Three Signature Practices

The SEL 3 Signature Practices are a strategy for embedding SEL for students and staff to create a climate and culture of safety, inclusion and belonging, and to support strong, effective learning environments.

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Inclusive Welcome

Engaging Strategies

Intentional Close

Inclusive Welcome

Open each class period, meeting, or professional learning experience with an inclusive welcome.

An inclusive welcome is culturally and linguistically respectful, builds community, and connects to the work ahead. When planning and facilitating activities, educators are always thinking, “What’s my purpose?” The inclusive welcome is an opportunity to bring that purpose to life. What to a casual observer might appear to be an icebreaker or time-filler can be an intentional, effective educational strategy.

Engaging Strategies

Embed engaging strategies throughout the experience.

Engaging strategies offer opportunities for participants to more fully grasp content and to connect learning to their own contexts. Build in a balance of interactive and reflective experiences that vary in complexity and style to meet the needs of all participants and your intended outcomes for the time together.

Intentional Close

Close each experience in an intentional way that builds a bridge to a next step.

An intentional close highlights an individual and shared understanding of the content and purpose of the engagement, illuminates the intellectual and emotional experience just shared, can provide a sense of accomplishment, and supports forward-thinking. The closing activity may be reflective of the process or the content, help identify next steps, make connections to one’s own work, or show appreciation for one another.

SEL Competency and Standards Connection:

Self-Awareness
Self-Management
Social Awareness
Responsible Decision Making
Relationship Skills

What the Research Says:

(2019, Visible Learning 250+ Influences on Student Achievement)

Classroom discussion: 0.56 A form of instruction in which students are invited to speak about the topic at hand. It involves much more than a teacher asking a class a question, then another, etc., but involves students discussing with each other, often prompted from an open and not closed set of questions.
Classroom Cohesion: 0.53 The sense that the teacher and the students are working together toward positive learning goals.
Social Skills Development: 0.40 Teaching each student to appropriately interact and communicate effectively with their peers and teachers and develops respect for self and respect for others.

What’s the Point?

The SEL 3 Signature Practices are one tool for fostering a supportive environment and promote SEL.
They intentionally and explicitly help build a habit of practices through which students and adults enhance their SEL skills.
While not an SEL curriculum, these practices are one concrete example of a way to help people understand and practice the goals of an overall systemic SEL implementation plan.

How is this Strategy Used by the Teacher?

Teachers set the tone for our learning and interactions as we launch the school day, run a staff meeting, deliver a lesson or facilitate professional development.
Intentionally chosen strategies, activities, and protocols foster interactions that model SEL in action and help create an equitable experience.
By integrating moments of reflection, positive interactions, and appreciations, we craft the climate and culture we’re striving for— one in which everyone in the room feels they belong to a safe and caring community of learners, where they are valued and able to learn and work together productively.

How is the Strategy Used by Students?

This strategy helps establish a safe container for equity of voice, for truly seeing one another, and celebrating one another as our fullest selves.
Students and adults alike are a part of the lifelong learning process for developing and using strong SEL skills.

Trauma-Informed, Culturally & Community Responsive:

When the SEL 3 Signature Practices are effectively implemented as part of a comprehensive SEL plan, they promote these essential elements of an equitable learning and working environment:

Equity of voice: All participants are encouraged to speak and are respectfully heard.
Inclusion: All degrees of participation are welcomed and acknowledged.
Collectivism: All engage in and contribute to a “for the good of the group” experience.