Let’s take a look at:

• What SEL is
• Why it is important to teach
• What benefits are gained by students and educators through SEL teaching 

What is SEL?

An SEL curriculum integrates social emotional learning into the everyday lessons taught within a classroom. By providing an emotional education for students as well as a cognitive one, educators are able to promote a positive learning culture in the classroom and students gain valuable skills they can use throughout their lives. SEL is an approach to education that gives students a process to acquire tools and knowledge that improve their classroom learning experience and their lives beyond the classroom. 

A Brief History of SEL

Studies conducted and practical application done over several decades has found that social emotional learning plays an essential role in promoting student success, both in the classroom and beyond. Integrating this crucial curriculum into school educational programming benefits both students and educators in multiple ways.

The modern concept of social emotional learning started at the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine in the 1960’s, but as an integrated part of the educational curriculum became more prominent in the mid-1990’s. At this time, scholars across multiple fields of study began working together to identify key competencies that allowed students to better navigate both school and life. An integrated curriculum emerged that promoted the development of these key competencies in students. Over several decades, this large body of research and practice established a foundational understanding of both the key skills and competencies gained through SEL learning and the benefits of developing them.

In this article, the SEL benefits we refer to come from the body of knowledge gained by these decades of research and practice that has led to the development and application of an SEL curriculum and an understanding of its benefits. 

Why Teach SEL?

The importance of SEL lies in the fact that students need both the hard skills of reading, writing and mathematics, but also the soft skills gained through SEL learning. An SEL education is centered in helping students develop skills such as:

• Recognizing, understanding and managing emotions
• Caring and considering others
• Feeling and showing empathy
• Making reasonable decisions
• Understanding and behaving ethically and responsibly
• Developing and maintaining positive relationships
• Regulating and avoiding negative behaviors
• Setting and achieving positive goals

By developing these skills through the process of learning, students in the classroom develop positive SEL behavior that promotes more successful educational outcomes. 

The Benefits of SEL

The benefits of SEL in schools span a wide range for both students and teachers. Let’s dig a little deeper into these SEL benefits. 

Benefits for Students 

SEL benefits for students are grounded in the development of social and emotional skills and competencies that support positive outcomes throughout their lives. These include:

• Academic success
• Healthy behaviors
• Mental wellness
• Positive social behavior
• Healthy well-being
• Enhanced coping skills and resiliency
• Future readiness 

Academic Success

One of the main SEL outcomes for students is improved academic performance. Hundreds of studies show improved academic achievement for students who have the opportunities to develop and practice social and emotional skills in the classroom. Grade test scores are higher as is attendance and homework completion rate. The supportive relationships built through SEL accelerates learning across the board, including students cognitive skill development. As SEL supports a more positive educational environment students are more engaged in learning and gain a higher level of investment in school performance. This all positively impacts academic success. 

Healthy Behaviors

Studies have shown SEL classrooms are more relaxed and focused on student engagement rather than negative student behavior. Students who participate in an SEL curriculum more often feel that their concerns are heard and respected. This allows students to focus on learning rather than disruptive behavior. SEL promotes students finding their voice, allowing them to appropriately express their emotions, even anger and aggression, which prevents more damaging behavior to surface. The long-term benefits of recognizing, understanding and managing behavior is considerable as students carry those skills for a lifetime. Studies also demonstrate a decrease in substance abuse among students who develop skills through SEL. 

Mental Wellness

Research on SEL benefits shows that students who engage in an SEL education have less depression, anxiety and stress. Studies suggest that when students develop the core competencies promoted by SEL their executive cognitive functions improve. This allows them to:

• Focus better
• Switch their attention more easily from task to task
• Apply stronger self-regulation skills

Developing these skills lowers students’ emotional stress and raises their overall engagement in learning and life. 

Positive Social Behavior

One of the key SEL benefits is the development of stronger interpersonal interaction skills. In other words, students get along better with others. Learning to develop and maintain positive and productive relationships with their peers, parents and teachers helps students gain the self-knowledge necessary to develop these relationships throughout their lives. Stronger student-teacher and student-peer relationships also establish a more effective learning environment in the classroom. This emphasis on positive social behavior also contributes to a reduction in bullying and student aggression.

Healthy Well-being

A strong SEL education creates a safer and more supportive school climate. This cultivates a sense of belonging in students and strengthens their engagement and connection to the school and its people. This in turn cultivates factors that contribute to students’ overall mental well-being. Caring relationships, safe supportive environments and positive social and emotional skills create a buffer for students against mental health risks. 

Enhanced Coping Skills and Resiliency

Another SEL benefit is the development of students’ coping skills when things do not go as expected. This helps promote resilience in students, which can contribute greatly to their success in and out of the classroom. The same factors that contribute to a student’s sense of belonging and inclusiveness within the school environment contribute to the development of these coping skills.  

Future Readiness

One of the greatest SEL benefits for students is the building of social emotional competencies that contribute to stronger positive lifetime outcomes. Research has shown that SEL education supports students in reaching lifetime milestones, such as high school graduation, completion of postsecondary education and more stable lifetime employment. Since research on SEL benefits has a history that is decades long, it is possible to study the long-term impact of SEL education throughout a student’s life. These studies have shown that the positive impact of an SEL education carries through a students’ school years and into their adult lives. This effectiveness  

SEL Benefits for Teachers

Some of the SEL advantages for teachers include a stronger sense of well-being and a higher sense of job satisfaction. Both of these factors contribute to less teacher burnout.  

SEL helps teachers:

• Build and maintain stronger relationships with their students
• Manage their classrooms more effectively
• Lower the level of anxiety in their classrooms
• Establish a positive and productive learning environment
• Promote stronger student engagement with lessons and learning

In other words, SEL benefits teachers by supporting them in doing the job they set out to do. 

Longevity of SEL benefits

Improvement in social and emotional skill building benefits students for a lifetime. Students learn more in school than just reading, writing and arithmetic. Learning involves the whole person and also all the people who make up the school community. In other words, a learning environment is a social space and social spaces are also emotional spaces. SEL benefits the emotional and social learning of students, helping them build both social skills and emotional skills that they can use for the rest of their lives.

The post The Benefits of Social Emotional Learning appeared first on Livestream Learning Studio.

In this article, we’ll explore practical ways to incorporate SEL into your classroom and lessons, providing valuable insights and strategies to cultivate a holistic learning experience for your students.

Defining SEL

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an educational approach that focuses on the development of essential social and emotional skills in individuals. It recognizes that academic success is not solely dependent on cognitive abilities but also on the ability to understand and manage emotions, navigate social interactions, and make responsible decisions. All this said, teaching social emotional learning aims to provide students with the tools and competencies necessary to thrive in both school and life.

SEL key competencies

Before we discuss how to incorporate SEL into the classroom, we need to cover the four key competencies of SEL. These include self-awareness, social awareness, decision-making, and self-management.

1. Self-awareness

Self-awareness is a key aspect of SEL, involving the understanding of one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, values, and beliefs. Thus, teaching social emotional skills with self-awareness enables individuals to assess their feelings and behaviors and recognize their impact on themselves and others. By being self-aware, individuals can manage emotions, make informed decisions, build meaningful relationships, and foster personal growth.

2. Social awareness

Social awareness in SEL involves empathy, understanding others’ perspectives, and recognizing their emotions and needs. It promotes compassion, respect, and a sense of responsibility. By teaching social emotional learning through social awareness, students build stronger relationships, resolve conflicts, and contribute to a positive environment.

3. Decision-making

Responsible decision-making in SEL involves considering well-being, evaluating consequences, applying moral principles, and considering multiple perspectives. It promotes ethical behavior, positive relationships, personal success, conflict resolution, and social impact.

4. Self-management

Self-management in SEL involves regulating emotions, controlling impulses, setting goals, managing time, and maintaining motivation. It enhances emotional well-being, decision-making, success, relationships, and resilience. Thus, teaching social emotional learning must include helping students with self-management skills to support their personal growth and achievement.

Incorporating SEL in classrooms

Teaching social emotional learning all year round is essential for maximizing its impact on students’ growth and well-being. While a one-time SEL lesson or activity may offer some short-term benefits, true transformation and lasting change occur through consistent and continuous practice. SEL is a lifelong journey that requires ongoing reinforcement and integration into daily classroom routines and interactions. This is because students need consistent opportunities to develop and strengthen their social and emotional skills, allowing them to navigate various challenges and thrive in all aspects of life. Additionally, by incorporating SEL consistently, you cultivate a sense of belonging and a safe space for students to express themselves authentically.

So let’s go over a few ways for how to implement social emotional learning in the classroom all year long.

Give students reflective writing assignments

Giving students reflective writing assignments is one of the most powerful SEL techniques. Reflective writing provides students with an opportunity to explore and express their thoughts, emotions, and experiences in a structured and introspective manner. By engaging in reflective writing, students develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence as they identify and process their feelings, perspectives, and growth. This practice encourages students to examine their thoughts and actions, fostering responsible decision-making and personal accountability. 

Moreover, reflective writing promotes empathy as students gain a deeper understanding of themselves and others, enhancing their ability to empathize with different perspectives and experiences. By incorporating reflective writing assignments, educators create a space for students to engage in self-reflection, fostering a sense of introspection, personal growth, and a strong foundation for social and emotional development.

Have students do a self-check-in

Morning meetings, such as daily self-check-ins, provide a dedicated time for students to connect, share, and reflect on their emotions, experiences, and well-being. These meetings promote a sense of belonging and community, leading to positive relationships among students. 

So what does teaching social emotional learning with self-check-ins look like? Well, during the check-in, students can express their feelings, both positive and negative, which encourages self-awareness and emotional regulation. This practice also nurtures empathy and active listening as students learn to respect and understand each other’s experiences. Morning meetings serve as a platform for problem-solving, conflict resolution, and collaborative decision-making, empowering students to develop responsible and respectful communication skills. By employing this SEL practice, educators build a strong classroom community that sets a positive tone for the day ahead.

Foster a supportive classroom environment

Fostering a supportive environment is a powerful way to integrate SEL into your classroom. When students feel safe, accepted, and supported, they are more likely to engage in meaningful learning experiences and develop their social and emotional competencies. Creating a supportive environment involves cultivating positive teacher-student relationships, promoting open communication, and emphasizing empathy and respect. Thus, it means that educators must celebrate individual differences, create inclusive classroom practices, and encourage collaboration and cooperation among students. 

In this type of environment, students feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, emotions, and concerns, fostering self-awareness and emotional intelligence. And in turn, they develop stronger connections with their peers, promoting social awareness and empathy. By prioritizing a supportive classroom culture, educators lay the foundation for SEL, enabling students to thrive academically, emotionally, and socially.

Engage students in community service projects

By participating in volunteer activities and serving their communities, students develop empathy, compassion, and a sense of social responsibility. Community service provides opportunities for students to understand the needs and challenges of others, step into their shoes, and recognize the importance of making a positive impact. Through hands-on experiences, students can develop a deeper understanding of social issues, learn about diverse perspectives, and cultivate a sense of empathy towards individuals from different backgrounds. 

Engaging in community service also nurtures compassion as students witness the impact of their actions on the lives of others and build meaningful connections. It promotes a sense of social responsibility, encouraging students to take an active role in addressing societal issues and working towards positive change. By participating in community service projects, students not only contribute to their communities but also develop valuable social and emotional skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.

Allow time for peer mediation

Teaching social emotional learning through peer mediation is highly effective as it provides students with an opportunity to develop crucial skills in conflict resolution, communication, and empathy. By allowing students to work through conflicts and disagreements with the guidance of trained peer mediators, they learn to express their thoughts and feelings assertively, actively listen to others, and find mutually beneficial solutions. 

Peer mediation also empowers students to take ownership of their conflicts, promoting personal responsibility and self-advocacy. It also cultivates a sense of empathy and understanding as students learn to consider the perspectives and needs of others. By incorporating peer mediation, educators foster a positive and respectful classroom culture, where students develop critical social and emotional competencies that serve them well beyond the classroom walls.

Play some improv games

Playing improv games is one of the greatest social emotional learning strategies for teachers. Improv fosters creativity, collaboration, and adaptability. As a result, students will develop empathy, self-expression, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, improv games create a supportive and inclusive atmosphere, promoting social and emotional growth while building a strong classroom community.

Designate a corner for relaxation

Designating a corner for relaxation and providing a space for students to calm down is a fantastic way to implement social emotional learning techniques into your classroom. This designated area serves as a refuge for students to find solace and regain emotional equilibrium when feeling overwhelmed. By offering a dedicated space for relaxation, educators acknowledge the importance of emotional well-being. 

A calming corner can be equipped with comfortable seating, soft lighting, tranquil visuals, and resources such as books or sensory items. Encouraging students to utilize this space promotes self-awareness and self-regulation as they learn to identify their emotions and take proactive steps to manage them effectively. It also reinforces the value of self-compassion and self-care, nurturing a positive relationship with oneself. 

Leverage positive self-talk

Using positive self-talk is an effective way to implement SEL (Social Emotional Learning) in the classroom. It promotes self-confidence, resilience, and a growth mindset. So let’s talk about how to teach SEL with positive self-talk.

To teach students positive self-talk, introduce the concept and its impact on emotions and mindset. Then, help students identify negative thoughts and challenge them to reframe those thoughts with positive alternatives. Encourage the use of positive affirmations, model the practice, and provide activities for reinforcement. 

Exploring the outcomes of teaching SEL

Now that you are aware of a few ways you can effectively incorporate SEL into your lessons, it’s time to discuss the positive results that SEL has on students.

Below you’ll find some of the beneficial outcomes of teaching social emotional learning in the classroom.

Less school violence

SEL teaching can lessen school violence by fostering empathy, emotional regulation, and positive relationships. Students learn to understand and manage emotions, make responsible choices, and resolve conflicts peacefully. This creates a compassionate and respectful school climate, reducing the likelihood of violence.

Boosted math and reading scores

Teaching social emotional learning leads to better math and reading scores by enhancing focus, engagement, and academic performance. It cultivates self-regulation, perseverance, and positive relationships, creating a supportive learning environment that boosts motivation and confidence. Improved social and emotional skills contribute to cognitive and emotional readiness for learning, resulting in enhanced academic outcomes.

A drop in bullying

Teaching SEL strategies may also cause a drop in bullying by promoting empathy, respect, and positive relationships. Students develop social and emotional skills that foster a more inclusive and supportive school climate. SEL equips students with conflict resolution and communication skills, reducing incidents of bullying and creating a safer environment.

Lower alcohol consumption

Implementing SEL strategies in the classroom leads to lower alcohol consumption by promoting self-awareness, responsible decision-making, and healthy coping strategies. Students develop the skills to recognize triggers, manage stress, regulate emotions, and make informed choices. SEL also fosters positive relationships and a sense of belonging, reducing social pressures related to alcohol.

Wrapping up

Teaching social emotional learning holds tremendous potential to transform the educational experience for students. By prioritizing social emotional learning practices, educators can equip students with vital skills that go beyond academics, empowering them to navigate challenges, build meaningful relationships, and make responsible decisions. 

The practical strategies outlined in this article serve as a starting point for integrating SEL seamlessly into your teaching practices. Remember, fostering social and emotional competencies is an ongoing process that requires intention, patience, and collaboration.

The post Ways to Incorporate SEL in Your Classroom and Lessons appeared first on Livestream Learning Studio.

In other words, social emotional learning is essential for all aspects of life from childhood on, as we need SEL skills in everything from school to work, from play groups to family gatherings. In this article, we’ll dive into a deeper exploration of SEL, as we discuss core competencies, pedagogical theory, and educational approaches. We’ll also examine the relationship between social emotional learning and the arts, and talk about ways to measure SEL in educational settings.

Why Is Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Important?

There is ample evidence for the benefits of SEL in educational settings and beyond. The information shared throughout this article is supported by hundreds of independent studies showing the profound benefits of SEL when it comes to academic performance, mental health and wellness, social and emotional skill development, healthy school climate, and individual lifetime outcomes. 

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), a leader in the SEL movement for more than two decades, helps us understand the depth of this research. One of the most significant SEL studies is CASEL’s meta-analysis in July 2017 evaluating nearly 97,500 students in 82 schools and assessing their progress from six months to 18 years after their exposure to school-based, universal SEL interventions. This far-reaching study follows up CASEL’s landmark 2011 meta-analysis, an equally comprehensive research process. (References to additional studies that inform this article can be found at the end of this post.)

This research by CASEL and others consistently points to the ways that individuals with well-developed social emotional skills also have better coping skills, resilience in the face of stressful experiences, and the ability to navigate everyday challenges in work, school, and social settings.

Strong SEL in schools translates to strong academic achievement, not just in an immediate sense, but years after students have experienced SEL education. Students who participate in SEL even demonstrate academic performance 13 percentile points above their peers throughout their academic journeys.

Children who develop healthy social emotional skills experience less anxiety and depression than those who haven’t been exposed to direct SEL education. And the individual impact of SEL is also a collective benefit; students who’ve experienced SEL in schools tend to trust their peers and teachers more and report a stronger sense of safety and feelings of inclusion and belonging.

Early focus on social and emotional learning leads to the development of healthy life skills later on. Students with strong SEL skills more often succeed in all areas of life, going on to graduate from high school, enroll in post-secondary education, and acquire stable employment—all of which add to lifelong happiness and the creation of a healthier society.

The Five SEL Competencies

To understand social emotional learning more deeply, it’s important to know about the five SEL core competencies that CASEL has laid out:

1.Self-Awareness: This competency involves recognizing and understanding one’s own emotions, strengths, limitations, and values. It also includes developing a sense of self-confidence and maintaining a positive self-image.

2. Self-Management: Self-management encompasses the ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and        behaviors effectively. It involves setting and working towards personal and academic goals, managing stress, and demonstrating self-discipline and perseverance.

3. Social Awareness: Social awareness amounts to understanding and empathizing with the feelings, needs, and perspectives of others. It includes developing empathy, appreciating diversity, and demonstrating respect and care for others.

4. Relationship Skills: This competency focuses on building and maintaining healthy relationships. It involves effective communication, active listening, cooperation, conflict resolution, and the ability to work collaboratively in diverse groups.

5. Responsible Decision-Making: Responsible decision-making is the ability to make ethical and constructive choices. It includes considering the consequences of one’s actions, evaluating potential risks, and problem-solving in various situations.

It’s worth noting that SEL interventions addressing all of the CASEL 5 result in the increase of participating students’ academic performance by 11 percentile points in comparison to their peers without access to SEL education.

The Pedagogical Theory of SEL

Social emotional learning is based on the belief that emotional well-being and social competence are fundamental to academic achievement and overall success in life. Before the development of SEL education, pedagogical theorists often regarded reason and emotion as separate processes, with the former controlling the latter. We now know that these two processes are actually inextricably linked.

Social and emotional learning has a long history and was even central to Plato’s argument in  The Republic, which called for the development of morals and character, alongside standard lessons in math, science, physical education, and the arts to “produce citizens of good character.”

In the United States, SEL can trace its roots back to pedagogical discourse of the early twentieth century, but it began picking up traction in the mid-1990s with the creation of CASEL and the release of New York Times science reporter Daniel Goleman’s popular book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.

In the last few years, social and emotional learning has become more and more prevalent in schools and is now part of our national discourse about how best to support children and youth. The wide-ranging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic increased interest in social emotional learning among parents and educators as a way to combat the isolation, excessive screen time, and mental health struggles that students faced for multiple years.

Incorporating pedagogical theory into educational practice, SEL aims to provide individuals with the necessary tools to navigate their emotions, develop positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and thrive in academic and personal contexts.

How Educators Approach SEL

With social emotional learning so central to personal development and healthy relationship-building, it’s important to consider effective SEL philosophy, practices, tools, and techniques that teachers draw on in their classrooms. 

SEL at All Ages

It’s advantageous, of course, to start young with SEL so that children can develop skills early on to use throughout their lives, but it’s also important to remember that it’s never too late to learn social emotional skills. Students at all grade levels can benefit from intentional SEL education, and adolescence is also an important stage for developing SEL skills. As is the case for all thoughtful instruction, the key with SEL is to meet students where they’re at. 

In elementary school, SEL might involve students creating vision boards by choosing images that affect them emotionally as their minds “float” through the process of looking at magazines and other sources. In middle school, teachers can use movement activities to create classroom expectations that honor and prioritize space for sharing emotions and experiences; they can then discuss anything from how their weekends went to their emotional reactions to course material. And in high school, teachers can help students work actively on developing empathy across different perspectives when it comes to discussing and/or creating a performance, poem, graphic novel, or short story linked to core curricular standards as well.

Steps for Teaching SEL

Social emotional learning can take many forms, but the most common progression for SEL in schools follows some version of the following steps over the course of a week. SEL works best when integrated into the core curriculum. In fact, stand-alone SEL lessons often create additional labor and undue stress for teachers, but SEL linked to the core actually makes the learning process more seamless for all. Common steps for SEL teaching are:

• The teacher explains an SEL concept with text, pictures, video, and/or audio linked to a core curricular standard.
• Students practice the skill with group or peer-to-peer discussion or individual writing and reflection, while also working toward the core standard.
• The teacher reinforces the SEL concept throughout the week, sometimes reinforcing it by sending work home with students, again connected to the core.
• The teacher checks for understanding and reteaches parts of the SEL concept when necessary.

It’s important to note that SEL instruction is not unlike many forms of effective teaching—it requires careful explanation, ongoing practice, and thoughtful reinforcement. Schools and classrooms committed to SEL education create a culture where social emotional learning is integrated into the fabric of the larger educational environment. At schools where SEL is valued, students learn to name their own feelings, respect their peers’ perspectives, develop empathy, and work together productively across differences. Teachers coach students through challenges and conflicts, and then students learn to adapt these techniques and perspectives themselves.

SEL Teaching Principles

Social emotional learning activities are plentiful, so it’s sometimes tough to figure out where to start. Creating a culture of emotional learning can set the groundwork for integrating SEL into lessons that focus on core competencies. You can expect classrooms that embrace SEL education to often include some of these kinds of practices and values:

• Growth Mindset: Rather than seeing setbacks as personal failures, students and educators focus on challenges as opportunities for learning and growth, both individually and collectively. If a student acts out against another student in class, for example, there isn’t a focus on shame and “being bad,” but an emphasis on deconstructing and learning from the situation so that it’s less likely to happen again. Students can examine both their own struggles and their effect on others.
• SEL Vocabulary: Like students who adopt the growth mindset, those who use an SEL vocabulary separate the situation from the person’s value. If a student doesn’t figure out the right answer to a math problem, the message isn’t “I’m stupid,” but “I see where I didn’t follow every step of the equation, so I’ll try to remember that next time.”
• Mindfulness and Self-Soothing: When teachers emphasize mindfulness as part of their classroom culture, everyone develops a greater sense of self and group awareness, which promotes focus and care. Mindfulness can take the form of meditation or sensory exercises, or even activities that ask learners to see a problem from multiple angles. Similarly, when students encounter frustrating situations, they learn to self-soothe with breathing techniques, time out of the classroom, or kind self-talk.
• Collaboration: Students in environments that value SEL skills regularly collaborate in authentic, meaningful ways. They share responsibility equally for the success of the group because they are aware of their own and others’ contributions. They can even learn to navigate and resolve conflict on their own without a teacher’s intervention by acknowledging and adjusting their behaviors.
• Self-Expression: Students with emotional skills express themselves in myriad ways in a classroom, from voicing honest, thoughtful opinions about a discussion topic to building in-depth creative responses to course content. These responses can take many forms, and we’ll explore some of them in more depth in the section that follows.

SEL and the Arts

In the world of social emotional learning, the arts can be an invaluable part of the education process. The term “arts integration” is often used to describe arts-focused activities incorporated in the classroom, but true arts integration and, hence, deep SEL education is about more than just activities. The arts can be a real foundation of learning for students and a tool for delivering a wide range of educational content beyond the arts as well. 

For example, Executive Director of Metro ECSU John Schultz used our Theater as the Arts tool with his chemistry class in an especially effective way. As he explains, “I gave my science class assigned roles of being protons, neutrons, and electrons to demonstrate the concept of an atom. Protons and neutrons move around in a huddled mass, the center of the stage of the classroom, to demonstrate what is in the atom’s nucleus. While students ran around quickly, they actually have to run at the speed of light around the nucleus as electrons. It was a great way to demonstrate the atom, and demonstrate acting responsibly.” 

In this lesson, meaningful movement and embodiment (theater and dance) became the vehicle for students to grasp core curricular content, while also engaging in the SEL necessary to move around the space. Becoming protons, neutrons, and electrons also required them to work in a respectful, collaborative way that drew on their relationship and social skills, as much as their self-management and responsible decision-making.

Because social emotional learning is important to success in virtually everything we do, it’s often good for educators to integrate SEL into every week of instruction. Many art activities naturally merge SEL competencies with common core competencies and national standards. 

For example, Livestream Learning Studio has seen the ways that elementary school students studying financial literacy as part of the Jump$tart National Standards can create vision boards with emotionally-resonant images in a way that addresses both those national standards and the CASEL framework. Forms of visual art like these boards, as well as performance, music, and video, provide invaluable experiences for students to express themselves creatively and collaboratively—and they deepen all five of the SEL competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

Here is just a small selection of the kinds of arts-based social emotional learning activities students might engage in that can also be used to teach core curricular goals simultaneously: 

Elementary School

• Experience livestream events focused on arts integration pedagogy.
• Draw or paint a special moment or person with a focus on gratitude for this event/person.
• Create a color wheel to discuss the connection between colors and emotions.
• Listen to songs with emotional content and discuss feelings that come up, or take in music in different styles/contexts to focus on cross-cultural connections.
• Dance or move as a class to rhythms and concepts (like colors or words for emotions) shared by the teacher.

Middle School

• Play theater games rooted in collaboration and creative problem-solving. (Viola Spolin’s Theater Games for the Classroom is an especially helpful resource.)
• Create a class newspaper or online journal with visual and textual elements. (Students can also roleplay as reporters, photographers, editors, etc.)
• Write collaborative “exquisite corpse” poems, with each student taking on a line to create a whole piece in response to a course text or concept.
• Make vision boards, collages, or abstract “found” art that represents an emotional engagement with a core curricular lesson.

High School

• Write a monologue on a core curricular topic/text from someone else’s perspective to develop empathy; perform and direct each other’s work to dive further into collaboration and careful decision-making.
• Create graphic novels in pairs with one student illustrating and the other writing the story; this can serve as a creative response to a course text.
• Make podcasts that dive into complex social issues or scientific concepts that are part of the core curriculum.
• Keep personal response journals that combine visual art, creative writing, and found images and text to explore course texts and core curriculum.

These activities truly are the tip of the iceberg in terms of how the arts and social emotional learning go hand-in-hand. To learn more about ways to merge the five SEL competencies with core competencies and national standards, you can visit our Act I Literacy and Act II STEM curriculum.

How Do You Measure SEL?

Measuring SEL can be challenging, but meaningful, as it involves assessing personal and interpersonal skills, attitudes, and behaviors in complex ways. Several approaches and tools can be used to measure SEL, including:

• Self-Report Surveys: These surveys involve individuals reflecting on their own social and emotional skills, attitudes, and experiences. Questions may inquire about self-perception, self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making abilities.
• Teacher Assessments: Teachers can provide valuable insights into students’ social and emotional learning through observations, checklists, and rating scales. They can assess behaviors such as cooperation, empathy, and problem-solving within the classroom setting.
• Direct Observation: Trained observers can assess SEL competencies by directly observing individuals in various settings. This method provides a more objective perspective on social and emotional behaviors and interactions.
• Performance Tasks: Performance tasks involve individuals engaging in activities or scenarios that require the application of SEL competencies. Assessors can evaluate their ability to manage emotions, communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, and make responsible decisions.

Each assessment method can be used on its own, but educators may want to consider employing a combination of these approaches to gain a comprehensive understanding of a student’s SEL development over time.

Social Emotional Learning in Summary

Social emotional learning is an educational approach that focuses on nurturing the social and emotional well-being of individuals at every age. Children and youth especially need the tools and environment to develop and enhance their SEL skills as they navigate the complex challenges of the 21st century. Social emotional learning teaches students how to problem-solve and overcome challenges, manage their emotions, control their impulses, and treat others with kindness and respect. 

By developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making, students enhance their overall growth and positively impact their interactions with others. An early SEL education helps them understand and cope with their emotions while demonstrating empathy for others and processing the world around them. By incorporating SEL into educational practices, we can support young people as they develop the necessary competencies to succeed in school, work, and life. And the arts can help make social emotional learning an even more meaningful part of what it means to be human.

References

Cipriano, C., Strambler, M.J., Naples, L., Ha, C., Kirk, M.A., Wood, M.E., Sehgal, K., Zieher, A., Eveleigh, A., McCarthy, M.F., Funaro, M. Ponnock, A., Chow, J., & Durlak, J.A. (2023, Feb 2). Stage 2 Report: The state of the evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions. https://osf.io/mk35u/ 

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