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SEL does not stop when students go back from school. Students, especially those who are in elementary school age, spend a lot of time with community members, participating in various activities within the setting. Hence, providing SEL at the community level is essential for continuing to develop students' recognition and understanding of their and others' emotions and feelings. Leveraging SEL at the community level is also helpful for healthy relationship-building among community members. Combined with the worldwide policies and China's situation, there are several recommendations for the next step the community can take to implement and strengthen SEL.
Parents and Family Level
Parents and Family Level
Promoting the awareness of SEL is a significant step for everyone in the community to take action. Parents and family members, who spend with their children most of their time after school, are responsible for strengthening SEL at home. There are several recommended actions for parents and family members to try out with kids:
Write a gratitude journal
Writing a gratitude journal enhances children's self-management and self-awareness in CESEL. It helps children to keep in mind what happened today and memorize the valuable and warm parts of the day so that they can feel the kindness of the world. Recording the journal also helps children recognize their emotions and changes in feelings. During the process, parents and family members are encouraged to participate and write with children to enhance family connections and positive relationship-building. Parents and family members can ask a few questions to elicit children's thinking and reflection to get started. For example, questions can be:
Who is the person you feel grateful for today?
What is one thing that you can make yourself feel grateful for now?
What is one thing other did that made you feel grateful today?
Write a letter to your loved one
Writing a letter to a loved one supports children's development in relationship skills and social awareness in CASEL. For younger kids, drawing a picture of a loved one can be the substitute activity. Through the activity, the children can realize the important people near them and practice to express their feelings. As adults, parents and family members are encouraged to guide children by asking them questions to promote thinking. For instance, parents can ask:
Who do you feel comfortable spending time with?
Who is someone that you are glad to have in your life?
If you can write him/her/them a letter, what do you want them to know? (feel free to make young kids draw pictures instead of writing/help the kids write if necessary)
Make to-do lists
Making to-do lists helps build students' skills in responsible decision-making and self-management as suggested by CASEL. Children learn to organize, plan, and reflect on their daily tasks by making to-do lists. They are also provided with the opportunity to manage their time and rationally distribute time into different tasks according to the significance and urgency of tasks. Besides, children practice trade-offs between tasks and play time once the to-do list is constructed. Thus, they are practicing the skill of managing themselves, and dedicating themselves to the tasks that they promised to do. Parents and families are welcome to be supervisors and facilitators, monitoring and supporting children's behaviors and progress. To initiate the project, parents and family members can say:
Tomorrow is the weekend, so let's plan ahead of time so we can do everything we want.
What was the best part of yesterday? What are you looking forward to tomorrow? Why don't we list everything we'll do so that we can organize them?
Do yoga together
Doing exercises together promotes self-awareness, self-management, and relationship skills in CASEL. Through the practice of breathing, balancing, and coordinating body parts, children can get a better understanding of their feelings and health. Collective yoga time serves as an opportunity for everyone in the family to share breath, air, and space. They can get a better sense of how individuals influence and affect each other when spending time together. Children can also feel the power of a group when doing group activities. Silence is advocated during yoga time, but parents and family members can do check-ins before and after the group activities. Pay attention to others, pay attention to oneself. In the after-yoga share-out, parents and family members can facilitate a discussion by starting to ask questions such as:
During the yoga time, I noticed... (other's emotions), do you feel comfortable sharing what made you feel this way?
We've done a great job in the yoga exercise. High five! Let's do a breathing activity together.
What was everyone thinking/feeling during the yoga exercise?
How do you feel about the exercise? (use thumb up/down/in the middle)
Other SEL practices and materials with parents and family members can be accessed from the websites below:
SEL Activities for Families https://www.moshikids.com/articles/sel-activities-for-families/
SEL Activities for Families and Educators https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2023-08/sel-parent-and-educator-activities.pdf
Other 25 activities are listed below, feel free to practice one to two each day!
District and Community Level
District and Community Level
The composition of the community in China is quite different from that in the United States. Since China has a population of 1.412 billion (2021), the limited territory popularizes apartments. Generally speaking, there are more than 20 buildings in a 小区(xiao qu), a community. Within each building, there are 30 to 200 units, depending on the size and construction type of the community. Taking an average, there are typically 3000 units in a community. The number gets larger in a metropolis like Beijing and Shanghai. Under such constraints, it seems reasonable that SEL implementation in the whole community is a future goal that requires efforts from all levels.
However, there are still some actions that community leaders can take to acknowledge and organize SEL within the community. Under the community situation in China, community leaders can:
Offer explicit instruction of SEL
Since the 小区(community) in China is densely populated, it might be difficult for the leaders to organize SEL activities before everyone's acknowledgment of SEL. Thus, the first step that community leaders can take is to give speeches about SEL to publicize the significance of SEL and let everyone who has not accumulated knowledge of SEL have access to it. For example, central questions to guide the information session can be:
What is SEL?
Why is SEL important?
What are some practices in SEL?
How can communities incorporate SEL in daily executions?
Initiate SEL after-school programs
Quality after-school programs engage children with Social Emotional Learning. Communities can find a space, outside or inside, for children to come and interact with SEL. For example, communities can provide a room for after-school kids from 5 pm to 8 pm, offering children resources and materials that facilitate SEL. Students coming back from school can go to the community SEL room directly and watch videos about SEL, write journals, draw pictures, do silent reflections, and engage in activities to build their skills such as self-awareness, relationship skills, and self-management (CASEL). Below are some helpful resources for after-school programs in the United States:
YMCA
Scout Groups
4-H
Launch community and family workshops
We talked about SEL activities that children and families can do at home. The community is also encouraged to hold events such as community workshops that allow families and children to join in the practices of SEL. For instance, in the unit of family, family members can take turns drawing a picture of one memorable moment. Family members are also encouraged to write each other a letter, expressing their feelings and love toward their loved ones. Different from a family activity, the community workshop welcomes everyone in the community to practice skills in SEL (CASEL, 2023). Some group SEL activities that communities can try out can be found at:
50+ Simple SEL Activities for All Ages
Create programs that represent and reflect the community
It is essential to examine the representation of multiple cultures and ethnicities while pursuing community engagement in educational institutions or programs. This evaluation ensures that the program reflects the community's complex variety, diverse interests, and constituent demographics. Students' exposure to a variety of cultures (56 ethnic groups in China and other cultures worldwide), customs, and belief systems aids in the development of greater tolerance for differences in others. Implementing the aforementioned principles is recommended for actively involving the community in enhancing kids' social and emotional development. These strategic approaches help to improve the effectiveness of educational programs and promote a mindset among students that sees them as significant contributors to their particular communities.
Other resources can be found at:
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