Social emotional learning is being talked about frequently in the education community. In light of violence in schools and mental health concerns on the rise, many leaders in education suggest a push in social and emotional learning. Some districts are even requiring daily SEL instruction. Some teachers may feel like this is one more thing added to their already overflowing plates. So, is social emotional learning worth it? Do we really need to take time to teach our students these non-academic skills daily?
My answer is, without a doubt, yes. I’m going to tell you why social and emotional learning is absolutely vital for our students.
But first, what exactly is SEL?
What is Social Emotional Learning?
Social Emotional Learning is defined by CASEL, the leader in SEL research, as, “the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”
CASEL https://casel.org
SEL is made up of 5 major skill sets:
Self-Awareness – students’ ability to understand their own strengths and limitations, and develop a healthy self-esteem and growth mindset.
Self-Management – students’ ability to manage, or regulate, their emotions and stressors, as well as, their ability to set and achieve goals
Social Awareness – students understanding of others through empathy and
identifying perspectives of others, including learning about and respecting other cultures
Relationship Skills – students’ ability to cooperate with others, communication skills, conflict resolution, and resisting peer pressure.
Responsible Decision Making – students’ ability to make thoughtful decisions based on ethics, safety, and what is socially appropriate.
Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom
As teachers, we know first-hand the importance of creating a solid classroom community. SEL is the foundation of this. Picture a classroom where students are able to manage their own goals, regulate emotions, communicate effectively with one another, and persevere through solving challenging problems. You can achieve this classroom through daily, explicit SEL instruction.
Benefits of Social Emotional Learning
The proven benefits of social emotional learning are astounding. As a result of daily, intentional, SEL instruction, schools are seeing major gains not only in emotional well-being, social behavior, but also academic performance. The following data is from CASEL.org, a leader in SEL research.
27% more students in schools with an SEL program improved their academic performance.
24% more improved their emotional well-being and social behavior.
So, are you worried about taking time away from academic instruction? SEL is proven to improve academic performance. Through social emotional learning, students learn how to set goals and make a plan to achieve them. In addition, they learn how to apply a growth mindset and persevere through challenging tasks. Students also develop the mindset to hold themselves accountable for their performance. All of these skills lead to improved academic performance. In addition, SEL instruction decreases distracting and unwanted behaviors in the classroom, making academic learning time more effective.
Social emotional learning can also reduce poverty and improve lifetime outcomes. “SEL decreased the likelihood of living in or being on a waiting list for public housing, receiving public assistance, having any involvement with police before adulthood, and ever spending time in a detention facility” (CASEL.org).
How to Implement SEL
According to research, effective social emotional learning instruction is taught independently, in addition to integrating throughout various subject areas. Instruction should be sequenced, active, focused, and explicit.
There are so many effective ways to implement this each day in your classroom. Here are some of the best ways to include SEL in your daily plans:
Model Social Emotional Skills
The easiest way to expose students to SEL daily is to model it yourself. You can do this through “think alouds,” or verbally talking through your own thoughts and feelings with students. Let them see that you have real emotional responses, when appropriate, and talk through how you manage these. Model relationship skills when speaking with coworkers, students, and parents.
Role Play
Role play is extremely valuable when teaching SEL. Give students the opportunity to act out various emotions, conflicts, etc. in a safe environment. As a result, students will become more comfortable with real life situations.
Teach Conflict Resolution
An important part of relationship skills is conflict resolution. I used to get so frustrated with students constantly coming to me to solve small problems, instead of using skills to solve them independently. Once I began teaching conflict resolution and identifying the size of the problem, I noticed students applying these skills rather than coming directly to me.
Morning Meetings/Class Meetings
Morning meetings are a great way to set the tone for the day. Meetings can focus on character education, managing emotions, mindfulness, community building activities, as well as a variety of other social and emotional skills.
Cooperative Learning Activities
Have students work together as much as possible. Students should learn to communicate with partners/groups to resolve conflict with compromise. Be sure to teach expectations for group work beforehand.
Analyzing Characters or Historical Figures
Easily bring SEL into your literacy and social studies lessons by discussing the social and emotional skills and character traits of characters in the books they read, in addition to the historical figures that they study. This also gives students an opportunity to practice empathy.
Classroom Games
Playing games in the classroom, both academic and not, is a great way to encourage relationship skills, problem solving, and decision making. Encourage teamwork and sportsmanship, too!
Calm Down Corner
I am a big advocate for providing students with a designated, safe space in the classroom for self-regulation. It is crucial to set expectations for this area and teach students how it should be used before allowing students to use it independently. You can check out my post on how I implement my calm down corner here.
Here’s the bottom line…
YES! Our students undoubtedly need to learn social and emotional skills to have life-long success.
Social Emotional Learning Curriculum
I have developed a year-long curriculum that teaches social and emotional skills using the methods supported by research. It includes 123 mini lessons in addition to engaging materials. You can find it in my TpT store or purchase here for a discounted price!
Teacher Testimonials
“Our school purchased this program for our social skills curriculum for 2nd grade. The teachers love the ease and organization of these lessons.”
“This is exactly what my students needed this year. I am excited to start fresh with this at the beginning of the new school year.”
“This has been so beneficial for a social group I have every morning. The kids enjoy the activities!”
12 Comments
This was such an interesting read! I currently implement the Zones of Regulation program with a group of students to teach them about self-regulation and self-awareness. Social Emotional Learning lessons would go right along with that! I’m so glad this was brought to my attention! Can’t wait to learn more about Social Emotional Learning!
Thanks for all the great information! As a middle school teacher, the importance of SEL is so valuable and I appreciate your ideas for starting it at such a young age when it will have the greatest impact. Do you have any specific recommendations for older students?
This is a great question! Most of my experience is with K-5, but with older students the options become even greater! I think journaling is super powerful for social emotional learning for students of any age. Group discussions can incorporate social/emotional topics and can go deeper in older grades. In addition, taking skills such as appreciating/respecting other cultures, empathy, etc. can be used in community service projects, which allows students to take the SEL skills they’ve learned and actually apply them. You can also take self-regulation skills a little deeper.. instead of the more elementary breathing strategies you can build up stamina with meditation. The older students get, the more ownership they can take with these skills!
I love a good calm down corner. I have seen the benefits of it but i also enjoyed reading the other strategies list in this post. SEL is so important to build real rounded tiny humans.
Yes! I couldn’t agree with this more. Our students today lack the soft skills that previous generations had and with the advent of social media and instant gratification, these pieces of development are more important than ever.
I completely agree! I teach the whole child and try to integrate SEL into each day, but I don’t always get to it.
You have given me new and easy ways to implement SEL and I can’t wait to use them daily from morning meetings, to role-playing, and classroom games!
This post is full of great information. It is so important that we take the time to show and teach our children why it is important to be aware of their own behaviors and to control those in the classroom. As a fifth grade teacher, I often see children who don’t seem to understand how their actions affect those around them. This lack of awareness then spills into not taking accountability for their actions. This is differently a skill that needs to be taught and reinforced often.
I think social emotional learning is one of the most important things that we can teach children. This looks like a great resource. I can’t wait to rally check it out. I do a lot of role playing and modeling. I love all of your ideas!
I absolutely agree! I would even argue that it’s just as, if not more important, than academics. I will be looking into your resources, thank you!
What a great topic! I agree that social-emotional learning is important, especially when students are younger. Thanks for creating a curriculum that helps teachers incorporate this subject into their classrooms!
Thank you so much for sharing so many different ways to use social emotional learning in the classroom! I can’t wait to start implementing them with my students!
Thank you for sharing your valuable thoughts on Social Emotional Learning and its importance for children.