Reflection

I am a special education provider in a 2nd grade, co-integrated classroom setting. Although they are young, I do see a number of components of SEL that if applied now, will hopefully set students up to be successful early on. Some things I already do are teach growth mindset and conduct restorative justice circles. Students also have the opportunity at the start of each day to have a "mood check-in". This tells us if there are issues that happened before they even came to school that need to be addressed so that the child can be given strategies/support to help them take back their control. Moving forward, I feel strongly that the children I serve have opportunities to receive structured instruction on the five SEL components at the very beginning of the school year and that they are given chances to see how they are applying them to their own learning experiences. Given situations in which a child is making poor choices or not partaking in instruction, referring to the SEL components and giving the child a chance to reflect would have a great impact on their overall, whole development.

I think its very important to incorporate SEL inside our classroom because many of our students are learning these skills at home. I provide class discussions on professionalism, self awareness, working within a team and also teaching empathy to each other. In my years of teaching, just modeling the components of SEL can provide students with the keys to success and open up topics that students otherwise wouldn't talk about.

I can start by using SEL in my setting my asking students and staff how they are doing and actively listening to their answer. I can also have more in-depth conversations that I know may be going through a more difficult time and just offer to be another person that they can turn to. This can also be done as a feeling check in, before class, as the ticket in, or beginning a meeting. I plan on having a workshop on self-management sometime within the next two months; topics might include goal setting, managing stress, anxiety.

I work in a district that has increased focus on SEL over the last few years.  I have worked to incorporate SEL into many of my lessons.  I have used Kindness Boards focused on helping students having a bad day.  Just having conversations with kids on how they day is going is also helpful. 

I teach ELA in a high school setting.  I have found that discussions about characters actions and how they affected others in the novel is the most effective method to teach SEL in my class.  They can see how characters actions affect others by the end of the story.  I start every piece with an anticipation guide that ask kids their thoughts and experiences on topics that will be in the novel.  We then finish by looking at the same guide and having students explain if their thoughts or feelings have changed since reading the story. It starts great discussions. 

SEL to me should be something that is incorporated into curriculum for every age group and grade. Children experience so many changes throughout their early childhood and into their adolescent that focusing on themselves is an important concept that can benefit them at any stage of their life. Being able to understand themselves and their own feelings can greatly impact their lives for the better or worse. Not only can SEL be addressed as group lessons, but also in individual settings. This would benefit the teacher in better understanding their own students. 

I have learned the importance of Social emotional Learning. The connectedness of students is clearly important for them to achieve success not only academically but in global sense. The world is complex and students need to be better prepared to handle what is thrown at them. I think a good starting point is to have students recognize their classmates body language, facial expressions and try to identify what it means. We have extremely low functioning students who these concepts are very grand and difficult to grasp. However whatever situation they are in, they will need to be able to appropriately react to the circumstances. Direct teaching of these skills is paramount.

I am fortunate enough to work in a district where SEL is a primary focus.  We have counselors who come in weekly to provide SEL lessons, and we are constantly discussing the lessons, referring back to previous lessons, and talking about how to use the skills that we learned when situations arise.

Integrated SEL

Social and Emotional Learning is more than just a curriculum.  It is thoughtful and strategic concepts embedded into all classroom activities.  I create opportunities for students to practice self-awareness and self-management.  We work to build social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

Literary Connections

I strategically choose books for both our novel studies and book clubs that allow us to have rich conversations about empathy and overcoming obstacles.

Pit & Peak of the Week

Each Friday morning, students fill out a “Pit and Peak” of the week. This allows me to check in with each student, celebrate happy moments, and provide support where needed.

Friday Family Meetings & Class T-Shirts

Each Friday morning, our 5th graders meet for our “family meeting” where we celebrate successes, participate in team-building exercises and have a whole lot of fun.  Students can also be awarded a class t-shirt which is the highest honor that can be earned in 5th grade. This signifies that the student is working to the best of their ability in the areas of leadership, academics and character. After earning a t-shirt, these students become 5th grade ambassadors who work to help other students reach this goal.

I was familiar with SEL instuction on a surface level before working on this session. I was familair with the self-awareness component of SEL but I have learned that SEL instruction has many components and is a more holistic approach to instructing than I had previously thought. I teach in a secondary school and would like to implement the SEL components of Responsible Decision Making, Relationship Skills, and Social Awareness into my classes for this upcoming school year. Honestly, I can see all 5 of the factors being extremely valuable for my students growth and learning.

Students can identify how they fit into history and examine if their interests are reflected in the histories that they learn about. Students can respond to a compelling question using a digital platform like padlet. Students can like topics presented by other classmates. Ask for students to respond to the generated ideas. I would use this as a springboard for many different ways to incoroporate idenity into the classroom. 

In my Global classes I can incorporate lessons that show historical events where conflict is presented and continues to be presented (enduring issues).  Students can research causes and outcomes of these events then create solutions for the given conflict by using their research to rewrite history. Students will rewrite the outcomes of their research and use their problem solving skills to create a positive solution to the event. Students can present their rewritten histories to the class. They can take this one step further and write letters to agencies who have resources/power to take action on behalf of the people impacted in areas of current conflict. 

Students can read and view current events where compassion and empathy are being displayed by people and agencies. Students can research local people and agencies who display compassion and empathty. They can learn more about their local community in this way. They can take their research one step further and interivew the local people or agency. Students will organize their research and choose a venue to educate other people about the people and resources living in our own community. Students can shared their final products out within the high school and local community. 

The past year and a half has presented students with many challenges that will need to be supported into the new school year. My students can directly benefit from the factors personally and within the content/curriculum of my classes. SEL instruction will be a great support as we move forward. 

Social-emotional learning has been a targeted goal within my district that the students might have heard about in the secondary level, but might not know specific details about. I would really like to focus on the components of responsible decision making and social awareness in my classroom. I work with mostly seniors and I think that they have been able to be exposed to the other three components of SEL and various sub-skills throughout their educational careers, but obviously can only benefit from having more exposure and skill building opportunities. I would specifically like to share what responsible decision making and social awareness looks like as presented through CASEL and also what the sub-skills are for each so the students know what specific areas we will be targeting. As I go through my content objectives for Government and Economics with my students, I can focus them on the SEL skill we will be addressing too. Those two courses really thrive when the students are engaged in productive discussions that are centered around how the content/curriculum relates back to their life and SEL can help enhance their experience in those classes if the students have the opportunity to really develop those skills. These are the last courses students will take before they enter the “real world” and I have to make sure I am giving them the tools to be productive members of the society they are entering into.

What I have learned about SEL is that it is a method that focuses entirely on the student. As a secondary-level librarian, I have the privilege to get to know my students in very intimate and personal ways. To incorporate deeper levels of SEL, I would like to place focus on transforming and strengthening my learning space as an inclusive, relationship-centered, and culturally relevant environment. This may look like investing and displaying more culturally diverse novels and resources, encouraging conversation within the library, more student-led initiatives, and act as a model for conversation and collaboration. 

There are many ways to integrate SEL in the classroom. I would integrate SEL in the classroom by having a feelings check-in by my classroom for students when they walk in.  Based on age level, I would have a laminated feelings poster with four emotions (i.e., happy, sad, ok, and mad) also having the related emotion faces and hands for the students to tap when they enter the room.  I would use this to ask students to tell me one reason why they are feeling this emotion.  If the students were older, I would have them put their name on a poster that holds a variety of emotions with faces so they can align their feelings that best fit what is on the chart. This would allow conversation to happen with the teacher and the student to better understand what each student is going through if they feel comfortable to share.  I would also integrate deep breathing exercises with the school counselor and/or the GoNoodle program so students have resources they can learn to appropriately deal with their feelings and emotions. It is extremely important to build relationships with your students so they have trust within the teacher and classroom environment to share their feelings. 

As an AIS teacher, my students are already struggling with math.  I spend a great deal of time incorporating the "growth mindset" strategy into my classroom.  With visual reminders around the room, videos, and a daily modeling of how to pay attention to not only their academic, but also social and emotional needs.  Building their confidence and having students self-reflect is essential to making academic gains.  We promote a lot of "math talk" by sharing thoughts with others and also serving as respectful listeners. We praise good decisions and try to figure out how to improve those which were not so good. I am fortunate that I work with small groups of students and they get a lot of attention and time to interact with me and each other.