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Value in SEL for Middle schoolers and High schoolers

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Value in SEL for Middle schoolers and High schoolers

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"Our emotions are put in this compartment with a massive stigma around it that it is just not cool to feel. We have to make it cool to feel again."
- Lady Gaga, 2015 Emotion Revolution Summit

At the core of student success in middle and high school, five critical factors have been identified: academic behaviors, academic perseverance, academic mindsets, learning strategies, and social skills. ¹ The same research found that attitudes, behaviors, and skills are also important elements of adolescent learning; test scores alone are only one part of academic performance. A recent brief from the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center further noted that social-emotional learning (SEL) is essential for success in school, work, and life. ²

Researchers' emphasis on the middle and high school years as a critical period for developing adolescents' social-emotional competencies is echoed by secondary students themselves, who say even more about why SEL should be at the forefront of middle and high school education.

When secondary students are given a voice in identifying what they need and want, they advocate forcefully for the high value of addressing the social and emotional aspects of their experience. Results from a Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence online survey ³ of 22,000 high school youth present reveal that emotions play a big role in adolescent lives. For example, students identify "happy," "excited," and "energized" as the top three emotions they want to experience more of in school.

High school students speak to social-emotional learning, showing us that we should not stop supporting social-emotional learning after elementary school because the need for SEL supports continues throughout the secondary school years. For example, many high school students report that social and emotional problems make it difficult for them to learn and do their best. ⁴

Handling High School Challenges

High schoolers also make it clear that we must not wait until high school to start SEL foundations. Their responses remind us that if social-emotional learning competencies and needs are continually supported throughout middle school, and if support for managing feelings and peer relations is kept at the forefront before kids get to high school, this effectively prepares students for facing the many challenges of high school, such as:

Managing stress-Stress weighs down high school students. In the Yale high school survey, students said they felt stressed 80 percent of the time.³ Another recent report found that 73 percent of high school students say they feel stressed out at least some of the time, and of those, 31 percent report feeling feel stressed out most or all of the time,⁴ suggesting a need for skills and strategies to help cope with stress.

Handling mistakes-Only 52 percent of high school students say they feel comfortable participating and taking risks even if it means making mistakes.⁴ Many hold themselves back because they are afraid of making mistakes, showing the potential need for a variety of skills such as recognizing strengths, setting and working toward personal goals, managing let-downs, and solving problems.

Establishing and maintaining healthy relationships-About 42 percent of high school students feel lonely at least some of the time at school; 15 percent feel this way most or all of the time.⁴ Relationship skills such as communication and relationship building, and self-awareness skills such as recognizing strengths and self-confidence, could help secondary students effectively manage such feelings and potentially reduce feelings and situations of loneliness.

Considering how to best incorporate social-emotional learning into secondary school practices takes time and effort. The Second Step Middle School Program offers resources for doing so, with its built-in lessons and activities that can be easily incorporated into middle school advisories.

Middle School Students: Never Too Old for Social-Emotional Learning

There are people who say that middle school students are too old for SEL, or that they should already have mastered SEL skills by that age. Others think that middle school students are not interested in talking about SEL skills. High school students counter these notions by reminding us that we are never too old for SEL supports.

When considering how to put social-emotional learning at the forefront for your secondary or middle school students, consider these words about SEL from two high school students:

"I wish we learned some of this in middle school."

"I think I would have gotten better grades freshman year if I knew how to plan and to deal with the stress of taking all those tests."

Research References

1 Farrington, C.A, Roderick, M., Allensworth, E., Nagaoka, J., Keyes, T. S., Johnson, D. W., & Beechum, N. O. (2012). Teaching adolescents to become learners: The role of noncognitive factors in shaping school performance. Chicago: University of Chicago, Consortium on Chicago School Research.

2 Domitrovich, C.E., Syvertsen, A. K., & Calin, S. S. (2017). Promoting social and emotional learning in the middle and high school years. Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, Pennsylvania State University.

3 Brackett, M., & Born This Way Foundation. (2015). The emotion revolution: What we learned from the young people. https://bornthisway.foundation/the-emotion-revolution-what-we-learned-from-the-young-people/

4 DePaoli, J.L., Atwell, M.N., Bridgeland, J.M., Shriver, T.P. (2018). Respected: Perspectives of Youth on High School & Social and Emotional Learning (Report). Chicago: CASEL.

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High Schoolers Voice the Value of Social-Emotional Learning: Middle School SEL Matters - Committee for Children

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"Our emotions are put in this compartment with a massive stigma around it that it is just not cool to feel. We have to make it cool to feel again." - Lady Gaga, 2015 Emotion Revolution Summit At the core of student success in middle and high school, five critical factors have been identified: academic behaviors, academic perseverance, academic mindsets, learning strategies, and social skills.

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Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

Three social and emotional learning activities that are designed to address high school students' need for status and respect.

According to a 2018 survey, current and recent high school students don't believe their schools have done enough to help them develop socially and emotionally, and most graduates don't feel prepared for life after high school.

We're also learning that some social and emotional learning approaches simply aren't as effective with teens as they are with children. Why? It may be that teens need more opportunities to actively explore who they are and who they want to be in the world.

So how can we better address teens' developmental needs?

Researcher David Yeager and his colleagues argue that it's important to address teens' need for status ("How do others treat me?") and respect ("Am I granted the rights I expect to be granted as a student?"). If teens feel competent, autonomous, and valued in their community-if they have a sense of high status and respect, in other words-they're likely to be more motivated and engaged.

Here are three ways you can help teens develop greater self-awareness-and ultimately enhance their sense of status and respect among peers and adults.

Invite Students to Use Their Character Strengths

If teens crave respect, it's important to create a school climate where their strengths are recognized and valued.

Take time in class to have your students identify their personal strengths, such as hope, humility, honesty, kindness, and perseverance. You can begin by asking them to take a 10-minute online survey designed by positive psychology researchers.

After they learn about some of their key strengths, ask them to choose one strength to focus on every day for a week. Have them describe the strength in writing and propose several different ways they might use it each day, and challenge them to act on that strength throughout the week.

For example, if a student wants to capitalize on kindness as a strength, he might perform a random act of kindness for a peer, write a thank-you note to a teacher, or volunteer to care for abandoned animals at a local shelter over the weekend.

As an alternative to focusing on one strength all week, students might choose to focus on a different strength each day. Whichever option they choose, have them write about what they did, how it made them feel, and what they learned from the experience.

Research tells us that this activity can increase well-being and reduce symptoms of depression. It's easy for us to focus on our weaknesses and personal challenges, but when we spend time making the most of our positive qualities, we can build greater self-esteem and confidence.

Encourage Students to Imagine Their Best Selves

Another way to help students clarify who they are and how they want to be in the world is to invite them to envision their ideal future.

Ask your students to respond to the following questions in a 15-minute free-write: What is the best possible life you can imagine? Consider all the areas in your life that are important to you-relationships, school, career, hobbies and interests, etc. Be as creative and imaginative as you want, and don't worry about spelling and grammar.

Ask them to be as specific as possible, and tell them that it's easy to focus on current obstacles to reaching goals, so they should let go and simply dream about the future and exactly what it could look like.

Challenge Students to Explore Their Purpose

Respond to these questions: "Imagine you've been given a magic wand, and you can change anything you want in the world. What would you want to be different, and why? Is there anything you can do to help move the world closer to this ideal? If so, how?"

Discuss what this Viktor Frankl quote means: "Those who have a 'why' to live can bear with almost any 'how.'"

Create a tattoo design that symbolizes the things that matter most to you.

Once students have practiced using their character strengths and imagined their future selves, create opportunities for them to think about how they might contribute to something larger than themselves.

The Purpose Challenge Toolkit features research-based online activities that prompt students to imagine how they might leave their mark on the world-and make it a better place.

Apart from these prompts, it's crucial to connect students' sense of purpose to what they're learning. Are they studying social issues that matter to them? Are they learning as a means to an end-or to make a difference in the world?

Many of our students face significant obstacles in their lives due to factors beyond their control (like health challenges, poverty, and institutionalized racism). Prompting students to connect with their strengths, identify what matters most to them, and envision ways they might contribute to the world may ultimately help them to feel more respected and empowered.

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Three social and emotional learning activities that are designed to address high school students' need for status and respect.