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Social Development
Social Development
The social domain of whole child education focuses on the development of social skills, interpersonal relationships, and a sense of social responsibility. It involves communication skills, collaboration, empathy, cultural competence, and understanding social dynamics. Social development promotes positive relationships, cooperation, respect for diversity, and the ability to contribute to the well-being of communities and society.
Essential Elements
Essential Elements
Identity of self and others: encompasses self-discovery, self-esteem, and self-advocacy. It encourages students to explore their unique qualities, interests, and strengths, promoting a sense of purpose and confidence in their abilities. Similarly, Catholic education promotes the Catholic social teaching principle of human dignity, emphasizing that every person is created in the image and likeness of God and deserving of respect and compassion
Ability to Collaborate: a collaborative approach to designing the educational environment involving educators, students, administrators, families, and community partners. Children should be taught how to collaborate in classroom with the use of the teacher modelling collaborative design for rules of mutual respect and listening in the classroom.
Responsible Decision-Making: teaching students the skills necessary to make thoughtful and ethical choices, considering the well-being of themselves and others. This includes developing their ability to identify and analyze problems, think critically, weigh different options, and take responsibility for the consequences of their decisions
Effective Communication: communication that is genuinely welcoming, inclusive and aims to know the whole child fosters positive relationships in and outside of the classroom.
Civic Engagement: providing students with the opportunity to participate collaboratively in their communities, learning about democratic principles and tenants of Catholic Social Doctrine.
Practice Checklist
Practice Checklist
Below is an overall checklist that details the major steps in addressing the social domain of the whole child both at your school and in the classroom.
As the you develop a team and classroom practices, this checklist is designed to help you keep track of your progress and moving forward in the pursuit of whole child development.
social_checklist.pdfCulture of Respect and Vulnerability
Culture of Respect and Vulnerability
Restorative Practices
Restorative Practices
Restorative practices are meant to give students the opportunity for students to check-in with themselves, be involved in classroom design & troubleshooting, and discuss conflict together, as a class. Learn more about restorative practices, including peace circles and reintegration circles on the CASEL website.
Morning Meetings
Morning Meetings
Morning meetings are a regularly scheduled routine to start the day off with 20-30min of group check-in and cohesion practices. Students and teacher start off by greeting one another and sharing (for example, a high and low of the day before). There is usually a group activity, which can incorporate a communal prayer, and ends with an overall message of the day. These meetings can include the creativity of both teachers and students.
5-minute Chats
5-minute Chats
Teachers are pulled in many different directions on a daily basis, which can create barriers to giving each student thorough and personalized attention. For this reason, checking in with students for short periods of time to check in on how their life is going and invite their feedback creates a culture of personal belonging and significance. Learn more.
Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution
Deeply rooted in our Catholic framework, we believe that forgiveness is a crucial aspect of conflict resolution. The church provides us a model for reconciliation in all of our relationships at school. No single act as a human being can take us from away from our identity as Sons and Daughters of God and away from the possibility of God's saving redemption.
Steps for reconciliation, based on the Sacrament of Penance Statement from USCCB (2003) on restorative prison practices, are:
Contrition - Genuine regret or grief over one’s wrongs
Confession - Clear acknowledgment and acceptance of responsibility
Satisfaction - Restitution for the wrongs
Absolution - Forgiveness of sins and welcoming of the person back into community.
Circle Practices
Circle Practices
Circle practices are deeply rooted in long tradition of indigenous, healing rituals. A circle simply takes a group of people coming together, perhaps around a centerpiece, with opening, reflection, closing rituals. Often, students will be involved in the process of making an agenda and rules for circle practices, and it can be helpful to use a talking piece to better facilitate uninterrupted conversation.
Men and Women for Others
Men and Women for Others
Service Projects
Service Projects
Engaging in service opportunities as a Catholic school community that both meet the needs of other persons and that of the planet is important to encounter God in the world.
Letter Writing
Letter Writing
As part of the Catholic faith, we want to foster in students the sense that not only are they connected to their present community, but also are connected to the entire Body of Christ including the Communion of Saints-- past, present and future. Thus, engaging in students to connect with those who are not present them spiritually is at the core of our Catholic faith and simultaneously engages both the social and spiritual domain of the whole child. A great way to do this in the classroom is to encourage letter writing; students may hope-filled letters to those in prison, pick up a pen pal another part of the country or world, may write letters to those in the path (people they knew or saints), and even write letter to the future, incoming students at the end of the school year.
Retreats
Retreats
Retreats that specifically engage students (and their families) provide valuable opportunities for children to self-reflect and bring greater vulnerability into their reflections with others. In the true Ignatian tradition, retreats can be an introspection that leads outward into community. Families not need have many resources to send their children on retreats; day retreats can be accessible in the school or parish. An education can run a mini-retreat in the classroom. Learn more.
What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?
What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?
According to CASEL, "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."
Real-life Example of School Implementing SEL
Real-life Example of School Implementing SEL
Marcus Garvey Elementary Chicago public school is an exemplary supportive school that incorporates SEL into everyday class learning to fully prepare students for life. Play the video above to learn more about how SEL is practically implemented in in day-to-day school life.
Professional Development (PD) Resource
Professional Development (PD) Resource
The following video to the right is a professional development session presented by Molly McMahon which discusses several strategies for behavior management in the classroom. The overall message is that all behavior is a form of communication and that strategies for behavior management center around addressing that underlying communication to actually meet the deep needs of students so that they are able to effectively engage in the classroom.
Behavior Management Strategies.movRecommended Publications
Recommended Publications
Recommended Reads
Recommended Reads
This is a quintessential book entitled, Changing Lenses: Restorative Justice for Our Time, in which Howard Zehr discusses how the criminal justice system does not actually lead to healing and restoration and how, as a society, we might move towards that.
In this book entitled, Returning to the Teachings, Rupert Ross discusses his experience learning about aboriginal justice and teachings regarding communal and spiritual healing.
Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World by Vivek H. Murphy discusses brings attention to the major public health threat of the loneliness epidemic and how we might work together towards a common human need to socially connect.
Carrots or Sticks: Restorative Practices for Positive Classroom Management by By Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey
A Light Unto My Path: A Model of Accompaniment for Fostering Mental Wellness in Catholic Schools by Michael Boyle and Sandria Morten
Restorative Justice Engagement Guide for Catholic Communities by the Catholic Mobilizing Network
Learn about the five principles of constructive dialogue, which is aimed to find mututal understanding within polarizing topics
Tips for Implementing Restorative Circles in Your School by Novak Education
Recommended Reports
Recommended Reports
This is the more recent report on the loneliness epidemic, officially released by the U.S. Surgeon General in 2023.
Learn more about Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS)
Learn more about how Catholic schools produce more civically engaged students
Learn more about SEL and how it connects to your daily life and your relationships. Also, think about how, as an adult, you might model SEL for young people and why that is important. Visit the CASEL website to learn more.
Learn more about what SEL really means from Novak Education.
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