Explore Resources About The Why for SEL?

Universal Design for Learning and CASEL SEL Core Competency Crosswalk:

Washington SEL Standards and CASEL Alignment

OSPI SEL Standards, Benchmarks and Indicators

Strategies for the Classroom:

Self-Awareness: Here are some ways you can approach teaching about self-awareness in your classroom

Self-awareness is the ability to consider and understand your own emotions, thoughts, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your actions. Improving your self-awareness can allow you to more effectively identify your individual strengths and weaknesses in a range of areas, and therefore potentially improve your decision-making and self-management (two other core competencies).

Recognizing how your thoughts and feelings impact your behavior can encourage you to make positive changes in your life, and take the perspective that will provide new insight into your own decisions, interests, and actions. Within the five core competencies, self-awareness is essential as it not only fosters optimism and responsible decision-making, but also provides a foundation to establish and maintain healthy relationships with others.

Self-Management: Here are some ways you can approach teaching about self-regulation in your classroom

The self-management core competency focuses on an individual's ability to regulate and control their emotions, thoughts and behaviors. For example, this can mean improving areas like stress management, organizational skills, your ability to set goals, impulse control, and self-discipline.

As well as leading to more responsible decision-making and a greater awareness of safety concerns, improving your self-management can enhance your academic performance, your ability to set and work towards goals, and your ability to control emotionally driven behavior.

Utilizing a positive self-management strategy within an SEL teaching framework can take many forms, and is usually about self-reflection and undertaking a realistic evaluation of yourself so you can then take further actions (including those outlined in other competencies) constructively and positively.

Social Awareness: Here are some ways you can approach teaching social awareness in your classroom

The social awareness competency is about improving skills like your ability to empathize with others, your ability to take the perspective of those in different situations to you, your awareness of other diverse individuals and groups, and your ability to make sure you are treating others fairly.

This can help you to establish and maintain healthy relationships and social interactions, and therefore have a positive impact on your family, school and community, especially when undertaking social-emotional learning within these groups.

With regards to equity and diversity, greater social awareness can assist your ability to understand the perspective of and empathize with other individuals, particularly surrounding characteristics like gender, race, religion, age, culture, class and financial circumstances, and will ensure that your ability to make decisions in social settings like school takes diversity into account.

Relationship Skills: Here are some ways you can approach teaching relationship skills in your classroom

The relationship skills competency concerns your ability to make positive connections with others, as well as your ability to take their emotions into account in different situations and social interactions, in order to establish and maintain healthy, mutually rewarding relationships.

This also includes skills like listening well, communicating effectively, understanding appropriate and inappropriate social behaviors, your ability to compromise, your ability to consider the emotions, thoughts and values of others, and your ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others.

As well as in personal situations with family and friends, relationship skills are important at school with peers and teachers, and in professional areas with colleagues and bosses. If you have the ability to make positive relationships with those you learn and work with, you are contributing to a more positive school or work environment.

Responsible Decision-Making: Here are some ways you can approach teaching about decision-making in your classroom

Responsible decision-making is the ability required to make positive and constructive choices based on individual and social factors like personal and academic goals, ethical standards, safety concerns and social norms. It requires you to consider the consequences of different potential actions, understand your strengths and limitations, and to know when to ask for more help when needed in making certain important decisions.

As people navigate day to day life, they are required to make decisions both large and small in a broad variety of different situations, that all need attention and consideration for a positive outcome.

This may relate to how you choose to pursue your own personal goals, for example achieving certain school grades based on your strengths and limitations or improving your overall attitude, or it may pertain to social situations like choosing to take the perspective of another person or actively putting more time and energy into maintaining healthy relationships.

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