There Are Two Ways To Implement Social-Emotional Learning — Only One Is Right
Choose Science-Based SEL Over Pop Psychology
Here’s the sad truth that applies to 95% of you who teach Social-Emotional learning (SEL) techniques in your classroom.
You are doing it all wrong!
Not only that, but every resource you have used or given to you by your district has it all wrong, too.
Why?
Because most people who create curriculum for SEL have no training in the science-based techniques that could actually make a difference in students’ lives.
Despite the fact that our students desperately need SEL to cope with the stress and pressures of academic achievement, social media, and a world that is changing at lightning speeds, most school districts and teachers are making these problems worse, not better.
The mental health crisis overwhelmed American schools during the pandemic, with the CDC reporting that over 40% of students reported that they felt hopeless, and as much as 20% of those students seriously considered suicide.
Yet, most school districts’ respond by offering mental health cliches that do nothing to address the problems that these students are facing.
I think Brene Brown summarizes it well when she argues, “We can talk about courage and love and compassion until we sound like a greeting card store, but unless we’re willing to have an honest conversation about what gets in the way of putting these into practice in our daily lives, we will never change. never, ever.”
Just talking about and wishing for what you want isn’t enough.
You have to be prepared for the things that will get in your way. Because as soon as the inevitable difficulties come, most people will give up because they have never considered options B, C, D, or Z.
The great news is that psychological studies provide scientific evidence for SEL strategies that work and that are not difficult to teach.
Don’t you want to be the kind of teacher or administrator who offers proven solutions for your students to battle the hopelessness and uncertainty that most of them face today?
Since you have made it this far in the article, I am betting that you are, and I have a great starting SEL activity that is backed by science and will give more power and grounding to many of the other SEL strategies that you or your district have implemented.
That strategy teaches us and our students how to make hope happen.
The First and Most Essential SEL Strategy
In order for any Social-Emotional Learning strategy to work, the person implementing it must believe that it can work. They must have hope.
Psychologist Shane Lopez explains that people must believe that “You can get from there to here.”
Many people believe that hope is an emotion, but Lopez and his mentor, C.R. Synder, proved that hope is a way of thinking that can be learned.
In his book Making Hope Happen, Lopez offers a three-step process for teaching ourselves and others to be more hopeful. The steps are:
- Goals — You need to have a vision of a better future that excites you.
- Agency — You need to believe that you have the power to make that vision a reality.
- Pathways — You need to know that there are many ways to reach your goals, and all of them will have obstacles.
As Lopez explains, “Hopeful people believe: There are many paths to my goals. None of them is free of obstacles.”
An Easy Method for Teaching This
Many teachers think that SEL must be complex and time-consuming, but it is not.
Creating goals, or what Lopez calls future casting, can be done with a piece of paper and a pencil. Have your students brainstorm a list of things they dream about doing. They can make a bulleted list, a bubble map, or just a free-write. The method is less important than just having the students engage in creating a better vision for themselves.
Learning how to build agency can be done by reading biographies or watching TED Talks of people who have overcome challenging circumstances to build the lives that they envisioned.
Albert Bandura’s psychological studies demonstrate that agency can be developed by seeing someone else achieve the success that you want. Students realize that if the person they are reading about or hearing from can change their lives, they can do it as well.
Bandura’s work proves that people can develop self-efficacy, the belief that they can achieve what they set out to achieve, by learning about others who have done it from similar circumstances.
Invest a few minutes to find TED Talks with speakers who match your students’ demographics and life circumstances, and have them learn about the steps people like them took to build the life of their dreams and escape difficult circumstances to do it.
Unfortunately, the last step is the most important and most often overlooked.
Students must understand that there will be obstacles to obtaining any goal. Rather than throwing up their hands when difficulties hit, we need to teach them to have multiple plans to achieve their goals, what Lopez calls pathways.
Again, this is not hard, costly, or time-consuming. Have the students write three to five different things they could do to achieve their goals. In addition, have them write down obstacles they will likely face when pursuing their goals (you may need to help them brainstorm this list).
You then have them write down and implement simple if-then statements for how they will deal with the obstacles they will face in achieving their goals. For example:
Let’s say a student wants to go to college but struggles with the math classes required to attend. The math class is the obstacle. They can build an if-then statement to help them overcome the obstacle.
If I don’t understand my math homework, then I will ________________.
- Look for a Khan Academy video to explain it to me.
- Text a friend who is good at math to help me.
- Reach out to my teacher to get help with the concept.
- See if there is tutoring available.
- Ask my counselor if there is an older student who could help me.
Gabrielle Ottengen, another respected psychologist, calls the if-then process Implementation Intentions. If you want to reach your goal, you must be ready for the challenges you will face so you can pre-plan your intentions to take action when those obstacles get in the way.
Final Thoughts
For any SEL program to work, the students must believe they can improve their lives.
In short, they must have hope.
As Henry Ford argued, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you are right.”
Many distinguished psychologists and professors of positive psychology have demonstrated that hope is not genetic or based on factors out of an individual’s control. Hope can be taught and learned.
Are we willing to question our assumptions about SEL, go back to the drawing board, and begin with a process based on science and a proven track record of success?
Or will we stay with what is not working because it is what we are told to do, or is it too much work to try something new?
95% of teachers and administrators will choose option B, but I am hoping that you will join me in the 5% who are willing to do a little work to implement SEL strategies that improve our students’ lives and mental health.
You know they need it, but the choice is yours!
