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What is Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)?
What is Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)?
SEL is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
5 CASEL Core SEL Competencies
5 CASEL Core SEL Competencies
Self-Awareness: The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence and purpose.
Self Management: The abilities to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations.
Social Awareness: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.
Relationship Skills: The abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.
Responsible Decision-Making: The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations.
To learn more about each of the core competencies, visit the CASEL website.
Why SEL?
Why SEL?
Not only does teaching SEL skills improve students' skills in these areas, it also impacts students in other ways:
Improved attitudes about self, others, and school (extremely important and cited by educators as one of the main reasons they value SEL, so it’s good to emphasize this if audience is school-based folks).
Positive classroom behavior (this is important, but be careful not to over emphasize this point for fear that people think SEL is primarily a behavior-management solution, which is a common misperception).
11 percentile point gain on academics: This is a significant data point that warrants emphasis. This kind of improvement on academics is frankly what has gotten the attention of so many. This data point can foster the transition from a belief that these are “soft skills,” nice-to-haves, to the idea that these are critically important and to be taken seriously.
3 Signature SEL Practices
3 Signature SEL Practices
Dr. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, speaks about “every behavioral intervention being a biological intervention.” A student’s repeated experiences in school can be a powerful influence for the rewiring of the neural pathways necessary for habits to be built and sustained. Having routines and rituals in our classrooms and school communities is beneficial for every child, and absolutely essential for some.
“With compassion, we can help remove students’ triggers by providing smoother transitions and safe, predictable classrooms.” - Dr. Richard Davidson, The Heart of Teaching and Learning: Compassion, Resilience and Academic Success
Three main categories of carefully chosen, effectively facilitated and thoughtfully debriefed teaching practices work together to build a solid foundation of safety, consistency and joy in classrooms across the school day:
WELCOMING INCLUSION ACTIVITIES • Setting the Tone
ENGAGING STRATEGIES • Sense Making, Transitions, Brain Breaks
OPTIMISTIC CLOSURE • Reflections and Looking Forward
When used consistently, these signature SEL practices create conditions for growth and learning across all five SEL competencies while using culturally responsive teaching strategies to help create collaborative classrooms.
By providing repetitive and engaging opportunities, they help students improve the skills and habits of:
Self-awareness and social awareness through noticing and naming feelings, and seeing how they are connected to what is happening within and around us.
Self-management and relationships by interacting with people and with content in ways that intentionally strengthen our skillset of being aware of and in control of our thoughts, emotions, actions and interactions.
Focusing and persevering by balancing novelty with routines and rituals; we are internally soothed by sameness, while paradoxically, our brains need freshness too!
Click on the image above to access the GCPS 3 Signature Practice Handbook
GCPS Expectations
GCPS Expectations
In order to create a positive and inclusive environment in our schools and district,
GCPS classroom teachers are required to incorporate at least one of the 3 Signature SEL Practices on a daily basis. This can be done synchronously or asynchronously depending on the needs of the class that day.
GCPS staff are also expected to use the 3 Signature Practices when leading meetings with other staff or conducting professional development sessions.
Non-instructional staff should use the Micro Practices when interacting with others to create a positive community within the school.
Training Materials
Training Materials
GCPS Training Materials: Training presentations by GCPS staff members
NCDPI Training Materials: NCDPI has created resources for each content area indicating how teachers can incorporate SEL in all content areas.
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