You know how in education, we have new terms that come to light, these are buzzwords, and the new one seems to be SEL. You may be familiar with SEL more than you know because, growing up, we called it character education. Even before that, it was known as civics.
So what exactly is SEL?
SEL is the common term now, which stands for social and emotional learning. It’s the process where children acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage their emotions. It helps them to set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy for others (which is something many are lacking), and it helps them to establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible choices.
Overall, SEL is something that helps students grow their executive functioning skills needed to navigate the challenges of life and contribute positively to society. So in this blog post, I’m going to share some strategies and activities for the classroom. Plus, I’ll be sharing some tips on how you can integrate SEL into your classroom.
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So how can you integrate SEL into your curriculum?
The first thing you need to do is start with a needs assessment. Identify the areas where your students need support regarding social and emotional skills. You can do that with my student surveys. I have a survey for each subject, and one of them is a self-perception survey, so you can see how students perceive themselves and how confident they are in actually doing the work.
Click here to get these surveys from my TPT shop.
Give Opportunities for Collaborative Work
You can also integrate SEL into your already existing lessons. For example, when you are teaching math, you can integrate social skills by having students work in groups to solve problems using my Simply STEAM Math and ELA Games. Allow students to work in groups. Plus, it’s fun.
Click here to check out these collaborative games from my TPT shop.
You can also use books to teach SEL.
Some of my favorites include the dragon books. They teach about self-control, empathy, and even perseverance. My second-grade inclusion students really enjoyed this series. Each book has explicit strategies for coping with different emotions. Some other book series we enjoyed were Jory John’s The Good Egg and What Should Danny Do?
Click here to browse my full list of SEL books from my Amazon Shop.
Creating a Positive Classroom Climate
Another way that you can integrate SEL into your existing curriculum and instruction is by creating a positive classroom environment. I know this sounds cliché, but it is super important. You can create a positive classroom environment by just being a positive role model, building positive relationships with your students, and creating a sense of community in the classroom.
I like to do this by using my Surprise Box. Students earn tickets for positive behavior, meeting goals, or exceeding expectations. At the end of the day, we draw tickets to select a drawer and win a surprise. Learn more about how I use the Surprise Box in my classroom in this blog post.
Create Moments for Self-Reflection
Another way to integrate SEL into your classroom is to give your students opportunities for self-reflection. You can do this with these free lesson checks that I have, where students reflect on how they understood each lesson. They’re super quick and easy just to print and go.
Another way you can do this is through journaling, class discussion, and even mindfulness exercises. I found a lot of great mindful exercises on ClassDojo and GoNoodle. They both have a free library of super helpful mindfulness videos.
Build Meaningful Relationships with Students
I encourage you to continue building relationships so that you can create that positive classroom culture, even as we near the end of the school year.
You don’t need to have more time in your daily schedule to implement SEL. This is something that you can integrate into any activity or lesson. You can create regular time for SEL activities at the beginning of each class or each week.
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Additionally, you can collaborate with other teachers or get support from your administration to find ways to make time for SEL. While there are many great resources available for SEL, not all schools or districts have the budget to purchase them. You can create some of these on your own, or you can save some time and get the things that I mentioned, or try some of the freebies that I mentioned too.
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