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Article: How to Help Teachers teach Social-Emotional Skills

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Article: How to Help Teachers teach Social-Emotional Skills

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Setting goals, asking for help, showing empathy. These are all examples of social-emotional skills that help students thrive.

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When students have limited social-emotional skills, they're more likely to struggle when they face a new challenge or conflict. A lack of social-emotional skills can even cause kids to drop out.

Teaching SEL is not a solution for all of the challenges our students face. But there's a lot we can do as educators to make a significant positive impact. It starts with our own social-emotional skills.

Why your social-emotional skills matter

To teach SEL, we need to be aware of and continue to develop our own social-emotional skills as educators. Only then can we model and teach those skills to our students.

Learn more about the five core competencies, why they're important to our practice as teachers, and how you can model them in the classroom.

Identifying and expressing your emotions

Recognizing your strengths and challenges

Having an accurate self-perception and self-confidence

Practicing a growth mindset

Why self-awareness is important to your teaching

Have you ever been upset about a student's behavior, but paused to ask yourself, "Why am I feeling so angry?" You might have run through a quick series of responses in your mind before deciding what to say or do. That is self-awareness.

This response may have been instinctual. Or maybe someone taught you self-awareness skills: how to self-reflect, accurately perceive your feelings, and express those feelings to others.

It can be hard to maintain that level of self-awareness in a busy classroom. We're all human. We won't always be our best selves at every moment of the day. Embracing that reality helps us authentically engage with students, check our biases, question our own motivations, and pause to take stock of our decisions.

Ways to practice self-awareness in the classroom

Acknowledge your own emotions and how they may play into your reactions.

Name the skills you're using (or "think aloud") for your students as you model them. (It's important for students to recognize that you're still learning and practicing these skills, too.)

View students as partners in developing social-emotional skills.

Understand that it may take a little longer for some students to learn social-emotional skills as they develop self-confidence.

After you're aware of your emotions, then you can work on managing them. Self-management is the ability to regulate your emotions, thoughts, and behavior in varying situations. Self-management skills include:

Why self-management is important to your teaching

As educators, we're constantly using self-management skills to meet the demands of a high-stress job and manage life outside of school. So it's not surprising that we all struggle from time to time.

Using these same skills can be hard for students too, especially when you think about the barriers they face in and out of the classroom. Some students might have trouble managing the stress of "not getting it" when the curriculum isn't flexible for their learning and thinking differences.

The same curriculum may also not be historically and culturally diverse enough for them to see themselves represented in it. You might see students who appear to lack motivation or interest.

The barriers that students face can affect not only their readiness to learn, but also your own self-management. It's normal to feel challenged or stressed when you try to grow your classroom practice. It feels new and requires attention when time is short. Consider it an opportunity to build your self-management skills.

Ways to practice self-management in the classroom

What is social awareness?

Social awareness is the ability to understand other points of view, show empathy, respect diversity, and understand social norms. In many ways, social awareness is what helps relationships to thrive. It includes:

Why social awareness is important for your teaching

To maintain and build healthy relationships with students, we need to be aware of and respect other perspectives, values, cultures, and differences. Equity and empathy are both at the heart of this work.

One of the best ways to use social awareness with your students is to get to know them and their families. It helps you decide how to approach lessons, present content, react to student behavior, and more. It also allows you to create opportunities for students to bring their whole selves into your classroom. That is one of the best ways to show your respect for differing perspectives and life experiences.

Ways to practice social awareness in the classroom

Build a classroom community that values the collective good and concern for other people.

Create space and norms for you and your students to talk about how hearing a new perspective changed your point of view.

Ask for your students' feelings and perspectives on the classroom environment.

What is responsible decision-making?

Responsible decision-making is the ability to think about how what you do impacts yourself and others. You make choices about how to behave and interact, based on ethical and social standards and safety. Responsible decision-making includes:

Identifying and analyzing problems and situations

Solving problems as they arise

Evaluating and reflecting on the consequences of your actions

Taking ethical responsibility for your decisions and their outcomes

Why responsible decision-making is important for your teaching

As educators, we juggle decisions every day about workload, time management, and self-care. We all have different values, priorities, and experiences that impact our decision-making.

Because of the different factors that influence our decisions, it can be helpful to draw on colleagues' knowledge and experiences to make choices, like how to best support students who learn and think differently.

Decision-making is a big part of how we interact with students, too. We make choices each day about instruction and classroom management. We also make choices about how to help our students become decision-makers.

Remember that schools have their own set of values that influence decision-making. Many schools value higher education and may focus on sending graduates to college. Think about the decision-making process this requires of students. Imagine how difficult that process may be for students who would be the first in their families to go to college.

Your role in supporting students may be to acknowledge that their process may be very different from your own. Help them identify people with similar experiences who can serve as models.

Ways to practice responsible decision-making in the classroom

Recognize that students need your help to learn to become responsible decision-makers in developmentally appropriate ways.

Share with students your own process as you make decisions and explain the "why" behind them.

Seek out and provide access to diverse role models who have similar experiences as the students in your class.

What are relationship skills?

Relationship skills are the ability to build and maintain healthy and fulfilling relationships with others. Humans are wired for relationships, connection, and community. But these skills need to be developed. Relationship skills include:

Why responsible relationship skills are important for your teaching

Relationship skills help us connect with others. Listening skills, conflict resolution, and communication are important tools we use to navigate relationships.

Like the other social-emotional competencies, building relationships skills is hard work. You need to use the skills of self-awareness and self-management, and to engage with others in a meaningful way. Relationships also require a certain level of trust, vulnerability, and practice. Without practice, we often default to the emotions we are more comfortable expressing.

In the classroom, it can be a challenge for both teachers and students to build trusting relationships. But when it comes to modeling social-emotional skills, there's an added layer: You need to partner with students on building their emotional vocabulary so they can become agents of their emotions.

Students might struggle with expressing themselves, so they need your support. Being able to give and receive help is an important way to build and maintain relationships. It means not just seeking help in a time of need, but also being able to offer help to others. Many of us are better at offering help than we are at asking for it when we need it.

Ways to practice relationship skills in the classroom

Search for the "why" behind a student's behavior before responding.

Identify when an action wasn't appropriate. Provide an appropriate alternative action or response.

Acknowledge that these skills can be difficult to practice.

Find ways to practice problem-solving without actual conflicts, like role-playing.

Build in ways for students to reflect on their own thinking, patterns, and relationships.

Be an active listener and show students you are listening and responding to their feedback.

Plan classroom activities that focus on building trust and a sense of belonging.

As educators, we may not be able to control some aspects of our jobs. We may not be able to directly help with the many challenges our students face outside of school. But we can use our own social-emotional skills to make our classes a safe place where students know we value them, their families, and the experiences they bring to school.

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Social-emotional learning help students learn to manage emotions, make decisions, and solve problems. But social-emotional skills help teachers, too. Learn why SEL is important to your teaching and how it shapes your classroom.

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Today, in an ever-diversifying world, the classroom is the place where students are often first exposed to people who hail from a range of different backgrounds, hold differing beliefs, and have unique capabilities. To account for these differences and help put all students on an equal footing to succeed, social and emotional learning (SEL) aims to help students — both children and adults — better understand their thoughts and emotions, to become more self-aware, and to develop more empathy for others within their community and the world around them.

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL), what is it, and why does it matter to educators? As an educator, some of the worst things you can hear a student say is, "This is stupid," or "Why are we learning this?" Think back to when you were in school and the subjects that caused you the most frustration.

You'd likely find some common ground with your students in wishing you were given clear reasons why something was important and how learning a subject or skill would benefit you now, as well as years later. That frustration and finding constructive ways to deal with emotions and interact with one another in respectful ways are just a few of the guiding principles behind social emotional learning, or SEL.

Today, in an ever-diversifying world, the classroom is the place where students are often first exposed to people who hail from a range of different backgrounds, hold differing beliefs, and have unique capabilities. To account for these differences and help put all students on an equal footing to succeed, social and emotional learning (SEL) aims to help students better understand their thoughts and emotions, to become more self-aware, and to develop more empathy for others within their community and the world around them.

Developing these qualities in the classroom can help students become better, more productive, self-aware, and socially-aware citizens outside of the classroom in the years ahead. Learn more about the importance of social emotional learning, as well as its benefits both in and out of the classroom.

Table of contents

1. What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?

2. T he Five Social Emotional Learning Competencies

3. How Educators Approach SEL

4. The Benefits of SEL

5. What is Social Emotional Learning Theory?

6. Incorporate Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom

7. Measuring Social-Emotional Learning Impact

8. Why is SEL Important?

What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?

Social emotional learning (SEL) is a methodology that helps students of all ages to better comprehend their emotions, to feel those emotions fully, and demonstrate empathy for others. These learned behaviors are then used to help students make positive, responsible decisions; create frameworks to achieve their goals, and build positive relationships with others

The Five Social Emotional Learning Competencies

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an organization devoted to students and educators to help achieve positive outcomes for PreK-12 students, SEL involves five core competencies that can be applied in both the classroom, at home, and in students' communities. These five core competencies are:

Self-awareness

To recognize your emotions and how they impact your behavior; acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses to better gain confidence in your abilities.

Self-management

To take control and ownership of your thoughts, emotions, and actions in various situations, as well as setting and working toward goals.

Social awareness

The ability to put yourself in the shoes of another person who may be from a different background or culture from the one you grew up with. To act with empathy and in an ethical manner within your home, school, and community.

Relationship skills

The ability to build and maintain healthy relationships with people from a diverse range of backgrounds. This competency focuses on listening to and being able to communicate with others, peacefully resolving conflict, and knowing when to ask for or offer help.

Making responsible decisions

Choosing how to act or respond to a situation is based on learned behaviors such as ethics, safety, weighing consequences, and the well-being of others, as well as yourself.

How Educators Approach SEL

While SEL isn't a designated subject like history or math, it can be woven into the fabric of a school's curriculum. When educators make academic lessons more personal and relatable to students, students may be more inclined to participate and may be less likely to mentally check out during their subjects. By fostering a sense of empathy, self-awareness, and feelings of safety and inclusiveness in the classroom, SEL can have a positive impact that lasts a lifetime.

There are several different approaches to SEL. Some teachers have a more formally designated portion of the school day devoted to SEL - sometimes taught in homeroom. These lessons become a recurring theme throughout the rest of the school day to help make the core competencies of SEL more real to students.

Teachers may want to have students journal or write about their thoughts and feelings on a particular SEL lesson, or even have younger students partner with an older " buddy classroom " (or vice versa) to help students across different age levels bond or find common ground.

Other teachers work SEL-related lessons into more formal subjects, like math, history, or reading. For instance, examples of SEL-in-action can include assigning a group project where students self-delegate roles to work together for the good of the group, role playing as historical figures to understand the rationale behind a person's actions, or for students to conduct formal interviews with one another to take a pulse-check on current events.

Teachers can also work with students to set goals in areas where they may need improvement and help chart their progress, giving them a measurable way to show their achievement and feel a sense of accomplishment.

The Benefits of SEL

SEL is beneficial to both children and adults, increasing self-awareness, academic achievement, and positive behaviors both in and out of the classroom. From an academic standpoint, students who participated in SEL programs saw an 11 percentile increase in their overall grades and better attendance. On a more individual level, the skills learned within an SEL program have been shown to help students better cope with emotional stress, solve problems, and avoid peer pressure to engage in harmful activities.

Students who are equipped to deal with problems that affect them on a personal level are then better able to navigate the pressures of adult life. A report by the AEI/Brookings Working Group on Poverty and Opportunity noted that, "despite their importance to education, employment, and family life, the major educational and social reforms of the K-12 system over the last few decades have not focused sufficiently on the socio-emotional factors that are crucial to learning."

A study published by the American Journal of Public Health used data from the longitudinal, nonintervention subsample of the Fast Track Project, an intervention program designed to reduce aggression in children identified as at high risk for long-term behavioral problems and conduct disorders.

When educators are able to see which students do not grasp the core pillars of SEL, they can better work with them at an early age and help these students develop better self-control, empathy, and other positive qualities. Learning positive behaviors that extend beyond a purely academic level of achievement can help these students develop the "soft skills" required of many jobs, such as teamwork, and ability to understand others, and problem-solving. This can help set these students up for success throughout their school years and beyond.

What is Social Emotional Learning Theory?

Broadly speaking, social and emotional learning (SEL) refers to the process through which individuals learn and apply a set of social, emotional, and related skills, attitudes, behaviors, and values that help direct students. This includes thoughts, feelings, and actions in ways that enable them to succeed in school. However, SEL has been defined in a variety of ways ( Humphrey et al., 2011).

How Do You Incorporate Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom?

There are many ways to incorporate SEL in the classroom. The main idea is to provide an ongoing SEL influence throughout the day. In the beginning, you could start by checking in with students to see how they feel. Another great way is to provide students the opportunity to see how a tricky or troubling situation is being handled. This will give them some ideas on how to handle a tricky situation they may encounter. Utilizing students to role-play in front of the class would be a viable example. Make sure there is a place for students to calm down. This safe space will allow for the student to reflect.

Measuring Social-Emotional Learning Impact

Measuring the impact of implementing SEL inside the classroom goes way beyond just grades. As Dr. Christina Cipriano explains, "When students are struggling and school performance is poor, they are more likely to find school and learning as a source of anxiety, manifesting in diminished self-efficacy, motivation, engagement, and connectedness with school."

As a student is provided the tools associated with SEL, they will have more ownership of their actions, a sense of belonging, and will intrinsically care about their education. A student that has had consistent exposure to SEL is able to manage stress better and reduces the chance for that child to become depressed.

Why is SEL Important?

While SEL has been more formally stood up as a program in preschools throughout all 50 states, very few states have made SEL a designated part of school curriculum at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. To date, only three states have a fully-designed set of standards for SEL programs with benchmarks for students at every grade level from K-12, according to the AEI/Brookings report. These states are Illinois, Kansas, and Pennsylvania.

Because so few states have made SEL a part of their curriculum for K-12 students, statistical evidence showing the benefits of SEL has been anecdotal. However, preschool-age children who were able to participate in an SEL program and learned these principles early on in their school career were able to reap the intended benefits. As more states and schools consider weaving SEL into their curriculum, it can provide educators with more statistically significant evidence of the program's positive impact.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

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What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Why It Matters | NU

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL), what is it, and why does it matter to educators? As an educator, some of the worst things you can hear a student say is, "This is stupid," or "Why are we learning this?" Think back to when you were in school and the subjects that caused you the most frustration.

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Research indicates that when educators work to teach learners how to alleviate and manage stress, students become more likely to learn deeply, avoid negative behaviors and achieve successful outcomes with long-term effects.

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We live in a stressful world, and our nation's children and young adults are coping with new and prevalent emotional realities we can't ignore. Research indicates that when educators work to teach learners how to alleviate and manage stress, students become more likely to learn deeply, avoid negative behaviors and achieve successful outcomes with long-term effects. Social-emotional learning (SEL) practices are the focus of copious research studies - and it's a good thing they are because SEL is needed more than ever.

So just what is social-emotional learning? And more importantly, why do we need it? Read on.

What is the definition of SEL?

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an organization that works toward integrated social-emotional learning for preschool through high school, "social and emotional learning (SEL) is 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." SEL can be seamlessly integrated into a school's culture and norms or explicitly taught outside of academic learning time.

Social-emotional learning is generally broken down into five categories

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is being able to recognize and comprehend one's emotions and how they translate into our behaviors. This includes recognizing stress or negative emotions, being aware of one's abilities and weaknesses as well as a "well-grounded sense of self-efficacy and optimism," according to CASEL.

Self-management

Self-management takes self-awareness one step further into the ability to regulate one's feelings and behaviors. This can include controlling anger, handling stress, self-motivation, or persistence through setbacks.

Social awareness

Social awareness looks outward and is about empathizing with others and possessing a willingness to understand and respect the unique experiences, norms, and behaviors of others.

Relationship skills

This section is about creating and maintaining healthy relationships through cooperation, active listening, conflict resolution, and communication.

Responsible decision-making

This final section is about making safe, healthy choices that abide by one's positive and healthy personal moral code and benefit their well-being - and the well-being of others.

Why SEL belongs in schools

Students spend most of their time in school, so to ignore their social-emotional learning needs for the 30+ hours a week they spend in classrooms would be a waste of precious developmental learning time. School is also the place where students encounter the bulk of their social interactions, challenges, and opportunities for personal growth. Certainly, schools and teachers have been providing way more than academic learning for decades. However, research shows that by providing consistent, purposeful, and robust SEL programs, students can benefit in multiple ways.

According to The Pennsylvania State University and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation research brief Social Emotional Learning in Elementary School, "extensive research shows that SEL programs can promote academic achievement and positive social behavior, and reduce conduct problems, substance abuse, and emotional distress. Benefits of SEL in the elementary years have been documented in reviews by independent research teams and through meta-analyses which demonstrate the immediate and long-term positive outcomes of well-designed, well-implemented SEL programming."

An NPR report on SEL notes that "kids who act up a lot in school and at home - even very young kids - are more likely to have mental health problems and commit crimes years later as adults." Thus, researchers have set out to create SEL programs that serve as emotional intelligence interventions, discovering that much like we teach academic subjects, emotional intelligence can also be taught.

Why we need social-emotional learning more than ever

Students who receive social-emotional interventions early and throughout their learning careers demonstrate impressive and measurable benefits later on in life. The research is hard to ignore: The development of social-emotional skills in kindergarten leads to the higher likelihood of obtaining a college degree, adult employment, and lessens one's chance of substance abuse or getting into trouble with the law as an adult (Jones, Greenberg, & Crowley, 2015). A Teachers College Study showed that, on average, for every dollar invested in SEL, there is a return of eleven dollars - a return on investment most investors would envy. Further, SEL practices could be highly effective when it comes to closing the achievement gap, disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline by furnishing underserved populations with the critical foundational skills necessary to succeed in higher education and the workplace. SEL also includes Restorative Justice programs that have been known to reduce suspensions and keep kids in school.

The lasting impact of SEL

Long-term, SEL improves our students' attitudes toward learning and their self-efficacy. The mounting research is staggering and it all points to social-emotional learning as a key to bolstered graduation rates, increased enrollment in institutions of higher learning, greater capacity for workplace success, improved mental health, reduced crime, and overall healthier relationships and self-efficacy amongst citizens. In a 2017 follow-up study to a 2011 SEL study, it was found that the effects of SEL continue to benefit students even years after their learning. "In follow-up assessments, an average of 3.5 years after the last intervention, the academic performance of students exposed to SEL programs was an average 13 percentile points higher than their non-SEL peers, based on the eight studies that measured academics," the study notes. "SEL continued to boost student well-being in the form of greater social and emotional competencies, prosocial behavior, and prosocial attitudes. Furthermore, SEL students showed lasting decreases in negative outcomes such as conduct problems, emotional distress, and drug use, compared to control groups."

As the collective understanding of trauma-informed practice deepens, this necessitates a move toward classrooms that cover emotional intelligence, self-awareness, emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, and positive decision-making. SEL is a powerful mechanism for instilling long-term social and emotional resilience and addressing student trauma.

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Tags: Bullying and Bully Prevention, Early Childhood Education, High School (Grades: 9-12), Middle School (Grades: 6-8), Trauma and Resilience

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Definition of SEL With Teaching Examples | Resilient Educator

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We live in a stressful world, and our nation's children and young adults are coping with new and prevalent emotional realities we can't ignore. Research indicates that when educators work to teach learners how to alleviate and manage stress, students become more likely to learn deeply, avoid negative behaviors and achieve successful outcomes with long-term effects.

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Kids and young adults need social-emotional skills to be successful at school, home, and for the rest of their lives. These are the skills that help kids build confidence, understand their own strengths and weaknesses, collaborate with others, navigate social situations, develop strong relationships, and make better decisions. Without a doubt, these are critical skills for all learners.

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Kids and young adults need social-emotional skills to be successful at school, home, and for the rest of their lives. These are the skills that help kids build confidence, understand their own strengths and weaknesses, collaborate with others, navigate social situations, develop strong relationships, and make better decisions. Without a doubt, these are critical skills for all learners.

In my years as a teacher, I know there is just not enough time for everything. So often, social and emotional learning gets put on the back burner to other important skills like reading, writing, math, history, and science. While these skills are certainly important, I would argue that it's even more important that kids develop their emotional intelligence through social emotional learning activities. Simply put, if kids are mentally and emotionally healthy, they are better equipped to face the challenges life brings. We just have to make the time to teach, discuss, and practice these skills! Best of all, there are many ways to integrate social-emotional learning into what you are already teaching.

Below I share 25 strategies for integrating SEL instruction and activities into the day. Of course, if you're looking for a solution that targets these skills more explicitly, I created a yearlong curriculum for elementary social emotional learning and middle school social emotional learning to help all kids learn these skills.

Just a note that these strategies were originally written for use in the classroom. While many of the techniques can be used during distance learning, I also recently wrote an article all about integrating social emotional learning during distance learning.
Here are 25 ways to integrate social emotional learning into your classroom:
1. Use Journal Writing. You can use daily journal prompts to help kids think about social-emotional skills in all areas. For example, you might ask kids, "When was a time you used self-control? What was outcome?" to focus on self-management skills. After writing, it's helpful to have students share their responses with a partner and with the class as a whole. Kids will be practicing writing, partner work, group discussion, and SEL skills all at the same time. I love this yearlong Social Emotional Learning Journal for just a few minutes of writing and discussion every day.

2. Use Read Alouds. This is one of my favorite strategies for integrating SEL into everyday learning because it is something educators do so often already. While reading, spend time talking about how some of the characters might think and feel. Use this time to highlight that this is perspective-taking, a skill we use to understand others' emotions and thoughts. Best of all, it can be done with any text you are already reading. Grab this free read aloud list for social emotional learning to get you started with some ideas.

3. Do Daily Greetings. Kids and young adults need connection! One positive and simple strategy is to start your morning with daily greetings. You can do this as kids walk through the door or during the first few minutes of class. If you are teaching online, greetings can even be virtual. Use this printable greetings poster to get started.

3. Hold Class Meetings. You can choose to hold a class meeting once a day as a "morning meeting" or just once a week. The purpose of a class meeting can be to boost each other up, to help solve problems, and plan class events together. Having this space for community can help promote a positive climate for all kids. Use this morning meeting set to get started.

4. Incorporate Art Activities. Art can be a powerful way to target social and emotional skills. Creating a self-collage can help kids develop better self-awareness about who they are. Painting and drawing can serve as positive coping strategies to manage stress. Having partners work together on a shared drawing can increase collaboration and relationship skills. There are lots of opportunities for learning with art!

6. Talk About Managing Emotions. No matter what age, all kids and young adults need practice managing their emotions. This is another skill that can be weaved into literature as you talk about character's feelings and needs. You might say, "How did Theresa feel when her mom left? How did she manage her emotions? Do you think it was a healthy way to manage them?" Additionally, be open with kids about how to manage their own emotions and give strategies for what kids can do in your classroom. For example, "If you are feeling nervous about the test today, remember to use positive self-talk. Tell yourself that you've got this!"

7. Give Responsibilities. Giving kids responsibilities and jobs helps build their sense of self-worth and gives the message that we are all part of a larger community. It's important that every student has some type of responsibility, whether it is a class librarian, lunch counter, or part of a "clean up crew".

8. Practice Problem-Solving Skills. If students have an issue or challenge to overcome, avoid solving it for them right away. Encourage kids to think about how they could solve their problem and have a 10 minute policy - students can get your help but they need to think about the problem for at least 10 minutes first. Often, kids will figure out a solution on their own or with a friend during that time. You can use these free social problem solving task cards or grab the full set to get started! Again, this is another skill that can be strengthened through literature by discussing characters, problems, and making predictions about solutions.

9. Build Community with Teamwork. For class projects and assignments, have students work in larger teams to complete a task. Teach students to assign different jobs when working in a team, so that all students have important responsibilities.

10. Encourage Positive Self-Talk. Self-talk is voice in our minds that reassures and encourages us. It also helps us control our emotions so we can deal with problems appropriately. Today, kids hear a lot of negative, so teaching positive self-talk explicitly is really important. Model this and encourage this every day. Use this free positive thoughts and affirmations list to get started.

11. Celebrate Diversity. Spend time discussing and learning about people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and ability levels. Kids need to hear, see, discuss, and understand that we are part of a larger community within our countries and world. Early discussions about diversity can help promote tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion for everyone.

12. Incorporate Hands-on Crafts. If your students need a craft break or activity before a holiday, use that time to promote social and emotional skills. The craft below is a Positive Self-Talk Flower Craft. Kids can add their own positive self-talk statements, color the craft, cut it out, and then keep it to help remind them how to use this helpful strategy. This is just one small example that can help to maximize your learning time by incorporating SEL into activities like crafts.

13. Encourage Reflection. After students complete a task, assessment, project, or assignment, encourage them to reflect about their own progress. This is a critical SEL skill that can be used across all curriculum, such as math, reading, writing, science, history, and more.

14. Practice Mindfulness. Using mindfulness in the classroom can help teach kids how to calm down before a big test, manage their emotions when they are upset, and just feel happier in the moment. Sometimes, kids don't really know how to calm down on their own. Teaching mindfulness can help kids learn breathing strategies, how to focus on just one thing at a time, and relaxing our bodies. You can use these Mindfulness Activities to teach kids these strategies right away.

15. Create a Calm Down Area. Not all kids will use this area, but there are some students who truly need it. Set up a small area in your classroom with a bean bag, a few books, a calm down jar, a few fidgets, and anything else you have that is calming. Students who need this space can sit, use coping strategies, and return back to class when they are calm again.

16. Promote a Growth Mindset. Embracing a growth mindset helps kids and young adults learn that we can accomplish our goals with hard work, good strategies, and persistence over time. Sometimes kids feel they are just as smart as they'll ever be (i.e. "I'm just never good at math, so there's no use in trying). This mindset can be detrimental to student growth, so it is worth investing time into teaching kids to embrace a growth mindset and instead say, "Math is tough but I'm going to study, work hard, and ask for help so I can accomplish what I want to." Use these free Growth Mindset Task Cards to get yourself started!

17. Encourage Kindness. One of my favorite ways to promote kindness is encouraging random acts of kindness. Set up a bin where students can write and add a note when they notice someone else doing something kind or helpful. Once a month, draw from the bin to award a small reward. You can also post the random acts up on a bulletin board so that everyone can see.

18. Play Games. It's helpful to have an assortment of games that focus on social-emotional skills, such as communication, empathy, and problem-solving. Read up more on how you can integrate social emotional learning through games. You can also read my blog post about games you can use to strengthen executive functioning skills, such as self-control, planning, attention, and more.

19. Provide a Daily Check-in. You can do this either through a morning meeting, or just a quick check-in for specific students in need. Have students identify how they are feeling and consider what they might need to improve their emotions in the moment.

20. Discuss Empathy. To me, empathy is one of the most critical skills for kids to develop. It is the foundation for considering about how others think and feel so that we can respond in socially appropriate and compassionate ways. You can practice empathy on its own or through literature by discussing characters and how they might feel in a variety of situations. I also love these social skills task cards to practice the skills when time allows.

21. Create SMART Goals. SMART goals are another way to help kids have control over what they want to accomplish in life. You can have students write SMART goals for an academic area that they need to improve or a social area that needs work. Make sure to check-in on these goals periodically so that students can identify if their strategies are working or not, and make decisions about how to change their approaches to make their goals a success.

22. Teach Coping Skills to Manage Stress. All kids and young adults experience stress even when we don't see it. It is so important to teach them actual strategies they can use when they are feeling overwhelmed. It's critical that kids practice these strategies when they are actually calm and don't need them. That's so they can effectively use those skills in the moment when they are struggling with emotions. I love this Coping Strategies Wheel to teach and practice some of these skills in a hands-on way.

23. Highlight Skills Throughout the Day. Just teaching or addressing some of these social-emotional skills isn't enough. When you see them in action in the classroom, highlight and encourage the skill! For example, you might say privately to a student, "I noticed you were frustrated when you couldn't work with the group you wanted and you did a great job using your self-control and flexibility to go with the flow and choose another group. Thank you." You can highlight the skills to the whole class, too. You might say, "Before this test, I want everyone to just stop and use some positive self-talk. Give yourself a compliment."

24. Teach Active Listening Skills. All kids need to learn strong active listening skills for success at school, with friends, and at their future jobs. Kids will use them in your classroom when you are teaching, when they are working with a partner on an assignment, and when they are just chatting with a friend.

25. Teach Group Ground Rules. Group work is an important part of learning in the classroom, but it is not a strength for all learners. Have your kids develop "Group Ground Rules" for what is important when working in a group. Some examples might be: Do your fair share of the work, stay with the group, and give everyone a chance to speak up. Continually remind students of these rules when working in groups or partners.

26. Practice Respectfully Disagreeing. People are going to disagree sometimes, so learning how to disagree respectfully is a critical skill (especially in our digital world). Have students discuss and debate topics, making sure that they actively listen to the other person and respect that opinion even when they don't agree. You can use these Free Communication Skills Lessons to practice!

Remember that a social-emotional learning isn't just one thing. It's an approach that brings all of these aspects into your classroom and supporting your learners every day. I also have developed a yearlong curriculum for elementary social emotional learning and middle school social emotional learning to help all kids learn these skills. Kids deserve to have them!

These are just some ways you can incorporate social-emotional learning into your already-busy classroom. If you have more ideas about SEL, please share!

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25 Ways to Integrate Social Emotional Learning

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Kids and young adults need social-emotional skills to be successful at school, home, and for the rest of their lives. These are the skills that help kids build confidence, understand their own strengths and weaknesses, collaborate with others, navigate social situations, develop strong relationships

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When school closed down, Alicia Thompson realized that the most effective focus for her 11th graders would be social-emotional and real-life skills, rather than traditional classroom lessons. Discover the creative, fun, and practical activities she shared on a choice board; from finding a recipe and cooking it for the family to learning how to make a household budget, etc

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Distance Learning Activities for Social-Emotional Learning and Real-Life Skills

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Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is a student-centered approach that emphasizes building on students' strengths; developing skills through hands-on, experiential learning; giving young people voice in the learning process; and supporting youth through positive relationships with adults over an extended period of time. Commonly used in school and after-school settings, SEL programming offers strategies and techniques helpful to other youth work professionals. Many of these strategies align with the features of effective youth development settings identified by the National Research Council.

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Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Toolkit

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Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is a student-centered approach that emphasizes building on students’ strengths; developing skills through hands-on, experiential learning; giving young people voice in the learning process; and supporting youth through positive relationships with adults over an ex…

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Resources for creating a healthy school culture by helping students develop skills to manage their emotions, resolve conflicts, and make responsible decisions. Videos and articles containing ways to spark meaningful conversations amongst peers.

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Find resources to help students manage their emotions, resolve conflicts, and make responsible decisions—creating the healthiest school culture possible.

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SEL Activities Middle School and High School

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SEL Activities Middle School and High School

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Students learn Habits of Success and develop social and emotional learning (SEL) skills.

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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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(SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

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Teaching our students how to understand and process their emotions is incredibly important now, more than ever. Art teachers are perfectly equipped to start conversations about identifying, expressing, and accepting all kinds of emotions with lessons specifically geared toward Social-Emotional Learning.

What is Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)?

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

There are 5 main components of Social Emotional Learning:

Self Awareness: Understanding yourself

Self Management: Controlling impulses, stress, and emotions

Social Awareness: Understanding the perspectives and feelings of others

Relationship Skills: Communication, Cooperation, and Conflict resolution with others

Responsible Decision Making: Identifying problems and brainstorming solutions

Once you are aware of the components that make up Social Emotional Learning, it's time to make some art! Creating art that engages and strengthens your social and emotional muscles is a great way to make connections between feelings and creativity.

15 Art Lesson Ideas to Support SEL:

1. Partner Art Trade- Making something for someone else is a great way to encourage students to think about others. Have students create a small artist trading card, mini-masterpiece, or positive portrait of a friend. Intentionally taking the time to focus on creating something for another person specifically strengthens the social awareness and relationship skills of students.

2. Mantra Paper Beads- Have your artists think inward about what kinds of character traits make them special and strong. Using long strips of paper, instruct students to write and decorate each strip with a positive sentence about themselves. Then, tightly roll each strip of paper around a pencil, securing the strip together with glue or tape at the end. Once they have created a handful of positive rolled paper beads, students can make necklaces, banners, or decorations to remind them what makes them special.

3. Paper Chains- This classic lesson is a tried and true way to add positivity to the daily routine of a child. Using strips of paper, have students write a positive trait or a task to spread kindness. Then, loop the strips together to make a large paper chain. Each day, have students tear off a link to guide their SEL check-in for the day.

4. Scribble Art- Sometimes, we just need to "get the scribbles out!" Teach students how to hold one or many drawing tools and scribble all over a blank sheet of paper, letting their emotions come out on the paper. Artists can use the scribble paper to create something else, such as a sketchbook cover, bookmarks, or a decorative hanging banner.

5. Circle of Control- Start by discussing situations you can or cannot control. Create a piece of art with a circle on it. Then, inside the circle, draw and write things you can control. Outside the circle, draw and write situations that you cannot control. This can help calm children and adults who experience anxiety during uncertain times.

6. Personal Mantra- Discuss specific words that encourage and lift you up. Have your artists decorate a poster, or even write on a window or mirror to be reminded of their daily positive mantra.

7. Repetitive Motion Projects- Incorporating the therapeutic nature of art, try having your students do repetitive drawing such as a Zentangle project or calming coloring.

8. "I am" Self Portrait- Having students reflect on their own amazing character traits will allow them to have a better understanding of what makes them unique. Using their own creativity, draw an outline of the profile of their face and write powerful statements about what makes them amazing.

9. Wrinkled Hearts- Have students cut out a paper heart then wrinkle it all up. Then, start a conversation about thinking first using the phrase, "Before you speak, think and be smart, it's hard to fix a wrinkled heart."

10. Intuitive Abstract Art- Let students create explorative abstract creations using inspiring artists. Model how to follow your heart to create abstract art.

11. Emotional Color Wheel- Speak to students about the connection between colors and emotions. Ask: "How does the color red make you feel? What about blue?" Using these emotional connections, have students create an artistic representation of a color wheel or rainbow that addresses these emotional connections.

12. Vision Board- Have students create a vision board of things they want to do in the future. Suggest thinking ahead in a day, a month, and in years. Have students decorate their vision boards to reflect their goals and interests.

13. Hidden Hearts and Positive Phrases- Hearts are a classic symbol to represent feelings. Have students cut out paper hearts and write a positive phrase on each heart. Then, have students secretly hide their hearts around their living space to spread positivity and joy with the people around them.

14. Helping Hands- Encouraging students to think about others can make them realize how much control they have over the feelings of others. Have students trace or draw their own hands and reflect or write what their helpful hands can do for others.

15. Calming Weaving- weaving has a naturally calming effect on students. Try having students create paper weavings with positive self-affirmations woven together. Or, if students are using yarn to weave, encourage them to make connections to the emotions tied with the colors they are choosing.

A great way to start a conversation about SEL is also by simply reading a book to your students.

25 Books to Read with Students to Address SEL:

1. A little SPOT of Anxiety by Diane Alber
by Peter H. Reynolds
3. Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin
4. Chocolate Milk, Por Favor by Maria Dismondy
5. Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by Shelly Becker
6. Exactly You! The Shape of Your Feelings by Sarah Krajewski
7. Grumpy Dinosaur by Michael Gordon
8 by Grace Byers
9. I Can Handle It by Laurie Wright and Ana Santos
10. I Think, I Am!: Teaching Kids the Power of Positive Affirmations by Louise Hay
11. I Will Be Okay by Laurie N. Wright
12. MySELF - Self Control & Self Esteem by Newmark Learning
13. The Boy with Big, Big Feelings by Britney Winn Lee and Jacob Souva
14. The Color Monster - A Story About Emotions by Anna Llenas
15. The Don't Worry Book by Todd Parr
16. The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
17. There's Nothing to Do by Dev Petty
18. Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
19. Train Your Angry Dragon by Steve Herman
20. Waiting is Not Easy by Mo Willems
21. We're All Wonders by R.J. Palacio
22. What Should Danny Do? by Adir Levy and Ganit Levy
23. What Were You Thinking? by Bryan Smith and Lisa M. Griffin
24. When You are Brave by Pat Zietlow Miller
25. Worry Says What? by Allison Edwards

Playing interactive games with your students is also a great way to start conversations about their feelings. It can make the conversation more centered around fun and less stressful.

10 Games to Play that Explore SEL:

1. Anger Slayer- Kids Anger Slayer Board Game
2. Feelings & Choices Flip Book
3. Don't Go Bananas Card Game
4. StrongSuit - The Tower of Self Esteem
5. Match Master Card Game-Social Emotional Learning Game
6. Emoji Stories Dice Game
7. Mad Smartz Card Game
8. Love Language: Kids Conversation Starters
9. Mindfulness Therapy Games: Mindfulness Cards
10. Totem: The Feel Good Game

Our connections to our students are essential during this unprecedented time of teaching. Strengthening our SEL curriculum is a great way to start building even deeper connections with our artists.
What SEL lessons do you like to create with your students? Why do you feel it is important to make SEL connections? What do you feel may be an untapped resource in your school regarding SEL?

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50 Activities That Support Social-Emotional Learning - The Art of Education University

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Return to Learn with The Art of Education University Teaching our students how to understand and process their emotions is incredibly important now, more than ever. Art teachers are perfectly equipped to start conversations about identifying, expressing, and accepting all kinds of emotions with lessons specifically geared toward Social-Emotional Learning.

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Positive Action Learning Activities for Students Preschool-8th Grade

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Positive Action Learning Activities for Students Preschool-8th Grade

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Social-emotional development activities offer a safe and supportive environment for students to learn prosocial behavior. The games encourage healthy relationships that reinforce empathy, sharing, and compassion. Even incorporating one social emotion activity into a lesson plan can make a meaningful difference in a child's life.

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37 Social-Emotional Learning Activities & Games for Teachers & Students

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Schools are becoming increasingly diverse, with more students integrating from various backgrounds each year. Educators must provide students with the structure and support they need to succeed academically and in life. A strong SEL foundation offers precisely that. Social-emotional development activities offer a safe and supportive environment for students to learn prosocial behavior.

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Studies suggest that regular breaks reduce stress, prevent fatigue, foster peer connections, and boost work interest and engagement. Intentionally taking a quick time-out from lessons helps students get back on track and ready to learn which positively impacts academic progress.

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Whether or not students say it out loud, this feeling can be palpable in the classroom when energy ebbs and flows between busy lessons. A head is nodding off on a desk, a chair rocks dangerously on hind legs, chattering peeps up from the back of the room, and the best answer you get to a simple review question is a vacant stare and a "huh?" Yep, it's not your imagination-it's time for a brain break.

Why Do Kids Need Brain Breaks?

While it may seem counterintuitive to further delay a lesson that lost momentum moments before, off-task behaviors are often a cry for help from students who need space to process, wiggle, or actively engage with one another. Brain Breaks are a popular solution for hitting the reset button in a classroom. These quick activities take little planning, typically last less than 5 minutes, and have numerous benefits that are backed up by science.

Several studies suggest that regular breaks reduce stress, prevent fatigue, foster peer connections, and boost work interest and engagement. Intentionally taking a quick time-out from lessons helps students get back on track and ready to learn which positively impacts academic progress.

How Do Kids Take a Brain Break?

It can be a good idea to intentionally plan a brain break mid-lesson, roughly every 20-30 minutes, though frequency can vary by age. When you plan ahead, you may avoid the slump of disengagement and can also seize an opportunity to get creative with the activity.

There are three general styles of brain breaks that all apply to the end goal of providing brief respite from rigorous learning while also nurturing social-emotional development.

Physical Breaks allow students to re-energize after long periods of sitting or physical inactivity, and have also been found to improve student concentration and peer interactions while increasing academic achievement. These breaks may include brief bursts of common exercises such as running in place or jumping jacks.

Mindfulness Breaks, on the other hand, help slow things down following high-energy activities or deep discussions. These are useful in calming and re-centering and provide time for processing after extended periods of receptive learning. Mindfulness Breaks have many benefits and are known to reduce stress, strengthen focus and attention, have positive impacts on social-emotional learning, and can also diffuse an array of behavioral issues. These strategies may include silent meditation, reflection or journaling, light stretching, or sensory experiences.

Social Breaks are those which engage connectivity and collaboration. Not to be confused with unstructured recess, Social Breaks are intentionally crafted activities that foster teamwork, develop problem solving abilities, and support communication skills. Research suggests that collaborative learning leads to higher achievement and productivity, as well as greater social competence and self-esteem. These breaks can include mini-games, structured but relaxed conversations, or puzzles and problem solving.

While it's a great practice to plan for Brain Breaks ahead of time, it's also important to remember that students may need them more frequently than you anticipated. When energy seems off, survey the room and get comfortable with taking one minute mini-breaks. On a whim you can easily access prep-free strategies like hopping in place or taking slow deep breaths which allow students a moment to recharge or slow down. This small investment of time on the front end will sustain learning and engagement for the long run.

What Are Some Good Brain Breaks?

The two brain breaks below are great for days when the weather outside isn't cooperating. In both cases, you will be helping your students expend a bit of energy while also improving communication and cooperation skills.

If you're noticing that students aren't getting along, it might just be time for this group indoor recess activity that brings everyone back together.

When attention wiggles and wanes it can be easy for classroom conversations to get derailed. Sounds like it's time for a cooperative play activity.

Would You Like To Receive Free SEL Lessons Each Week?

With a Centervention Account, you will receive free lessons and a free trial for our online SEL programs.

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Whether or not students say it out loud, this feeling can be palpable in the classroom when energy ebbs and flows between busy lessons. A head is nodding off on a desk, a chair rocks dangerously on hind legs, chattering peeps up from the back of the room, and the best answer you get to a simple review question is a vacant stare and a "huh?"

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What if your child could have a better day...EVERY day?

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Empower your child with better social-emotional skills! Learn why Emotional ABCs is used by parents & schools worldwide to improve social emotional learning.

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A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning.

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Social-Emotional Learning Programs | Second Step

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Discover Second Step, an evidence-based social-emotional learning curriculum that fosters students’ emotional intelligence, empathy, and problem-solving skills.

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Social & Emotional Life Skills Lessons & Videos | Flocabulary - Flocabulary

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Build social and emotional learning skills with videos, printable worksheets, and comprehensive lesson plans.

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Tapping for Kids with Alison - What is Tapping?

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Tapping, also known as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), is a powerful stress relief technique. Tapping is based on the combined principles of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology.

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How Can I Use Tapping in My Life?

Millions of people are settling for lives filled with poor health and emotional baggage.

Not knowing how to achieve the joyful and satisfying lives they desire, they're stuck accepting a lifestyle of emotional trauma, chronic physical pain, compulsions and addictions, or perhaps just an empty feeling inside, leading, as Henry David Thoreau famously said, lives of quiet desperation.

Does this sound familiar to you? Is there something holding you back from enjoying your life?

If you're like many people, you may feel trapped, caught in this cycle. You're tired of feeling sad, depressed, anxious, discontent, and unwell. You'd like to grow, flourish, and thrive, putting the past in the past. You want to be your best, living a life that is filled with peacefulness, joy, and fulfillment, from day to day and moment to moment.

Tapping can be used on a daily basis to reduce the stress and anxiety that is interfering with your happiness and well-being. You can use Tapping to help you fall asleep at night, to help you overcome your paralyzing fear of driving, and everything in between.

Many people also use Tapping in combination with protocols from their doctor or therapist, so make sure to let any of your health professionals know what additional steps you're taking to support your wellbeing.

If you're wondering, "Can I use Tapping for <insert your topic here>?" take a look at the long list of topics we currently have in our Tapping Solution App!

Introduction to the Tapping Points

Eyebrow Point (EB)
Where the eyebrows begin, closest to the bridge of the nose.

Side of Eye (SE)
On the bone directly along the outside of either eye.

Under Eye (UE)
On the bone directly under either eye.

Under Nose (UN)
The area directly beneath the nose and above the upper lip.

Chin Point (CP)
This is the area just below your bottom lip and above the chin, right in the crease.

Collarbone Point (CB)
Starting from where your collar bones meet in the center, go down an inch and out an inch on either side.

Under Arm (UA)
On your side, about four inches beneath the armpit.

Top of Head (TH)
Directly on the crown of your head.

Basic Tapping Sequence for Anxiety

As discussed, Tapping can be used to help a variety of challenges - so try it on everything! Here's the method for how to use it. In this example, we'll focus on general anxiety.

You can also follow along to our Releasing Anxiety Tapping meditation. After 260,000 plays of this Tapping meditation, the average reported reduction of anxiety was 41% in 9 minutes.

The basics of the Tapping process are simple

Always begin Tapping on the karate chop point while you repeat the setup statement to yourself. This allows you to be honest with how you feel and sets you up for the Tapping process (more on the setup statement below).

Begin Tapping while focusing on how you feel or on the problem. By doing this you send a calming signal to your brain, allowing you to think of the problem without feeling stress in your body.

When you feel better, you can move to more empowering thoughts. The same way you need to weed a garden before you plant seeds, you have to release the intensity of what you're feeling before more empowering thoughts can take root.

Lets break down the steps:

Identify the problem on which you want to focus. It can be general anxiety, or it can be a specific situation or issue which causes you to feel anxious.

Consider the problem or situation. How do you feel about it right now? Rate the intensity level of your anxiety on a scale of 0 to 10, with zero being the lowest level of anxiety and ten being the highest.

Compose a setup statement. Your setup statement should acknowledge the problem you want to deal with, then follow it with a phrase of acceptance. This helps nuteralize judgements you have around how you feel and allow you to be more honest with your Tapping.

Setup statement examples:

"Even though I feel this anxiety, I accept how I feel"
"Even though I'm anxious about my interview, I accept myself and how I feel."
"Even though I'm feeling this anxiety about my financial situation,
I honor my feelings and give my body permission to relax. "

Get ready to begin Tapping!

With four fingers on one hand, begin tapping the Karate Chop point on your other hand. The Karate Chop point is on the outer edge of the hand, on the opposite side from the thumb.

Repeat the setup statement three times aloud, while simultaneously tapping the Karate Chop point. Now take a deep breath.

Now, tap about 5 to 7 times each on the remaining eight points in the sequence described below. As you tap on each point, repeat a simple reminder phrase, such as "my anxiety" or "my interview" or "my financial situation" to help you mentally focus on your issue.

Eyebrow Point (EB)
Where the eyebrows begin, closest to the bridge of the nose.

Side of Eye (SE)
On the bone directly along the outside of either eye.

Under Eye (UE)
On the bone directly under either eye.

Under Nose (UN)
The area directly beneath the nose and above the upper lip.

Chin Point (CP)
This is the area just below your bottom lip and above the chin, right in the crease.

Collarbone Point (CB)
Starting from where your collar bones meet in the center, go down an inch and out an inch on either side.

Under Arm (UA)
On your side, about four inches beneath the armpit.

Top of Head (TH)
Directly on the crown of your head.

And take another deep breath!

Now that you've completed the sequence, focus on your problem again. How intense is the anxiety now, in comparison to a few minutes ago? Give it a rating on the same 0 to 10 scale. Did you notice a shift?

If your anxiety level is still higher than 2 or 3, you can do another round of tapping. Keep tapping through the sequence until the anxiety is gone. You can change your setup statement slightly to take into account your efforts to fix the problem or your desire for continued progress.

Examples:
"Even though I have some remaining anxiety, I accept how I feel and choose to relax."
"Even though I'm still a little worried about this interview, I deeply and completely accept myself." And so on.

Now that you've focused on dispelling your immediate anxiety, you can work on instilling some positive feelings in its place. This approach is different from traditional "positive thinking." You're not being dishonest with yourself. You're not trying to obscure the stress and anxiety inside yourself with a veneer of insincere affirmations. Rather, you've confronted and dealt with the anxiety and its corresponding negative emotions, offering deep and complete acceptance to both your feelings and yourself.

The same way you need to weed a garden before you plant seeds, you have to release the intensity of what you're feeling before more empowering thoughts can take root. That's what makes Tapping so much more effective than the "positive thinking" techniques that many of you have already tried.

Here are some example phrases to guide you:
"I have faith in my ability to change."
"I am joyful about these positive changes."
"I am accomplishing so much."
"I enjoy the calm and peace that I have."
"I love the person that I am."
"I am becoming a more relaxed and joyful person."

You can use these positive phrases with the same sequence of Tapping points described above.

Here are some tips to help you achieve the correct technique.

You should use a firm but gentle pressure, the same as if you were drumming on the top of your desk or testing a melon for ripeness.

You can use all four fingers, or just the first two (the index and middle fingers). Four fingers are generally used on wider areas, while just two can be used on sensitive areas, such as around the eyes.

You can tap one side of the body or both at the same time. The meridian points are symmetrical on either side of the body.

Congratulations! You've completed your first Tapping sequence.

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Tapping 101 - Learn the Basics of the Tapping Technique

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What is Tapping? Get started right here! Learn the history, science, EFT Tapping points, how Tapping works, and how to use Tapping for anxiety.

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Daily Lessons

Educators have more on their plates than ever. That's why our lessons are designed to be low-prep for teachers, engaging and impactful for students - and take just 15-minutes a day.

160+ daily lessons are differentiated for grades Pre-K - 12 and last for 32 weeks of the school year. The common school-wide vocabulary, developed through consistency, naturally weaves throughout the entire school day.

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Positive Character Education I The Positivity Project

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Educators have more on their plates than ever. That's why our lessons are designed to be low-prep for teachers, engaging and impactful for students - and take just 15-minutes a day. 160+ daily lessons are differentiated for grades Pre-K - 12 and last for 32 weeks of the school year.

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AIR provides technical assistance, consultation, and communication activities regarding the mental health of children and youth, and the social and emotional conditions for learning.

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Social and emotional learning-the ability to successfully communicate, resolve conflict, interact with others, and manage emotional responses-can help students do better in the classroom and in life. Fostering social and emotional well-being is a key component in improving conditions for learning.

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AIR conducts research and evaluation activities and provides technical assistance, consultation, and communication activities regarding the mental health of children and youth, and the social and emotional conditions for learning.

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Social and emotional learning-the ability to successfully communicate, resolve conflict, interact with others, and manage emotional responses-can help students do better in the classroom and in life. Fostering social and emotional well-being is a key component in improving conditions for learning. AIR's work in social and emotional learning focuses on promotion, prevention, early intervention, and treatment.

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Responsive Classroom is an evidence-based approach to teaching and discipline that focuses on engaging academics, positive community, effective management, and developmental awareness.

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"Before you speak, listen." -William A. Ward Listening With Purpose As I listen in on the student conversations occurring around the classroom, I notice that my students have a firm grasp on the basics of listening and speaking. They turn their attention toward the speaker and maintain a calm...

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Responsive Classroom is an evidence-based approach to teaching that focuses on the strong link between academic success and social-emotional learning (SEL).

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Only Yoga Calm brings together all three in a dynamic way, addressing the needs of the whole child.

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Yoga Calm is a community of teachers, health professionals, and families who want kids to grown into happy, healthy, successful adults.

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Yoga Calm is especially effective for special needs, including ADHD, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and behavior and mental health issues. Originally developed in behavior classrooms, it readily provides the foundation for trauma-informed practices, as well.

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Yoga for Kids | Yoga Teacher Training | Mindfulness Meditation

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Yoga Calm is a community of teachers, health professionals, and families who want kids to grown into happy, healthy, successful adults. Developed from more than 30 years' experience in education, counseling and yoga practice, Yoga Calm helps children and teens develop emotional resiliency, leadership and communication skills, trust and empathy, focus and self-control.

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In Core Ed Talks this site provides information regarding Modern Learning Environments, which means integrating technology into spaces that are designed around teaching and learning. It also gives teachers and students the tools they need to succeed in a physical setting that promotes collaboration and supports multiple learning styles.