Overview: Students problem solve a social-emotional scenario and, in the process, learn how to apply a variety of SEL skills.

Materials:

• Decision Making Worksheet

• Scenarios — examples of sources:

  • Be Good People Situation Cards

Procedure: 

1. Select a scenario. You can use the resources linked above. Alternatively, you can play a video or read a story until you come across a social problem to solve.

2. After you pick a scenario, select a method for students to show their work. Either provide students with a worksheet (linked above) or use a white board to complete this activity as a whole group.

3. Add the scenario at the top of the worksheet, and then share it with students.

4. Work with students to generate several options for what to say or do in response to the situation. Instruct students to list one or more pros and cons for each option.

5. Don’t rush the brainstorming process; invest time into the discussion. For example, using spontaneous role plays of each option helps students to brainstorm advantages and disadvantages.

6. After students list all the advantages and disadvantages of each option, they have to pick the best option. To help students visualize this process, it helps to draw bubbles of varying sizes next to each advantage or disadvantage to represent both (A) how big of a deal it is and (B) how likely it is to happen.

Overview: Students create Google Slides presentations, stories, or posters about any of the SEL skills. Project based learning bakes choices into the foundation of the lesson, increasing student engagement by leveraging learner autonomy. This activity is especially recommended for secondary students because these students typically have the requisite academic skills to navigate projects more independently than younger learners.

Materials:

• Grading rubrics

• Skill posters (located in the curriculum folders linked above)

• Poster paper, writing materials, etc. (if offering poster option)

• Examples of finished student projects (Presentation | Story)

Procedure:

1. Print out posters for several different skills and allow students to pick from those options. The skill posters provide students with the skill steps that they will need to incorporate into their projects.

2. Prompt students to make a Google Slides presentation, write a story, or make a poster about the SEL skill. Provide students with grading rubrics so the quality expectations for their projects are clear.

3. As students work, coach students on improving their projects.

4. Have students present their projects to the class.

Overview: Students essentially play the popular Apples to Apples game but match SEL skills to social-emotional scenarios. This is a method for teaching students how to problem solve a social scenario and, in the process, apply their SEL skills.

Materials:

• Situation Cards

• Skill Cards

• Values Cards (Optional add-on. Use in place of or in addition to the Skill Cards)

Procedure:

1. Each player gets 5 Skill cards.

2. The judge reads a Situation card and each player submits the Skill they think is most relevant to the Situation.

3. The judge reads each Skill card, asks the group if they have any input (sometimes players prefer to sacrifice their anonymity because they need to explain the connection they thought of between Situation & Skill), and then selects the best Skill that was submitted.

4. That Situation card goes to the winner, and the judge position then rotates to the next person in the circle.

5. At the end of the game, the winner is the player with the most Situation cards.

Overview: As students watch a movie or TV show, they watch out for a list of SEL skills and answer a few questions once they notice one.

Materials: Worksheet

Procedure:

1. Select an age-appropriate video clip to watch. Netflix's filtered selection for kids is a great place to start for finding video clips.

2. Before you start the video:

   • Review the list of SEL skills on the worksheet. Allow them to ask any questions they have (e.g., clarifying what a skill is). The listed skills are high-frequency, observable skills (i.e., I can tell when somebody is doing it). There is also space to add additional skills if you wish to do so.

   • Instruct students to keep a close lookout for which skills they see characters using. Establish a signal that students can use to alert you when they observe a skill.

3. When you or a student observes one of the listed SEL skills, pause the video. Facilitate a brief discussion using the questions on the worksheet and have students record responses on their worksheets. Resume the video.

Overview: A drawing activity that can be used for any of the Be Good People skills. For students who prefer not to draw, there is also a writing option.

Materials: 

• Worksheet

• Colored pencils/markers/crayons

Procedure:

1. Print out posters for several different skills and allow students to pick from those options. The skill posters provide students with the skill steps that they will need to complete their worksheets.

2. The worksheet includes a drawing/comic strip option (front) but also offers a writing option (back) for students who prefer not to draw. If you don't want to offer this option, only print one half of the worksheet. If you do offer the option, begin by offering the choice to students.

3. Instruct students to begin by copying the skill steps from their poster into the short, numbered rows on their worksheet. They will probably have fewer than six steps and should leave any unneeded rows blank or cross them out.

4. Instruct students to think of a situation where somebody would need to use the SEL skill they picked. Once they have come up with one, their task is to draw (or write) the story of characters using the skill successfully in that situation. We recommend checking in with each student to approve their plan before they begin drawing.

5. Have students present their comic strips/stories to the class.