20 Ways to Incorporate Social-Emotional Learning in Your Classroom
As a teacher or homeschooler who is passionate about educating children, utilizing SEL is one of the most significant ways you can make a positive impact and teach kids the real-life skills they need to be emotionally healthy, happy, successful adults.
As teachers and homeschoolers, you’re already busy teaching the core curriculum and making sure your students reach required benchmarks. The idea of adding another dimension to your teaching might feel overwhelming — impossible, even.
But did you know that when children are taught social-emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom, they actually perform better? Not just in academics, but in all areas of their lives.
Research has proven that a person’s level of emotional intelligence is a better predictor of success than their IQ. Yes, it’s important to follow the curriculum and help your students meet educational requirements. And incorporating SEL into your classroom will actually help achieve this goal.
Here are 20 simple ways to incorporate SEL into your classroom.
1. Assign Group Work
While kids do need to learn to work independently, occasionally assigning students to work in groups is beneficial to their social-emotional intelligence. Group work requires several relational skills: listening, responsibility, problem-solving, communication, etc. Not all students will enjoy group work, so try to help them understand the valuable skills they will develop in the process.
2. Use Journals
Have journals for your students specifically dedicated to SEL. They can use the journals for daily check-ins to describe how they’re feeling. You can also use the journals for various prompts throughout the day and across different subjects. For example, if you are teaching a history lesson about the Great Depression, you can assign a prompt such as “Write about what it would be like if you lived during the Great Depression. What would you do?” This will help children connect emotion and real-life experiences to various subjects. It also encourages reflection, perspective-taking, and critical thinking — all-important SEL skills.
3. Have Daily Check-Ins
At any time during the day — beginning, middle, or end — invite students to get in touch with their feelings, both physically and emotionally. Self-awareness is one of the five components of social-emotional learning, and it’s a skill that takes practice to develop. Some teachers suggest sandwiching the day with check-ins, giving students the opportunity to reflect and smoothly transition in and out of the school environment.
4. Encourage Debate
When discussing controversial issues, invite your students to debate. Note that a debate is not an argument. Students must come prepared and be knowledgeable about the subject. There will probably be times where things get dramatic and personal — this is the perfect opportunity to teach emotional intelligence. Students need to learn to approach controversial issues free from drama and without taking things personally. To make the debate even more EQ-focused, invite students to debate for the side they don’t initially take. This will help with perspective-taking, listening, and critical thinking skills.
5. Do Read Alouds
This activity is especially beneficial in younger classrooms where students are just learning what emotions look and feel like. The purpose of the read-aloud is to use facial expressions, voice intonation, and body language that children can connect with. They will learn how “sad” and “happy” sound, look, and feel. This will help them with both self-awareness and social awareness.
6. Incorporate Art
Art is therapeutic and can be an excellent coping strategy. It allows for self-expression and quiet, mindful work. Find additional ways outside of art time to incorporate crafts and art projects into your lesson plans.
7. Delegate Class Responsibilities
Taking responsibility in the classroom will help students feel like contributors. It will increase their confidence and show them how a community works. Assign responsibilities such as class greeter, clean-up crew, board cleaner, paper collector, etc. Taking ownership of things that make a difference to the entire class will show students the role they play in a community setting.
8. Focus on Positive Self-Talk
If you’re a teacher or homeschooler, you’ve probably heard, “I can’t do this!” or, “I’m just stupid,” more than once. For young students, writing a paper or figuring out a math problem can be incredibly stressful. If they struggle, they are usually immediately tempted to think negatively about themselves and their abilities. Catch negative self-talk right when it happens — in group or one-on-one settings. Consider setting boundaries in the classroom like, “We don’t say that in this classroom.” Validate your students’ emotions and invite them to see things differently. Try saying, “I can see that you feel frustrated with this math problem. It is challenging! And, the truth is that you can do it! You just need to put in a little extra effort. I will help you.”
9. Use Self-Affirmations
Encourage positive self-talk even further by repeating self-affirmations with your students daily. Give them mantras or have them come up with their own. Statements like, “I am loved,” or, “I am smart” will help students increase their self-worth and help them understand the worth of their peers as well.
10. Incorporate Mindfulness
Choose times throughout the day or week for guided meditations or scheduled quiet time. Students will learn how to calm their minds, get in touch with how they feel, and be more present throughout the day.
11. Have a Calm Down Space
Emotional management or self-control is at the core of social and emotional intelligence. Children spend most of their day in the classroom and experience a wide array of emotions there, from disappointment to excitement, anger to loneliness. Create a calm-down space in your classroom where students can step away from heated or intense situations and calm down. Provide things like books, a soft place to sit, and activities that will help them calm themselves.
12. Use SMART Goals
Learning how to set and realize goals is also a part of social-emotional learning. Children learn self-efficacy, patience, and discipline. Whether in one-on-one or as a class, invite students to make SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based) goals in any area. For example, a student may set a goal to learn their times tables, to make a new friend, or to increase their confidence. Create a pattern of follow-up after the goals are set.
13. Talk About Coping Strategies
In the same way that adults face stress at home and in the workplace, children experience stress in the classroom. At school, they experience failure, rejection, and disappointment in different ways. Acknowledge this and offer suggestions on how to cope. Simply asking your class, “Okay, how is everybody feeling? Overwhelmed? Excited?” sends the message that you recognize and care about their emotions. Don’t ignore children when they express emotions like fear or being overwhelmed. Instead, work with them to understand how they can cope.
14. Teach Listening
Listening is key to a happy and well-run classroom. Listen intently to your students and expect the same from them. Set simple boundaries like, “If you want to speak, you must raise your hand,” and, “No interrupting.” Your example and simple rules will help children learn not only to be quiet but how to truly listen to what another person says.
15. Hold Class Meetings
Class meetings are an effective way for you to gauge how your students are feeling. Remember, you can’t ignore emotions — they are an important part of the learning process. Whether weekly or monthly, invite students to plan for upcoming events, discuss what is hard for them, or express any concerns they may have. Class meetings will build a sense of community in your classroom and help your students feel like valued, contributing members.
16. Establish Conflict Protocols
Managing conflict in the classroom is difficult. You know it is bound to happen, so why not establish a protocol for contentious situations? You can create a process such as 1) cool down 2) listen and explain 3) brainstorm solutions. Whatever your method for managing conflict, make sure that emotions are recognized, validated, and processed. When children feel heard and understood, they can more easily move past intense emotions and manage them in appropriate ways.
17. Recognize Each Student
Creating a safe and inclusive classroom is essential for any social-emotional learning to occur. Be mindful of each and every student. Get to know them, praise them when they succeed, and encourage them when they make mistakes. Show genuine concern to all of your students and treat them equally. When they feel safe and valued, they will be ready and eager to learn.
18. Integrate SEL in Every Lesson Plan
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by taking the time and effort to add another lesson to your day, think of ways you can weave SEL into your current lesson plans. How can you practice empathy, self-control, or perspective-taking when teaching history, literature, or math? Rather than buzzing through lessons to check academic boxes, do your best to connect the concepts to real-life scenarios. This will make classroom learning more beneficial, relevant, and longer-lasting for your students.
19. Acknowledge Emotions
Some teachers approach students and their learning in a purely pragmatic way, forgetting that they’re dealing with the whole of the child — body, heart, and mind. Children are still learning to recognize and handle their emotions, so make sure you approach your students and your teaching with that awareness. Acknowledge, talk about, and validate your students’ emotions, as they are a huge part of the learning process. If a child is feeling sad, lonely, or anxious, it will get in the way of their learning. Let your students know that all emotions are okay, that you expect them to feel all sorts of things, and that you will help them learn to manage these emotions.
20. Have a Weekly/Monthly Focus
Brainstorm principles of social-emotional learning: empathy, compassion, perspective taking, self-discipline, boundaries, etc. Choose one principle each week or month to be your class focus. Think of small ways like journaling, using mantras, reading books, or holding short discussions that will help you teach this focus. Repetition and consistency will help students understand and apply the social-emotional principles that they learn.
As you can see, there are many different ways you can take small steps to incorporate SEL into your current lesson plans and teaching methods. These small steps will have a big impact on your students — not only during their time in your classroom but throughout their childhood and their adult lives. As a teacher or homeschooler who is passionate about educating children, utilizing SEL is one of the most significant ways you can make a positive impact and teach kids the real-life skills they need to be emotionally healthy, happy, successful adults.
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