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https://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/sebw/sel-toolkit-final-updated-cover.pdf

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https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/national-commission-on-social-emotional-and-academic-development/social-emotional-academic-development/

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Research shows that when schools fully integrate social, emotional, and academic development into K-12 education, academic performance improves, students are more engaged in school, and-as a result-they are more likely to graduate high school and attend and graduate from college. The evidence also shows that students with healthy social and emotional development are more successful in the workforce and experience greater lifetime well-being. See our fact sheet for more research and data about social, emotional, and academic development's benefits for students.

In much the same way that academic skills can be cultivated, research also demonstrates that social and emotional competencies can be nurtured and developed over the course of a student's school experience.

The goal is to prepare students who-among other things-are able to connect with others, make responsible decisions, communicate, solve problems, think critically, be resilient, persevere, and work in teams-many of the same skills that employers tell us through surveys that they are looking for in their workforce.

While a range of language is used to describe this more comprehensive approach to education, the Commission is using social, emotional, and academic development because it emphasizes the need for schools to fully integrate social, emotional, and academic development. Surveys of teachers tell us that large majorities want this integration to boost the success of students.

WHY IT MATTERS

Research demonstrates that making K-12 education a true integration of social, emotional, and academic development matters because it gives students a better chance of thriving in school, career, and life.

A student's ability to focus, manage emotions, and stay engaged, plays a large role in his or her ability to perceive, process, and ultimately learn. Students who can work collaboratively and communicate effectively are better able to harness their academic knowledge to perform in school now and in the workplace later. At the same time, these competencies help young people build the strong relationships that are such a big part of leading a fulfilling life.

WHAT IT TAKES

The Commission's charge is to explore how to make social, emotional, and academic development part of the fabric of every school. But we know that effective social, emotional, and academic development doesn't happen on its own-it requires dedicated commitment from everyone. Just as families and communities foster social, emotional, and academic development, K-12 schools must play a role by incorporating explicit and intentional instruction and rethinking school design and culture. Doing this demands an education system that recognizes how social, emotional, and academic skills and competencies are complementary, and addresses each of them with equal fervor.

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What is Social, Emotional, and Academic Development?

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Social, emotional, and academic development is the integration of social and emotional development with academic learning in K-12 education. Research shows that when schools fully integrate social, emotional, and academic development into K-12 education, academic performance improves, students are more engaged in school, and-as a result-they are more likely to graduate high school and attend [...]

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https://www.studentachievement.org/what-we-do/social-emotional-and-academic-development/

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Research is crystal clear that the social and emotional aspects of classroom and school culture greatly impact students' academic performance. Yet efforts to introduce social emotional learning generally take place outside of students' core subject classrooms and tend to focus on students' attitudes, skills, and behavior, rather than the effect adults in the school have on creating a context that nurtures students' social emotional growth.

To address this gap, ISA has partnered with six secondary schools to integrate social, emotional, and academic development (SEAD) into the academic core, providing strategic planning and professional learning opportunities for administrators and teachers.
Mathematics class at Innovation High School, where students engage in self-assessment practices across the curriculum every day.
In this project, ISA supports the creation of classrooms in which students and teachers engage in daily metacognitive practice, and students learn from their mistakes, are reflective about and invested in their own growth, and identify and regularly use effective strategies to tackle academic problems. Our successes with the SEAD work have increased student engagement and perseverance, strengthened students' ability to successfully complete challenging work, nurtured students' growth mindset, and, in some cases, positively impacted state test scores. Out of this work we have launched a robust online toolkit of learning strategies to support students and interactive professional development modules to support teachers and district level staff.

How can we help your school or district? ISA can support this work through a variety of activities, which include:

Professional development: ISA can provide SEAD support for school and district personnel, ranging from technical assistance to effectively use our online resources to building the capacity of district staff to support teacher teams and school leaders in integrating SEAD into all aspects of school life.

Content-area coaching: ISA can provide SEAD coaching for teachers in a variety of academic areas: science, mathematics, English/language arts, and social studies, including work around English Language Learners and students with IEPs.

Strategic planning with school and district leadership: ISA and school and district personnel work collaboratively to create a plan to ensure SEAD in all classrooms.

Institutes: ISA will organize a multi-day SEAD-focused learning experience that allows educators to build capacity to create and sustain classrooms that address the social, emotional, and academic needs of their students.

Speaking engagements: Our team can support your need for SEAD experts.

Want to see SEAD in your school? For more information please contact Carolyne Quintana (at) cquintana@ets.org

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Social Emotional and Academic Development (SEAD) - Institute for Student Achievement

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Research is crystal clear that the social and emotional aspects of classroom and school culture greatly impact students' academic performance. Yet efforts to introduce social emotional learning generally take place outside of students' core subject classrooms and tend to focus on students' attitudes, skills, and behavior, rather than the effect adults in the school have on creating a context that nurtures students' social emotional growth.

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use as-is, alter, or find inspiration to create

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quick guidelines for what SEL looks like in virtual spaces

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As teachers and students from all over the world have been fast-tracked into virtual classrooms, educators need to take a closer look at our response to the anxiety and stress that learners are experiencing during this process. As teachers of English learners (ELs), we need to examine what we can do to support our students' social-emotional learning (SEL) in the virtual classroom. Here are six SEL practices for teachers who are teaching remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
1. Set up your teaching space to help students feel connected.
Technology use for remote learning can whittle away at the human connection that exists in brick-and-mortar classrooms. It is especially important with your ELs, who feel they have a connection to you. If possible, decorate your teaching space with familiar objects from your classroom. One of the problems I've been hearing from teachers since schools closed is that many of their students do not have access to WiFi. It is crucial for teachers to make contact with their students if at all possible, even if their students don't have Internet access. Larry Ferlazzo, a high school teacher in California, says that he reached some of these students by contacting their friends. Some school districts have purchased mobile hotspots so that all of their students can become connected.
2. Build a (new) connection to your students.
Treat the online classroom as if it were the first day of your school year so that your ELs can feel secure in the virtual learning environment. Address your students at the beginning of each session about how they are feeling. Give them time to meet your pet or introduce you to a sibling. Flexibility in scheduling is crucial. My daughter, Jen Clark, is a special education teacher in Connecticut. She's currently teaching her students live on a video conferencing platform. Her grouping of students is flexible. Some have direct instruction twice a week and others five times. Some students are taught in groups and others have 1:1 instruction, depending on their needs. Jen plans to hold social lunches where students can check in with her as needed. All of these strategies would work well with ELs.

Teachers also need to pay attention to the language they use in their virtual classrooms. Using asset-based language fosters your ELs' feeling of safety, where "trustworthiness, collaboration, empowerment, and acknowledgment of students' personal, social, cultural, and life experiences are present." For example, you may want to tell a student you feel proud of the good work she has been doing with her math homework ( Zacarian, Alvarez-Ortiz & Haynes, 2020).
3. Link SEL to academic topics.
Introduce flexible tasks, such as journaling, that allow ELs to work at their own English language development level. Entries can be written accounts, photos, or drawings. Journaling is a great way to have students keep a record of their lives during this momentous time in history. Teachers can also develop activities that help students detach themselves from their anxieties. Ask them what they would do to help someone who is really anxious about COVID-19. This gives the students an opportunity to distance themselves from their own anxiety and talk about emotions. Teachers could brainstorm ideas with a small group of ELs.
4. Develop positive self-talk.
I'm a big believer in helping students learn positive self-talk. Model your own self-talk and show how you flip negative thoughts by looking at the positives. An example would be to tell students, "I am nervous about teaching online. I haven't done this before, and I know I will make mistakes." Let students know that it's okay to make mistakes and that you'll all learn how to do this together. Express how excited your are to learn a new skill. Help ELs write their own positive script. Their narratives can be developed in English or in their first language.
5. Give your ELs brain breaks during your online sessions.
There are different types of brain breaks. They can be whole body movement, a group activity or game, or a mental challenge. Play music and have students get up and stretch or do jumping jacks. Be forewarned that you will need a strategy to get your virtual students back on task. I would suggest that ending the music can be their signal to stop. An elementary ESL teacher I know employs deep breathing to help students relax using a Hoberman sphere. Mental puzzles can also give your students a brain break.
6. Practice teacher self-care.
Five thousand teachers responded to a survey given by The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence at the beginning of March 2020. According to Marc Brackett in his recent blog, the top five emotions that teachers reported when they answered the survey are that they were feeling anxious, fearful, worried, overwhelmed, and sad. The reasons given for this response were two-fold. Many were worried about the COVID-19 virus and whether their friends or family would be affected. Others were anxious about the double stress of teaching online and taking care of their families. Many teachers have children who are learning remotely, and their time is stretched thin. Research shows that anxiety affects attention, memory, and learning. It affects relationship building and health. If a teacher feels anxious in the classroom, virtual or face-to-face, ELs may not feel safe enough to learn. Teachers need to take time every day for themselves to safeguard their own social-emotional health.

I realize that this is a huge task for teachers who are struggling to teach the curriculum to students who are also learning English and dealing with a new learning environment. Our ELs need us at this time, and investment into their social-emotional health is well worth our time.

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Supporting ELs' Social-Emotional Learning in a Virtual Classroom

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Anxiety and stress deeply affect learning outcomes. Here are six social-emotional learning practices for English language teachers who are teaching remotely.

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Powered by Common Sense, this site curates resources for EVERY content area. If you click below you will go straight to the SEL section that directs you to lesson plans and more.

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Wide Open School's mission lives on at Common Sense With schools back in person, we have closed this dedicated distance-learning site designed to guide families and educators through the sudden shift to remote learning. Discover More Great Resources for Families & Educators

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/going-beyond-how-are-you-feeling

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During the pandemic, there have been many uses of the term well-being. When teachers ask students only "How are you feeling?" as a way to gauge well-being, opportunities are missed to teach students that well-being is a multidimensional concept that encompasses more than just happiness. Research shows that if youth explicitly learn about well-being, their concept of subjective well-being can increase because they become mindfully aware of its components.

Present Dimensions of Well-Being

Help students understand two definitions for well-being: In the hedonistic tradition, students evaluate how satisfied they are with their lives, how pleasurable their lives are, and how happy they feel. In the eudaimonic tradition, they assess their personal strengths, areas of growth, and how they contribute to the greater good. This more expansive understanding of well-being can guide students to learn from challenging events and circumstances.

Introduce students to the following dimensions of well-being:

Belonging and connection to others. Ask students, "Where do you feel like you most belong? Are you participating in a specific activity when you feel belonging? What do the people around you do to make you feel like you belong?" Also inquire about times they do not feel like they belong. What do they do to feel connected?

Growth and flourishing. Ask students to describe a personal skill that they have grown in over the last two years. Describing how they have thrived can reinforce the understanding that well-being can involve challenges.

Purpose. We often focus too much on what career path students may want to take, leaving youth feeling a lack of purpose when they don't know those answers. Encourage students to identify short-term purposes, such as, "Today I am going to help my father cook dinner," in addition to long-term goals.

Engagement. Identifying engagement can be as simple as asking students, "What do you enjoy doing?" Students can explore ways they are engaged within their family, school, or community.

Voice. Let youth know that there are many different ways to share their voice. Maybe they express themselves best through less traditional forms, such as writing equations, being in nature, participating in performing arts, or playing musical instruments.

Basic supports for health and life. Remind students of their basic needs. Ask about what they do if their needs are not being met, and encourage them to name trusted adults they can turn to for help.

Engage with the Dimensions

Establish a space where well-being education will be welcomed by inquiring about student needs. Ask, "How would you like your peers to show that they support you when you are feeling down? How would you like me to support you?" Record the answers and discuss ideas until the group is in agreement. Model the process by sharing something that was difficult for you and asking for community support.

Offer ways the dimensions might show up in daily life. For example, "One dimension I feel is going well is belonging because my family is supporting one another right now."

Sentence frames can help students make connections while using critical thinking to apply new terminology to lived experience, such as the following:

____________(insert dimension) means ____________ to me. It looks like and feels like ____________. In my daily life, an example of a positive ____________ (insert dimension) is ____________.

For example, a fifth grader used the dimension "basic supports for health and life" to write, "Basic support for health and life means that everybody can get to a doctor. It looks and feels like band-aids. In my daily life, an example of a positive basic support is that my grandma can get her medicine."

An eighth grader used the dimension "voice" to write, "Voice means expressing my unique identity to me. It looks and feels like talking with my friends. In my daily life, an example of a positive voice is when my parents actually listen to me."

Use the responses to gain new information about students and insight on ways they might need support.

Use Weekly Check-ins

Once a class has an understanding of the dimensions, they can be used to facilitate weekly check-ins. Check-ins can be incorporated into circle time, in advisory time, or via journals between the teacher and each child. Ask "What dimension of well-being has been challenging for you this week?" or "What dimension has been a strength for you this week?" Place paper with the dimensions on the floor, and have students walk to the dimension that has been a strength. Invite them to turn to their peers and discuss why they selected this dimension, using examples. Students report that this provides them with new examples of positive experiences that they can then consider in their own lives.

Avoid asking youth to elaborate upon challenges, as probing questions can lead to retraumatization. Instead, accept what students share and how they share. Validate their responses by listening intently, asking, "What support do you need from me?" When they identify needs, follow through in your support for them. Supporting student ideas, versus immediately working to project your ideas for solutions onto them, promotes youth agency.

Remind students that just because we are struggling in one dimension does not mean we are alone or that we have zero well-being. Counter the misconception that well-being is a "you've got it or you don't" feeling.

When a student expresses something that has got them feeling down, discuss it. Then, when the time is right, ask, "I know that dimension ______ has been tough this week. Is there a dimension that has gone well?" When youth begin to see that one dimension could be positive while another dimension is negative, it reinforces the idea that well-being is multidimensional and not a fixed state.

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During the pandemic, there have been many uses of the term well-being. When teachers ask students only "How are you feeling?" as a way to gauge well-being, opportunities are missed to teach students that well-being is a multidimensional concept that encompasses more than just happiness.

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https://www.epinsight.com/post/what-is-the-behaviour-communicating-the-rethink-model

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Following on my most recent blog on Heather Geddes' Learning Triangle, this post looks at another innovative model for considering behaviour as communication and reflecting on how we interpret and respond to behaviour effectively.

In the book "What can I do with the kid who...", Marie Delaney (Educational Psychotherapist and Teacher Trainer) outlines the RETHINK model. She applies this to a number of case studies, including students who find it hard to settle, try to assume control, engage in confrontation and withdraw from interaction. Much like the Learning Triangle, the RETHINK model looks at students' words and actions with a trauma-informed and attachment-focused lens. This blog will explore the four stages of this model.

This initial stage is concerned with recognising what is happening in the classroom right now. As behaviour can understandably evoke strong feelings in school staff, it can be easy to dwell on particularly memorable moments or even become numb to frequent stressful episodes. Taking the time to step back and look at exactly what's going on is essential. This is not just about what the student is doing, but also what we are doing in response. The following suggestions are by no means exhaustive.

Describe the behaviour in detail

What do you see? When and where does it occur? How often does it happen and with whom? These details are important in pinpointing an issue that occurs at a low level throughout the day or one which may only happen in particular tasks or before/after specific transitions.

Walk through a typical response to the student's behaviour.

How do you approach the student? How is the student spoken about (both directly and elsewhere)? How successful are the strategies? What are the responsibilities of different members of staff and are these carried out consistently? Even with the best of intentions, some responses may feed into the factors which trigger or exacerbate the behaviour.

Consider the general learning environment.

What are the verbal and non-verbal methods of delivering instructions and communicating routines? How are rules and expectations talked about and acted upon with the whole class? Where does the student sit for learning tasks and how does he or she engage with general transitions and changes in activity? What kind of relationships does the student have with other young people and how do they respond to the behaviour? This type of contextual information can give important clues for what could be changed or adapted.

What preventative measures are in place?

If the student has learning needs, how is the curriculum differentiated to accommodate their strengths and preferences? How are sensitivities to sound, visual clutter, tactile input and other sensory needs managed? What kind of de-escalation and stress reduction strategies are implemented and how effective are they at different times and places? Proactive measures could make an enormous difference to the frequency and intensity of the behaviour.

Our thinking is easily distorted during stressful times. This is an overview of some common distortions. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common_Cognitive_Biases.png . Reframing involves opening ourselves up to new perspectives. This is by no means easy in the heat-of-the-moment, which is why the opportunity for debriefing or supervision with a colleague, a member of the senior leadership team or an external professional may be helpful. Here are some examples of initial thoughts and how these might be reframed.

" No matter what I do, he never listens. I feel so irritated when he doesn't pay attention"

" Maybe he has a lot of thoughts and feelings buzzing around his head and it's hard for him to block them out and listen to me ".

" She doesn't want to engage. It's as if she doesn't care. It frustrates me when I try so hard and get nothing in return. I just can't get through to her ".

" I wonder what it's been like for her when she's tried to participate with other people in the past? Perhaps no-one tried as hard as I have and she's used to keeping to herself ".

" When he tells me to go away, I feel like a failure. I dread approaching him because I know he'll just reject me or have a complete meltdown".

" Does he feel safe in the classroom? Has he learnt to look after himself, in case others hurt him or disappoint him? Maybe my approach reminds him of someone else? ".

" I wish she would ask for help. It's exhausting having to check on her constantly. I'm here to help and yet she doesn't let me know when she needs it".

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What is the behaviour communicating? The RETHINK Model

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Following on my most recent blog on Heather Geddes' Learning Triangle, this post looks at another innovative model for considering behaviour as communication and reflecting on how we interpret and respond to behaviour effectively. In the book "What can I do with the kid who...", Marie Delaney (Educational Psychotherapist and Teacher Trainer) outlines the RETHINK model.

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Hawaiian based SEL curriculum with lots of activities for the classroom

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As a cultural response to bullying in the schools, student groups were encouraged to actively Grow Pono - to foster respect, harmony and peace for everyone at their school.

E Ola Pono means to live with respect for and to seek harmony with those around you and the environment in which you live. Growing Pono Schools and the statewide E Ola Pono Campaign challenged student groups to create activities and projects which promote these traits within their schools and communities.

Student led projects and campaigns have proven to be the most effective and powerful initiatives to reduce harassment and bullying in schools. Pono, a way of being and doing in Hawaiian culture, guides us "to do what is right." The Pono Campaign offered students an opportunity to positively influence peers, promote a safe, respect-filled school environment, and effect a positive impact on their communities.

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Growing Pono Schools - Promoting peace and pono

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As a cultural response to bullying in the schools, student groups were encouraged to actively Grow Pono - to foster respect, harmony and peace for everyone at their school. E Ola Pono means to live with respect for and to seek harmony with those around you and the environment in which you live.

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https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/lessons

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For young white students, explorations of fair and unfair, just and unjust, can go a long way in advancing anti-racist white identity. Purposeful use of literature and basic study of white anti-racists are among the key ways educators can advance such aims.Teaching Tolerance presents four short biographies for early grades classrooms, with activity ideas.

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These robust, ready-to-use classroom lessons offer breadth and depth, spanning essential social justice topics and reinforcing critical social emotional learning skills.

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13 activity ideas from Edutopia, described as for HS but definitely appropriate for MS too

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

Build social and emotional skills into any class.

Summit students rip up their stress.

Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, California, uses a variety of activities in the weekly, 90-minute Habits, Community, and Culture (HCC) class, where students learn Habits of Success and develop social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. The school has developed an HCC curriculum for grades nine through 12 and hired two full-time teachers for HCC, but Summit's academic teachers also use some of these activities to build SEL skills and deepen their relationships with their students. Cady Ching, a biology and AP environmental science teacher at Summit, incorporates opening activities into all of her classes: "In my freshman classes, we do them every class period."

Visualization to release stress: Have your students imagine what stress looks and feels like inside their body, and then ask them to release it. "The mindfulness practice makes you think the stress is coming off your body," says Geoffrey, a 12th-grade student.

Noise isolation: There are a variety of sounds that your students hear when they're in your classroom, from students walking in the hallway to outdoor construction noise. Have your students focus on one noise and describe it to themselves and recall the last time they interacted with it.

Here are some of the opening, group sharing, and closing activities that teachers use at Summit:

Opening Activities

Summit students practice mindfulness.

2. Name the emotion you're bringing to class: Have each student call out the emotion they're feeling. This helps each student know how they and other students are feeling, what different emotions look like, and how to better interact with their peers based on how they're feeling.

3. Write down, rip up, and throw away your stress: Have your students write down their expectations and insecurities, rip them up, and throw them away. This emotional check-in takes about three minutes. By acknowledging how your students are feeling at the start of each class, you'll acknowledge their barriers to learning and create a safe space for your students to overcome them.

5. Quote of the day: Introduce a quote relevant to what your students are learning or to a shared experience-for example, an act of violence in the community. You can facilitate a whole-class discussion, group students into pairs, or have each student share a one-word response to the quote. This gives students the space to reflect on their beliefs and experiences and whether they agree or disagree with the quote and other students' opinions, and it gives them insight into their peers' perspectives and feelings.

6. Where we came from: Collect baby pictures from your students. Project one baby picture at the start of class, have your students guess who it is, and then have the featured student share something about their childhood.

7. Starting positive: Have each student tape a sheet of paper to their back and then walk around and write positive qualities about their peers on their backs.

8. Motivational moment: Have two students start the class with a three- to five-minute presentation-and come up with two or three discussion questions-based on their interests. The presentation must be related to the course content in a real-world context. "Many students include a video for visuals and increased engagement, but it's optional," says Ching. Have the rest of the class partner up to discuss their questions for one minute and then give them the opportunity to share out to the whole class. This exercise gives your students insight into their peers' interests.

Grades 9-12 | Redwood City, CA

Enrollment

388 | Charter, Suburban

Per Pupil Expenditures

Free / Reduced Lunch

47%

Data is from the 2014-2015 academic year.

Group Sharing

9. Circle sharing: To encourage active listening, create small groups. Have your students position their chairs in a circle so everyone can make eye contact. To strengthen empathy, you can facilitate deeper discussion around what a student shares by asking, "Why did that student share what they did?" or "What perspective is that student coming from?"

When discussing emotionally charged topics, it's important to have guidelines to foster a safe space. Summit uses the Courageous Conversation protocol created by Glenn E. Singleton when discussing race. The protocol is guided by four agreements-stay engaged, experience discomfort, speak your truth, and expect and accept nonclosure. Here is an example of elementary school discussion guidelines from School 21.

Summit students sit in a circle for a whole-class discussion.

10. Write a poem from someone else's perspective. Have your students choose someone they don't know. This helps them to understand that they don't "need to be best friends with someone to empathize with them," explains Ballard.

11. Have a conversation with someone you don't know. Have your students pair up with a student they don't know and provide the pairs with five questions to ask each other. Each student introduces their partner to the class, speaking as if they were their partner, while the rest of the class looks at the student being introduced. "We don't see people sometimes," says Ballard, "and this exercise helps students to see each other more deeply."

12. Play interest and identity-related bingo. Instead of squares filled with numbers or vocabulary words, create cards with information relating to your students. Summit's Bingo cards have things like "'I like to read' or 'I was born in a different country,'" says Armando, a ninth-grade student.

I would like to appreciate Brenda for facilitating the conversation in our small group.

I would like to thank everyone for taking this class seriously.

I apologize to everyone for having my headphones in for half of the time.

Closing Activity

13. Appreciation, apology, aha: Have your students get in a circle and share an appreciation, apology, or realization with the group. Students in Ballard's class have shared things like:

Encourage authentic and timely apologies. Apologizing for something that happened a long time ago has less impact than apologizing for something that happened that day or week. Let your students know that they don't have to name who they're apologizing to when they apologize for what they did.

Help students share helpful, not harmful words. "I often say, 'Appreciations, apologies, and ahas should be something that you genuinely think will be useful for people to hear,'" says Ballard.

Have your students snap, clap, or shake both hands when they hear something that resonates with them. "We snap to let people know that we hear them without exerting our own voice in their narrative," explains Ballard. Students shake their hands when peers share things that are emotionally charged. Ballard often gets this started by saying, "Let's shake it up for that."

"When you pay attention to each other, not only does it build a sense of community, but we're more able to understand other people," says Janet, a 12th-grade student. "If you're able to understand people at a younger age, you could work better with them as adults. That changes how the future generations will be. People can be more accepting, more helpful towards each other."

What makes this a SCHOOL THAT WORKS

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Build social and emotional skills into any class.

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This Edutopia article was written by Jill Fletcher, a MS educator on Oahu. 5 activities perfect for SEL.

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

Social and emotional learning is more than a side curriculum-it should be woven into everyday activities throughout the school day.

As a new teacher nearly a decade ago, I was handed a curriculum for social and emotional learning (SEL) and instructed to teach it twice a week during advisory. I did so as best I could. My middle school students were ethnically diverse, but in ways that didn't match the students in the videos. My students dealt with very different racially charged terms, being that we're in Hawai'i. We had been given a research-based curriculum to combat a rise in complaints of bullying, but the curriculum was not culturally relevant to our students.

It was only when I was brave enough to go off-script and engage with my students about the terms they heard thrown about at recess, the insults they endured, and the cutting remarks they admitted to saying about one another that we were able to stare directly into our own biases and grow our own social awareness.

I began to wonder what could I do in my content classroom to promote relationship building and responsible decision-making. Middle level students need to practice these skills more often than twice a week.

Since then I've learned that SEL is ideally more than a curriculum-it's a set of thoughtful strategies embedded into everyday classroom activities and norms. In the best-case scenario, students should be given multiple opportunities throughout the school day for practicing self-awareness and self-management, increasing social awareness, building relationship skills, and making responsible decisions.

SEL is not the practices themselves-the connected practices collectively build and contribute to SEL skills. SEL is ideally interwoven into classroom practices such that it would be hard to tell SEL activities apart from other routines. I'm currently an assistant principal, but I used several practices in the classroom to achieve this interweaving, and I'll use them again next fall when I go back into the classroom.

5 Ways to Seamlessly Incorporate SEL in Class
Courtesy of Jill Fletcher
Paper tweets: I used a paper and pencil version of Twitter in class, an exercise in which students would initially connect with a friend, an acquaintance, and a classmate with whom they rarely spoke. Sometimes I used this for formative assessment, but it also worked as an SEL break-students wrote and discussed anything they wanted with their peers. I didn't read or assess this writing-it was solely for students.

I often had students write whatever they wanted as their initial "tweet," and then respond to the three peers they were "following." Sometimes I had them respond to as many peers as they wanted. One of their favorite steps was adding heart stickers to their favorite comments.

I also created my own profile, which students could use to ask me questions, which I would answer aloud. This was a comfortable form of engagement for introverted students.

Check in before you check out exit passes: Last year, I starting using exit tickets daily to ask students questions like: How are you feeling? What's new with you? What do you want to share with me? I was surprised by how many students wrote that they were sad, bored, or upset when they seemed engaged and outwardly happy, but at least asking these questions allowed me to address their emotional needs more quickly and more often.

After doing this for just a few weeks, I got to know my students really well, much faster than I had in previous years. Several students wrote to say that their favorite thing about my class was that I checked in with them every day and they were able to tell me how they were feeling.

Group one-pagers: In groups of four to six, students would create a sheet called a one-pager with their team name, group favorites such as food and movies (or any other favorites you'd like to ask them about), and a symbol to represent each member of the group. They also listed their favorite meme.

I had students do this on large poster paper, and it served as a kind of group flag. I would take a picture of each poster and post them around the room-the posters themselves would have taken up too much space, but it's very important to give students in the middle grades a sense of identity and belonging.

Relationship-building one-pagers: Students also created one-pagers about one of their peers or an adult on campus. On a piece of white printer paper, they would draw an image of the person and write their name, and then ask three peers for positive quotes about that person. Next they would draw three funny or meaningful images, and share two inside jokes or memories of the person. Then they would write a thoughtful, made-up definition of the person's name. Finally, they created a border in writing around the page with three or four adjectives to describe the person.

Observing my students creating these one-pagers was simply exquisite. Some of them selected security guards, others picked educational assistants, and of course, many chose their peers. At the end of the assignment, students delivered their one-pagers to the person who inspired them. It was touching to see the many tears from adults who were surprised that students appreciated them.

Student-led end-of-quarter celebrations: I gave students the freedom to create class-bonding celebrations. They selected themes, created potluck sign-ups, made invitations, and set up activities like a cupcake-decorating challenge or group craft projects. Some of the most memorable activities were a karaoke party with a strobe light, a fashion runway walk-off using materials like garbage bags and paper bags, a school-wide scavenger hunt, an escape room challenge, and a blindfolded makeup challenge.

This was an assignment, not just a party. I gave my students a rubric and examples of successful celebrations. I made clear that I expected them to create a bonding activity in which all class members would want to participate, and from start to finish the celebration could take up no more than 30 minutes. If we had a lot of time to plan, we would also invite other teachers and even the principal to celebrate with us.

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5 Ways to Incorporate SEL in Middle School

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) Social and emotional learning is more than a side curriculum-it should be woven into everyday activities throughout the school day. As a new teacher nearly a decade ago, I was handed a curriculum for social and emotional learning (SEL) and instructed to teach it twice a week during advisory.

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lesson plans and materials for middle school SEL activities

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Attitude Latitudes

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 3
(Understands that interactions among learning, inheritance, and physical development affect human behavior)

What You Need: Three worksheets: Introvert or Extrovert, Optimist or Pessimist, X-Y graph
What to Do: Ask students what it means to have an attitude. Though they'll likely think it's a matter of having a good or a bad attitude, define attitude as one's "readiness to act or react in a certain way."

Have students describe how they act or react in different situations. Does their attitude change from situation to situation? Hand out the Introvert or Extrovert and Optimist or Pessimist worksheets for students to find out how they rank. Then, have them figure out their "attitude latitudes" on the third worksheet (an X-Y graph). Students will graph their introversion/extroversion score on the horizontal axis and their optimism/pessimism score on the vertical axis to land in one of four quadrants. You might use fictional characters from a book or movie to symbolize each quadrant. (I've used characters from Shrek. You're a "Donkey," for instance, if you're an extroverted optimist.) This will give students some insight into how they relate to other people and how they might harness their energies in the most socially beneficial way.

Brain Freezers

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 3
(Understands that interactions among learning, inheritance, and physical development affect human behavior)

What You Need: Worksheet and answer key
What to Do: How often do your students think about their own thinking? Distribute the Brain Freezers worksheet. Have students work individually or in small groups to answer all of the riddles as quickly as possible. (You might set a time limit, such as 10 or 15 minutes.) When students are done, ask them which riddles were difficult and which were easy. (They will likely say that riddles in the first column were easier.) Invite students to share their answers. As they do so, write the most common responses on the board. After reviewing the answers and explanations using the supplied answer key, ask students if they have changed their minds about which riddles were easy. Elicit that the riddles in the first column seemed easy, but actually should have made them stop and think. Their wrong answers were the result of "fast thinking." Conversely, the riddles in the second column seemed to require a lot of thought, when the solutions were actually simple; "slow thinking" likely bogged them down.

Use this activity as an opportunity to talk about times that "fast thinking" or "slow thinking" got them in trouble: "Fast thinking" can cause you to jump to conclusions, while "slow thinking" can make you dwell too much on problems.

Setting Boundaries

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 2
(Understands various meanings of social group, general implications of group membership, and different ways that groups function)

What You Need: Boundaries worksheet
What to Do: To most students, boundaries are the lines drawn between states or nations. Explain that boundaries also pertain to relationships-rules that tell us what we can and can't do. Talk about the boundaries that apply in families, school, and society. Next, hand out the Boundaries worksheet and talk about the types of rules-rigid (hard-and-fast), clear (firm but appropriate), and fuzzy (inconsistent or nonexistent). Have students work in small groups to evaluate the boundaries listed on the worksheet to determine the type of boundary described in each. Review the answers as a class and discuss what life would be like without boundaries. Are they frustrating but important to have? Work with students to create a list of classroom boundaries, organized by physical (respect one another's space), behavioral (listen respectfully), and academic (turn in work on time).

What Sets You Off?

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 4
(Understands conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions)

What You Need: What Sets You Off? worksheet
What to Do: Managing emotional responses is difficult for many adolescents, who are still developing neurologically-the emotional centers of the brain develop more rapidly than the executive centers.

Hand out the What Sets You Off? worksheet. Have students recall a time when they got really angry and then write down "just the facts" about the incident. Students should detail three different experiences on the worksheet. Then, challenge them to look for patterns as to what sets them off. Have they gotten angry at least twice over the same situation or with the same person? This can reveal that certain people or behaviors (e.g., teasing) act as triggers for them. Likewise, it will help identify "danger zones" for confrontations (the locker room, for instance). When you debrief students' experiences, focus on the suggestion "Don't react! Respond." Discuss the difference (reaction is knee-jerk, while response is something you do after careful thought) and how a response might have de-escalated an encounter.

Resolving Conflicts

Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 4
(Understands conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions)

What You Need: Two worksheets: What's Their Attitude? Part I and Part II

What to Do: Introduce students to four communication styles: assertive (standing up for yourself and respecting others), passive (doing anything to avoid conflict), aggressive (standing up for yourself and not caring who gets hurt), and passive-aggressive (secretly angry). Give examples of these styles using characters from a book you've recently read in class.

Hand out the first worksheet, What's Their Attitude? Part I, to learn how these different styles play out in
conflicts. Then, create a fictional disagreement, inviting student volunteers to role-play it. Dissect the conflict by identifying who was involved, what each person wanted, how the individuals communicated what they wanted, and if it was resolved, including who "won." Talk about the different communication styles each actor exhibited.

To wrap up, have students complete the questions at the bottom of the worksheet and on the second worksheet ( What's Their Attitude? Part II) to anticipate how they might best act during a conflict. Refer back to these win-win solutions the next time a disagreement occurs in class.

Adapted from Social & Emotional Learning: Essential Lessons for Student Success.
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Grades 6-8: Social-Emotional Skills | Scholastic

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Standard Met: McREL Behavioral Studies Standard 3 (Understands that interactions among learning, inheritance, and physical development affect human behavior) What You Need: Three worksheets: Introvert or Extrovert, Optimist or Pessimist, X-Y graph What to Do: Ask students what it means to have an attitude.

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/10-powerful-community-building-ideas

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Teachers have long known that feeling safe and secure in school helps students focus their energy on learning. And the research bears that out: A 2018 study found that when teachers deliberately foster a sense of belonging by greeting each student at the door of the class, they see "significant improvements in academic engaged time and reductions in disruptive behavior."

Edutopia covered that study last year, and we've shared many other ideas from teachers for ensuring that every student in the classroom feels like they belong.

Some of the activities below take less than five minutes. They're divided up among the grades, but many can apply across all of the years from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Elementary School

Shout-Outs: This is a quick way for students to celebrate each other for doing a job well or for attempting something difficult. Shout-outs can be incorporated at any point in a class. First-grade teacher Valerie Gallagher of Providence, Rhode Island, rings a chime when she wants to get the class's attention to ask who has a shout-out.

"It's not just me as the teacher saying, 'You're doing well'-it's a way for them to interact with each other and celebrate positivity," says Gallagher.

Friendly Fridays: Elizabeth Peterson, a fourth-grade teacher in Amesbury, Massachusetts, uses Friendly Fridays as a simple way for students to lift each other and themselves up. Peterson has her students write a friendly, anonymous note to a classmate, practice using positive self-talk, or use storytelling to give a peer a pep talk.

Sharing Acts of Kindness: Fifth-grade teacher Marissa King, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, shares two activities that encourage kindness. In the first, the teacher gives students secret kindness instructions, such as writing an anonymous note to a peer who is struggling in one of their classes.

The second activity revolves around noticing others' acts of kindness: When a student sees a peer tidying up in the classroom, for example, they can post a thank you note on a shared digital "kindness wall." Both activities coach students to be kind to their peers in the hope that they'll begin to practice kindness unprompted.

Middle School

Paper Tweets: To build community in her seventh-grade classroom, Jill Fletcher of Kapolei Middle School in Kapolei, Hawaii, created a bulletin board modeled on Twitter. Students use a template to create a profile, and they enlist at least three followers-a friend, an acquaintance, and someone they don't interact with much.
Courtesy of Jill Fletcher
When the class does this activity-which takes about 45 minutes to set up the first time-Fletcher has them respond to prompts about their current mood or new things happening in their lives, and then their followers respond.

Class Norms: Bobby Shaddox, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at King Middle School in Portland, Maine, has his students develop a set of norms for themselves-adjectives that describe them as a community of learners. Having students come up with their own norms creates "a pathway toward belonging for every single student in that class," says Dr. Pamela Cantor, founder of Turnaround for Children.

"Instead of a top-down list of rules that a teacher gives a class, these are words that we generated together," says Shaddox. "It helps us own the behavior in the classroom."

Group Salutes: A moment shared between two or more students at the beginning or end of an activity, a Group Salute is a teacher-prompted interaction that is a quick, low-prep way to cultivate community. The shared gesture can be physical-like a high five-or social-a teacher could ask students to express gratitude to their group members.

There's some interesting data supporting this idea: Researchers found that NBA teams whose players touch the most early in the season-high fives, fist bumps, etc.-had the best records later for the season.

High School

Morning Meetings: Morning meetings have long been a staple of elementary classrooms, but they can help students in all grades transition into class. Riverside School, a pre-K to 12th-grade school in Ahmedabad, India, uses a version of morning meetings at every grade level as "a pure relationship-building time." Bonding exercises led by teachers or students include physical or social and emotional activities, or discussions of sensitive topics like bullying.

Appreciation, Apology, Aha: As a quick, daily closing activity, students gather in a circle and share an appreciation of one of their peers, an apology, or a light bulb moment. The teacher models the activity by sharing and then asks for volunteers to speak.

"Those types of appreciations and community recognitions can go a long way toward building bonds," explains Aukeem Ballard, an educator with Summit Public Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"A low-stakes thorn might be 'I feel tired.' Yet many students choose to share more personal items, like 'My thorn is that my dog is sick and I'm really worried about her,'" writes Alex Shevrin Venet, a former school leader at a trauma-informed high school.

Snowball Toss: Students anonymously write down one of their stressors on a piece of paper, crumple it up, gather in a circle, and throw their paper balls in a mock snowball fight. When that's done, they pick up a snowball and read it aloud.

"The idea is that we're moving around. We're able to have fun, laugh, scream, be loud, and then have that discussion about stress," says Marcus Moore, an advisory leader at Urban Prep School in Chicago.

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These community-building ideas for the classroom can help teachers ensure that students in every grade feel like they belong.

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-relationships-through-letter-writing

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

Corresponding with students via snail mail is a good way for teachers to foster trust anytime-but especially when everyone is physically distanced.

Elva Etienne / Alamy Stock Photo

With remote teaching likely continuing into the next academic year, we'll need low-tech ways to establish relationships with students whom we can't reach digitally. An ongoing letter communication through the mail is just that-and is also an empowering way to build relational trust with students. That trust, explains Zaretta Hammond, is the foundation on which culturally responsive teaching can change learning trajectories for even our most vulnerable students.

My first year in the classroom, I saw one of my more disengaged students pass a note to a friend. I thought about confiscating it, as my teachers had done. Instead, I wrote her my own note the next day. She wrote back, and we continued writing through the year, her engagement in class strengthening alongside our relationship. Letter writing became my most essential tool for earning my students' trust.

When we as teachers write letters to students and they write back to us, we balance power dynamics, learn from each other, practice holding space for complex feelings, and engage our natural curiosities as readers and writers. Here are several suggestions for writing meaningful letters to students.

Introducing the Letters

To promote authentic communication that equalizes the power dynamic, remove obligations and expectations that students participate. Keep the letters optional and clarify that writing conventions and content will not be evaluated.

Inform families, perhaps in a separate letter, that you are initiating a dialogue with students through optional letter writing. Remind parents and students that you will respect their privacy-but that you are still a mandated reporter.

Keep the lines of communication open and flexible by avoiding constraints like deadlines and page limits. Make it known that students are welcome to start new topics and don't need to continue a topic initiated by the teacher.

Write the first letter to your students (you might start with a few students per week) to serve as a helpful example for students who may struggle with this possibly unfamiliar form. Set students at ease by using a casual tone, sharing personal anecdotes, and even including jokes or funny sketches. Model letter writing conventions like dating and signing the letter.

Writing Your Letters

I used to pepper my letters with questions and suggested topics to prompt students to respond. But this approach maintains the traditional power structures of classroom communication, where the teacher is facilitating conversation. Over time, I learned to create a safe space that promotes genuine dialogue.

Participate in the conversation instead of directing it: If I know a student plays the violin, I won't directly ask him about it. Instead, I write about my related experiences. For example, with this extra time on my hands, I have thought about finally learning how to play my guitar. I'm thinking of trying YouTube videos, but I'm worried that I won't have the discipline to practice without a teacher. By sharing these thoughts, I open up lines of communication. My student is free to pick up this thread and respond in a variety of ways, instead of only answering my specific questions about the violin. Maybe he won't mention his violin at all and instead choose to talk about YouTube, describe what he's doing with his extra time, or assuage my worries about learning a string instrument.

Ask questions that stem from curiosity about topics that students initiate: Questions that are prompted by what students are choosing to share with us invite us to demonstrate genuine curiosity, offer our unique perspective, and introduce new words and ideas that probe students' thinking. When we gain insight into our students' unique funds of knowledge, we see their academic assets. We can use these insights to plan instruction that leverages what students already know.

Make your thinking visible: When young people get a glimpse into the thinking life of someone else, especially someone who thinks in an interesting or productive way, it's the best kind of education. When a student recommends an app I should download, I'm honest about how I'm trying to cut back on my phone use since I'm getting addicted to the games I already play. I add that I'm trying to dock my phone after 6 p.m. and will let her know how it goes. By observing others' thinking, our students may learn new coping skills and language to navigate their own experiences.

Encourage all forms of expression, regardless of perceived errors or informality: Zaretta Hammond has said that our students' errors are information. As students informally write to you to connect and share their lives, avoid directives about how they should write. Simply note their errors and write your response with correct models. Use this information as you plan your instruction, but don't instruct in your letter.

Hold space for students' feelings: To maintain an equitable co-writing relationship, refrain from comments that evoke the authority you still have as the teacher. Instead of suggesting solutions to problems that students share, respond with acknowledgment and empathy. Instead of reassuring students with praise, show how you connect with their experience or what you're learning from them.

When our students have uneven access to distance-learning technology, writing letters allows us to advance equity within our sphere of influence. We can give them a safe space in which to reflect, complain, disagree, express fear, ask hard questions, and hear our stories. We can practice being there for students as a trusted adult, a relationship that can nurture rigorous learning.

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Building Relationships Through Letter Writing

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) Corresponding with students via snail mail is a good way for teachers to foster trust anytime-but especially when everyone is physically distanced. Elva Etienne / Alamy Stock Photo With remote teaching likely continuing into the next academic year, we'll need low-tech ways to establish relationships with students whom we can't reach digitally.

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Also a place to find tonnes of lesson and activity ideas for all contents, the link will take you to SEL content

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Social Emotional Learning Resources and Lesson Plans

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Social emotional learning plays a crucial role in students' lives and we're here to deliver the best resources to support them after traumatic events.

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To strengthen your own sense of Social and Emotional Learning start with www.casel.org

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Advancing Social and Emotional Learning - CASEL

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CASEL is helping make evidence-based social and emotional learning an integral part of education, preschool through high school.

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Free SEL activities at https://www.centervention.com/social-emotional-learning-activities/

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Welcome to our supplemental Social Emotional Learning Activities page!

As you will see below, many of the supplemental SEL activities and lesson plans include characters from our game-based, social emotional learning interventions. And when you use the online programs with your students, these activities will reinforce the learning that occurs during game play.

These supplemental resources - lessons, activities, and worksheets - are in the following SELskill areas: Communication, Cooperation, Emotion Regulation, Empathy, Impulse Control, and Social Initiation.

These resources are age-appropriate for elementary and middle school students and are typically used in a classroom or a small group setting. And in most cases, if materials are required for the activity, they are items that you already have in your classroom or office.
Note: Please share this page on your school website so other educators may also benefit.
Social Emotional Learning at Home

Additional Resources for Social Emotional Learning

Our classroom management plan is a step-by-step guide and includes proven strategies, tips and printables for elementary school teachers, and it covers four key components for establishing a successful, well-managed classroom.

These free downloadable posters will decorate your classroom and be great teaching resources, reinforcing social and emotional skills in your classroom and reminding students to practice their skills like emotion regulation, impulse control, empathy, and more.

Social Emotional Learning Quotes

For each of the topics below, we have curated a list of quotes. You can incorporate these quotes in your social emotional learning lessons, add them to social media images, create classroom posters, or write one on your whiteboard each day.

Need Something More Engaging And Effective For A Few Students?

Simply request a FREE Centervention educator account and start using our online programs!

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95 Free Social Emotional Learning Activities

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95 free social emotional learning activities, worksheets, and lessons to help students in elementary and middle school. Most are no-prep and ready to go.

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Important information about whole child teaching and learning in Hawaii http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/DOE%20Forms/NaHopenaAoE3.pdf