emotions. High schools today truly are living, breathing establishments that seek to build up the whole child, and implementing a social-emotional curriculum is a crucial step in the development of our young people.

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Recognize Effort, Not Ability

Even within one household, no two children are the same, and it can be difficult for parents to accept that not every child will have the same abilities in all areas. Having one child who is musically gifted while another has difficulty keeping rhythm can give a parent fits! However, in a time when strangers, via social media, have such a huge influence on how children view themselves, it’s increasingly important for parents to recognize each child’s unique talents and to respect the differences between their children’s abilities. Applauding children for trying to achieve, even when their level of achievement is not quite what was hoped for, goes a very long way in helping a child’s self-esteem and nurturing their intrinsic motivation to try new things.

Allow for More Autonomy

Adults are instinctively programmed to make decisions that protect our children. Just by living we have experienced things that allow us to know what’s best in many instances, and we want to tell children what’s best for them. It’s hard for some parents to determine when it’s okay for children to start making some of their own decisions, but allowing children to start making decisions as soon as they have the inclination to do so is a great way for children to learn at an early age how to examine issues from more than one angle and to make choices based on what’s in their best interest.

Who really wants to fight with their child about wearing a pajama top, a tutu, and rain boots to the store? Well, giving kids this same kind of decision-making power when it comes to more important things like whether to participate in karate or take that extra Spanish class gives them the sense that their voice and feelings are important, and that you trust them. With a parent’s guidance, children came become good at making decisions pretty early on.

Model Problem-Solving Strategies

If parents are going to give kids the autonomy to make more decisions, there will undoubtedly be times when those decisions lead to problems. Children having the skills to solve problems is just as important as having the skills to make good decisions, and because parents are their children’s first teachers, it’s important that parents show their children the correct way to resolve issues, especially conflicts with others.

Solving problems is what humans naturally do in order to get their needs met. However, when kids don’t have the language to express their thoughts and feelings in ways that allow others to understand them, they aren’t able to have their needs met, which can lead to behaviorally inappropriate responses and conflicts with others.

To help children learn how to resolve conflict in a constructive and non-violent way, parents can model self-talk strategies when negative situations arise to give kids language to associate with their feelings and strategies for maintaining control of their emotions. Self-talk coupled with explicit modeling of listening strategies teaches children the best ways to interact with others whenever a conflict does arise. When kids have the opportunity to work through the problem-solving process with their parents, their ability to think critically on their own is improved.

Engage in Family Activities

Creating experiences as a family builds children’s self-esteem, creates lots of content for conversations, and allows parents to watch how their kids approach situations and interact with others. Observations such as these are usually thought of in terms of classrooms and school playgrounds, but it’s important for a parent to recognize how their children react when they meet new children, how they respond when they’re frustrated in what should be a stress-free environment, and what garners their attention the most when they could be paying attention to anything. Knowing these habits can give parents lots of information about their children and help them to see areas that need refinement. These observations also help parents know which efforts to praise most, whether kids are ready to make decisions, and how good their kids are at solving problems independently.

Ask Questions

Growing up can be quite confusing at times, and children don’t always know how to share what they’re thinking or if it’s even okay to share their feelings. When parents ask questions and then really listen to the answers, children know that their feelings are valid and it’s okay to share them. Asking open-ended questions that require more than a one-word response gets children to truly think about what they’re feeling and requires them to figure out a way to articulate it. Additionally, asking questions and intentionally creating a space for listening is a natural way to build relationships, so when parents start conversations by asking questions, they are modeling an approach their children can take to form relationships with their peers.

All children begin to learn at home, and social and emotional learning is no exception. Parents intentionally implementing social and emotional learning activities and strategies at home goes a long way in children’s success at school.

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