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embedded in school culture
Success may depend on schools avoiding common pitfalls, Jade warns.
“They look at this as a one-time professional development day, or maybe a week, for teachers and other school staff,” Jade said. “SEL is not a side lesson. SEL should be taught in any way and with any content. It’s how you structure the space in which learning takes place.”
In a metropolitan area like Columbus City Schools in Ohio (47,000 students, 116 schools, 9,000 staff), implementing SEL in a comprehensive manner requires many resources and partnerships. Jade is the Executive Director of Partnership4Success, an equity-focused organization that brings together stakeholders to improve the social and emotional well-being of children. The organization works with Columbus City Schools to train educators to help schools create safe and positive learning environments.
Tyree Rivers, climate culture coordinator for Columbus City Schools, has watched the effort evolve over the past 20 years.
“For years, we have combined trauma-informed restorative practices with SEL. These have always been district-wide efforts, and partnerships provide a level of expertise that allows us to dig deep into equity. ” she says.
Rivers works with a team of full-time SEL coaches who work with teachers to incorporate SEL into daily instruction. Coaches are essential additions to the staff made possible through advocacy by the Columbus Education Association (CEA).
In 2018, CEA members compiled a list of negotiation concerns, including the need for additional SEL support. They called for a dedicated staff to help guide and lead these efforts, and they succeeded.
“These can help teachers figure out how to utilize SEL on a regular basis and make adjustments to their curriculum,” Rivers explains.
This is critical to ensuring that educators do not view SEL as “just one more thing” that is expected of them. SEL coaches guide teachers through curriculum embedding or restructuring challenges. Partnership4Success also added new training for adult SEL.
“We can be more intentional about how we incorporate SEL without becoming too burdensome,” Rivers says. “It’s essentially part of our job.”
SEL: What Great Educators Do
The strategies that work in Ohio’s largest districts also work in North Carolina’s smallest districts. There are only four schools in the Edenton-Chowan area, with a student body of 1,900. Forty-five percent of students are economically disadvantaged.
“Even though we are a Title I school, a lot of kids come to class not being able to control their emotions and not knowing how to process things,” said Stacey Banks, a fifth-grade teacher at DF Walker Elementary School in Edenton. says. .
Since 2018, the district has slowly but surely woven SEL practices and instruction into every aspect of school life. The school started by creating calm spaces in elementary school classrooms and introducing mindfulness exercises. The district is currently transitioning SEL into the middle and upper grades with a focus on mapping SEL to state-aligned practices.
“By the time kids move up to my fifth-grade classroom, SEL is already part of the culture,” Banks says. “They have the background and foundation to help us meet their emotional needs. And they are more prepared for the curriculum.”
At DF Walker, each grade level’s SEL development team works with teachers to integrate SEL into professional learning communities. “Every step of the way, we’re pushing this into the classroom,” Banks said.
The underlying ideas and practices aren’t too far off from what Ms. Banks was taught as a child or what she’s been trying to do in her own classroom for years. While the scope, structure, and sense of mission distinguish the district’s efforts, she said, fundamentally, SEL shouldn’t be a huge leap for educators who want classrooms where students feel safe and engaged. To tell.
“It helps you understand that this is actually not new,” she added. “Good teachers have been doing this for a long time.”
SEL is for everyone
Even though SEL is carefully and thoughtfully planned and implemented, school programs can stumble out the door. how? By not adequately supporting the social and emotional well-being of educators.
“I think that’s a missing piece of the conversation,” says Breitan Felter, a special education occupational therapy assistant in Fairbanks, Alaska, who presents on human services and SEL to educators.
“I’ve been in meetings with practitioners, and they say SEL is also for educators, but I haven’t heard much detail. It has a positive impact on the classroom. We need to calm down before we go.”
“We can be more intentional about how we incorporate SEL without making it too much of a burden. It’s inherently part of our job.”
Jade agrees. “If you don’t have self-awareness, you can’t teach it to others,” she says. “You can’t expect adults to develop something in an environment that isn’t the one they’re working in.” Already stressful jobs can easily be made worse by new expectations around SEL. Educators are usually the most vocal advocates for SEL, so support and resources need to come from the top down, Banks says.
“I have a lot of pots on the stove, and they’re boiling over,” she says. “But we have been working slowly so far and it may take a while to get buy-in from everyone and get the results we want. But we want to move forward. That’s what I think. This is it. We’re not going back.”
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6 ways to speak up for SEL
Aaliyah A. Samuel is President and CEO of CASEL, a collaborative organization for academic, social, and emotional learning that provides a framework for SEL instruction across the United States.
“Educators have incredible insight into how learning happens,” Samuel says. “Their voices are essential to the conversation.” Here are steps educators can take to share accurate information and real-life stories about social and emotional learning.
1. Focus on building true partnerships with families to have meaningful conversations about the importance of SEL.
2. Start conversations based on common goals: What do we all want for our students? What should they know and be able to do after graduation? Which? What kind of classroom will help them get there?
3. Use high-quality, evidence-based SEL approaches and continuous improvement practices to benefit all students.
4. Demystify SEL by sharing how it actually happens on a daily basis in the classroom.
5. Share a true story about how social and emotional learning impacted your life or the lives of your students.
6. Reach out to local leaders like school board members and legislators to share your support for SEL.