Moving from Trendy to Transformative Social-Emotional Learning

Linsay DeMartino & Lisa Fetman, Linsay DeMartino, Lisa Fetman

• Publisher: Myers Education Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781975506896
• eBook ISBN: 9781975506919
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Teaching Methods

PreK-12 schools across the United States are adopting social and emotional learning (SEL) programs for both students and educators. However, most of these schools are adopting non-contextualized, trendy, and traditional SEL programs, in which students and educators are conditioned to apply certain knowledge and skills that speak to only a small subset of students rather than utilizing authentic, equity-driven SEL models. As such, SEL programming must be transformed and sustained to reflect new and shifting identities of both students and educators, like the expanding ability, cultural, gender, linguistic, race, religion, and socioeconomic formations and their intersections, as well as tensions within predominantly white institutions.

Moving from Trendy to Transformative Social-Emotional Learning presents a diverse collection of chapters that discuss authentic and contextualized equity and justice models that are focused on the possibilities of transformative SEL programming. The book's primary focus is on innovative and creative methodologies and practices that aspiring and practicing educators can use right away. Because the editors and contributors are former or current PreK-12 practitioners and/or educational scholars, this book is written for a broad educational audience. Directed to both preservice and practicing teachers across PreK-12 grade levels, school types, and geographic regions looking to improve their practice, the text provides entry points for transforming the SEL landscape in favor of liberatory, justice-based, and equitable practices. Additionally, this book is ideal for teacher and administrator preparation programs, as well as PreK-12 professional development, because it guides readers through theoretical and empirical discussions, punctuated by hands-on applications that enable real-time application, and concludes with interactive features, including case studies, extension activities, and discussion prompts.

Specific topics include enacting culturally-relevant SEL; addressing youth mental health through cultivating authentic belonging and mindfulness in classrooms; equitable SEL curricular and pedagogical practices; developing adult SEL; culturally-grounded identity development, ensuring safe environments for building identity and relationships; and SEL in teacher education and mentorship.

Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Educating For Equity And Social Justice; Introduction to Cultivating Culturally Responsive Classrooms; Foundations of Classroom Management; Introduction to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Schools; Principles of Professional Collaboration In Education; Introduction To School Improvement, Introduction to Teacher Leadership And School Improvement; Introduction to Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment; Principles of Building Classroom Communities; Principles of Teaching Diverse Learners; Principles of Youth Voices in Education

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Content
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction
• Section I: Supporting Literature
• Chapter 1 Transformative SEL as an Authentic Tool to Promote Students’ Mental Health in PreK-12 Classrooms
• Section II: PreK-12 Youth • Elementary Teaching
• Chapter 2 Healing Classroom Communities: The Role of Mindfulness in Addressing Youth Mental Health
• Chapter 3 Building Relationships, Cultivating Community, and Exploring Equity Through Written Conversations in Elementary Grades: A Foundation for Transformative Social and Emotional Learning
• Section III: Secondary Teaching
• Chapter 4 Moving from Trendy and Traditional to Transformative Social and Emotional Learning: Building Belonging From the Inside Out in K-12 Schools
• Chapter 5 Authentic Cariño With Latinx PreK-12 Learners: An Approach to Transformative Social and Emotional Learning
• Section IV: Adjacent Programs/Organizations
• Chapter 6 Culturally Grounded Social-Emotional Learning for Identity Development
• Section V: PreK-12 Educators • Preservice
• Chapter 7 White Women and Elite Capture of Social Emotional Learning
• Chapter 8 Integrating SEL and Equity: A Comprehensive Framework for Enhancing Teacher Preparation and Professional Development
• Chapter 9 Transforming Teacher Education With Transformative Social Emotional Learning: A Conversation
• Section VI: Practicing
• Chapter 10 Beyond Program Implementation: Building Adult SEL Capabilities
• About the Authors
• Index