Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
What Is SEL?
CASEL's 5 Core Competencies
The CASEL 5. The CASEL 5 addresses five broad and interrelated areas of competence and highlights examples for each: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. The CASEL 5 can be taught and applied at various developmental stages from childhood to adulthood and across diverse cultural contexts. Many school districts, states, and countries have used the CASEL 5 to establish preschool to high school learning standards and competencies that articulate what students should know and be able to do for academic success, school and civic engagement, health and wellness, and fulfilling careers.
A developmental perspective to SEL considers how the social and emotional competencies can be expressed and enhanced at different ages from preschool through adulthood. Students’ social, emotional, and cognitive developmental levels and age-appropriate tasks and challenges should inform the design of SEL standards, instruction, and assessment. Given that, stakeholders should decide how best to prioritize, teach, and assess the growth and development of the CASEL 5 in their local schools and communities.
Curriculum, Tools, and Approaches
Second Step Social Emotional Learning
Second Step provides our Bozeman elementary schools with the tools to promote social, emotional, and academic success. Click here to learn more about what skills students will learn with Second Step.
Second Step Bullying Prevention
Building on the fundamentals of Second Step SEL, the Bullying Prevention Unit has age-appropriate lessons for elementary classrooms (Kindergarten–Grade 5) focused on how to recognize, report, and refuse bullying. Click here to learn more about what students will learn in the Bullying Prevention Unit.
Power Up Speak Out!
Power Up Speak Out! is a violence prevention curriculum for Middle School students that builds upon concepts taught K-5 like bullying, empathy, and conflict resolution. The program encourages young people to think critically about healthy relationships, power dynamics, boundaries, and consent.
The DESSA Comprehensive SEL System, an online software platform, allows educators to measure, strengthen, and support social-emotional competence in youth, grades K-12.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for 10- to 18-year-olds and within the top ten leading causes of death for all ages – it is vitally important to know the signs and how to help someone who may be at risk for suicide. Research shows that most people who attempt suicide give some sort of clue before they make an attempt. Therefore, understanding the words and/or actions of someone considering suicide can save a life. The Signs of Suicide curriculum teaches students in the 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade how to recognize those signs and how to respond to them.
TBRI is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI is connection. Learn more here.
Who is Involved With SEL?
Every staff member in the school is responsible for teaching and reinforcing social emotional learning skills.
Every interaction with a student is an opportunity for practicing how to handle different situations and how to treat one another.
School Counselors and School Psychologists are examples of staff members who are especially involved in Social Emotional Learning. Click on links below to learn more about their role in the schools.
