According to a new nationally representative survey from the Education Week Research Center, 78% of teachers say it's important for them to teach SEL skills, yet many still don't feel equipped with the strategies and professional development to implement SEL practices.

I think teachers have the most training in how to implement SEL strategies, “It depends on how you look at things”.

One of my all-time favorite children’s stories is The Churkendoose (Berenberg, 1964). The story of the Churkendoose comes to mind any time I am facing a challenging situation that needs a new perspective. In those moments I hear the voice of the Churkendoose saying, “It depends on how you look at things.” This is a good motto when we consider bridging the gap between Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) instruction and academic instruction.

Teachers are the experts on how to teach academic curriculum - SEL skills follow the same basic continuum of learning as academics. Educators have an innate understanding that academics are learned in a progressive way with one academic skill building toward higher academic achievement, or scaffolding. SEL learning is mastered in a similar scaffolding process. Once we understand the scaffolding of SEL competencies we can identify practices and strategies to intentionally develop SEL.

Would you ever expect a kindergartener to independently write a 5 paragraph essay? No? Then why would we expect them to be able to manage their big emotions?

“It depends on how you look at things.”

In kindergarten, we are looking for basic learning of the alphabet and phonics, putting sounds together and identifying sight words. We understand that mastering the basics of language is the first step in moving toward greater academic achievement like writing sentences, writing a paragraph and finally, writing an essay. We don’t expect kindergartners to come to us with the full knowledge and understanding to write an essay. SEL happens in the same way. Let’s apply our academic understanding and strategies for learning to write to the SEL strategy of managing big emotions, or “Staying Calm”.

TEACH: The first thing we would do academically is introduce students to each letter of the alphabet. We may do one letter a week, spending time on the shape of the capital and lowercase letter and the sound of the letter. Introduce words that start with that letter. We understand that this is a process that takes time and we want to be sure that they can master each letter before we go on to the next to build a solid foundation to scaffold upon. We can teach the skill of staying calm in the same format. First, introduce how to stay calm by giving a specific example. Teach a calm-down strategy like smelling the hot cocoa and then blowing it to cool it down, flower breathing, etc. You can find many great examples here.

PRACTICE: After teaching the skill we give students multiple opportunities to practice. We might give them worksheets to practice writing the letter of the week. We may have them practice drawing the letter in the air with a “magic wand” or a “sword”. We practice the sound of the letter in our “outside voice” and in our “whisper voice”. We can apply the same strategy to staying calm. Practice smelling the hot cocoa or the flower, cool the hot cocoa or blow the petals of the flower.

REINFORCE: After we teach and practice the skill, both academic and SEL, then we reinforce. When students trace the new letter we reinforce them-even if it’s not exactly perfect. They may trace outside the line, or even write the letter backwards, but we still encourage their attempts. We want them to keep trying. We know that this is new and challenging for them and we encourage their effort. We can do the same with SEL skills. Even if they don’t get it correct the first time, we can continue to encourage them to try.

PROMPT: When students have the foundational knowledge we can prompt them on times they need to use it or apply it in a situation. If the child doesn’t remember the sound the short “a” makes we can prompt, “apple” (exaggerating the aaaaa sound). Oftentimes, that quick prompt will help them to recall the correct sound. In situations when we see a child struggling with emotions, or when we can predict situations that might be problematic we can prompt them to remember to bring their cup of hot cocoa.

CORRECT: When students make mistakes academically we help them identify the error and assist them to correct the problem. Generally, we will go back to the beginning and reteach, give them more opportunities to practice and reinforce. We don’t punish them or send them to the office. The same approach should be applied to SEL. If a child has an emotional meltdown, we can help them to identify the problem and reteach how to respond differently (stay calm, let them practice, and reinforce them.)

All of these practices for teaching and scaffolding academics can be directly applied to SEL. Educators are the most qualified and equipped to teach both academics and SEL, it just, “Depends on how you look at things”.

If you have additional questions, please ask one of our experts!