The Social-Emotional Learning Toolbox

Practical Strategies to Support All Students

Kathy Perez

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781681254357
• eBook ISBN: 9781681254364
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación inclusiva

Strong social-emotional skills help students succeed in the classroom and beyond—but many teachers report that they lack the tools and time to effectively support social-emotional learning (SEL). Help is here with The Social?Emotional Learning Toolbox, an introductory guide that shows K-5 teachers how to infuse their existing curriculum and routines with high-quality, evidence-based SEL instruction.

Created by a seasoned educator with three decades of experience, this engaging, research-supported guidebook is filled with classroom-tested tips and techniques for teachers who want to begin integrating SEL practices into each part of their school day. You'll learnthe fundamentals of designing effective classroom environments and lessons with easy-to-implement, inclusive SEL supports for every student, whether they have ongoing behavior and learning challenges or just need a little extra help. With engaging and unique strategies and numerous online printable tools and worksheets, you'll help your students reduce acting-out behaviors, strengthen relationships, and develop critical skills like self-discipline and empathy.

A must-have resource for current and future teachers who are new to this critical topic, this book will help educators learn the basics of SEL, make the most of teachable moments each day, and give every student a foundation for success in school and in life.

DISCOVER HOW TO:

• Build self-regulation skills in students so they can manage their emotions and be ready to learn
• Help students develop emotional intelligence so they can understand and express their feelings
• Create a warm, caring, and inclusive classroom atmosphere
• Strengthen executive functioning skills to boost both social and academic competence
• Develop positive, trusting relationships with students
• Explicitly teach and model empathy in your classroom
• Promote a growth mindset to improve students' motivation, productivity, and confidence
• Teach mindfulness practices to help students relax, maintain attention, and focus on the present moment

ONLINE MATERIALS: You'll get a complete package of more than 60 forms, worksheets, handouts, checklists, and printable classroom signs for supporting your students' social-emotional skills.

CHAPTER 1

Making the Case for Social-Emotional Learning

Social-emotional learning (SEL) has been receiving more and more attention recently in the educational sphere, both from practitioners and researchers. SEL has been called the “missing piece” of education; the information and strategies we’ll discuss throughout this book will allow you to complete the puzzle to providing exceptional learning experiences to your students.

KEY CONCEPTS

•What is social-emotional learning (SEL)?

•Why is it so important in our classroom today?

•How can SEL help you and your students?

•What are some strategies for integrating SEL to develop a more positive classroom culture?

•What are some misconceptions about SEL?

•How can we increase our students’ SEL?

INTRODUCTION

Across the country, momentum is building for schools and districts to help students develop the social, emotional, and academic skills that evidence shows are needed for success both in school and in life. There’s a deepening recognition that skills such as responsibility, problem solving, empathy, self-regulation, self-control, and persistence all form a solid foundation for academic achievement and personal growth. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), 2015, recognizes social-emotional education as a vital factor in helping students develop critical life skills that go well beyond academics.

Furthermore, emotions are of paramount importance for cognition: “We feel, therefore we learn” (Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2007, p. 3). When there is damage to the emotional networks of the brain, even simple decisions can become challenging (Damasio, 1994). For educators who have dozens of students in their classrooms each day, it can feel overwhelming to support the range of students’ emotional needs in addition to their diverse learning needs. Educators may feel inadequately prepared and need tools to support emotional learning.

There is also the time factor to consider. Teachers have concerns that there is not enough time to address the emotional needs of their students in addition to the cognitive content that must be covered in the curriculum. One teacher I spoke with said, “I cannot take time each day to talk about how each student feels.” This is the challenge that many teachers experience daily.

However, while it is important to recognize that dilemma, educators cannot ignore the critical role of emotions in the classroom and their impact on learning. We must ask, What would it take to weave social and emotional learning into the daily routine and fabric of our nation’s schools? For both adults and children, emotions drive our attention and are essential for cognitive skills such as memory and executive functioning. Emotions even influence basic perception (Zadra & Clore, 2011). If we are not addressing emotions in our classrooms, then we are not addressing how students learn.

The strategies shared in this book provide educators with engaging strategies that are research based and do not require a lot of time to implement. Using these classroom-tested techniques, teachers can design environments and lessons to support emotions for learning. These strategies are inclusive in nature and can be proactively integrated into the learning environment so that any student can access them, whether a student is just having a “bad day” or they have greater emotional or learning challenges.

What Is Social-Emotional Learning?

SEL has been defined in a number of ways (see Humphrey et al., 2020). In general, it focuses on a set of social, emotional, behavioral, and character skills that support success in school, the workplace, relationships, and the community. According to CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning,

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. (CASEL, 2015)

Joan Duffell, executive director of the Committee for Children, summarizes the definition this way: “These are the skills that allow children to calm themselves when angry, make friends, resolve conflicts respectfully, and make ethical and safe choices” (Elias et al., 2017, p. 64).

On a broader scale, SEL includes recognizing and understanding emotions, strategies for managing emotions, developing the ability to recognize and understand emotions in others, and strategies for responding to the emotions of others. SEL also includes explicitly teaching and practicing strategies to develop emotional resiliency—the ability to bounce back after adversity. For years, many of us in education have assumed that impulse control, self-discipline, and sound decision making were taught in the home, that they are innate skills, or that teachers just do not have time to bother with them. Fortunately, educators are realizing that those assumptions were incorrect. Now, we look to schools to integrate these traits into the curriculum.

What Does the Research Say?

The concept of SEL and its importance in education have evolved over the years. In 1997, Elias et al. suggested that SEL comprises a set of competencies, which Durlak et al. (2011) further described as the ability to

•Recognize and manage emotions

•Set and achieve positive goals

•Appreciate the perspectives of others

•Establish and maintain positive relationships

•Make responsible decisions

•Handle interpersonal situations constructively (p. 406)

A few years later, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2005) identified five interrelated cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies (see Figure 1.1):

1.Self-awareness—the capacity to reflect on one’s own feelings, values, and behaviors

2.Social awareness—the ability to view situations from another perspective, respect the social and cultural norms of others, and celebrate diversity

3.Relationship skills—the ability to initiate and sustain positive connections with peers, teachers, families, and other groups

4.Self-management—the set of skills that includes self-motivation, goal setting, personal organization, self-discipline, impulse control, and use of strategies for coping with stress

5.Responsible decision making—the ability to make choices that consider the well-being of oneself and others

Figure 1.1. CASEL’s five interrelated cognitive, affective, and behavioral competencies. (Source: ©2021 CASEL. All Rights Reserved. https://casel.org/sel-framework/)

Furthermore, the Wallace Foundation model (Jones et al., 2018) identified three domains of SEL:

1.Cognitive regulation—attention control, inhibitory control, working memory and planning, and cognitive flexibility

2.Emotional processes—emotion knowledge and expression, emotion and behavior regulation, and empathy or perspective-taking

3.Interpersonal skills—understanding social cues, conflict resolution, and prosocial behavior

From their extensive study of effective SEL practices, Navigating SEL from the Inside Out (Jones et al., 2017), the Wallace Foundation identified key features that are essential for implementing effective SEL programs (see Figure 1.2):

•Set reasonable goals

•Incorporate SAFE elements

•Occur within supportive contexts

•Build adult competencies

•Partner with family and community

•Target key behaviors and skills

Figure 1.2. Key features of effective SEL programs. (From Jones, Brush, Bailey, Brion-Meisels, McIntyre, Kahn, Nelson, & Stickle. [2017]. Navigating social and emotional learning from the inside out [p. 22]. The Wallace Foundation; reprinted with permission.)

Additionally, in an article titled “What Is Social Emotional Learning?” educator Samantha Cleaver (2013) reminds us that SEL is more than just classroom management and the development of social skills. In a school or classroom where SEL is purposefully included from the first day of class, it becomes an integral part of the day’s lesson; it is not just an afterthought or an “add-on.” The basic principles of SEL are merged into the curriculum so that they are continually...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Online Materials
• About the Author
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1: Making the Case for Social-Emotional Learning
• Chapter 2: Social-Emotional Learning and the Self: Emotional Intelligence
• Chapter 3: Self-Regulation: Helping Your Students Understand Their Emotions
• Chapter 4: Developing Executive Function Skills in Students
• Chapter 5: Mindfulness in the Classroom
• Chapter 6: Supporting a Growth Mindset
• Chapter 7: Social-Emotional Learning and Relationships: How to Create a Caring, Positive Classroom Environment
• Chapter 8: Fostering Empathy in the Classroom
• Chapter 9: Relationships: Strengthening Bonds
• Appendix A: Additional Resources
• Appendix B: Children’s Books to Support Social-Emotional Learning
• Appendix C: Resources for Continued Learning
• Appendix D: Trauma-Informed Resources
• Glossary
• Study Guide
• References
• Index
• Back Cover