Social Emotional Character Development: The Essential Classroom Compass for Holistic Growth
Social emotional character development: the essential classroom compass to holistic growth
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we knew all the content you taught your students would be valuable for the rest of their lives?
What is social-emotional learning (SEL)?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we knew all the content you taught your students would be valuable for the rest of their lives? While we can’t always be sure students will retain how to use fractions or conjunctions, we can be sure that they will use the social and emotional skills taught to them in the classroom, whether it be through a Social-emotional learning program like Friendzy, or social-emotional principals covered by teachers organically throughout the school year.
Students learn to manage emotions and foster healthy relationships through core competencies like self-regulation, self-management, self-awareness, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills.
Enrolling your school or district in an SEL program like Friendzy gives you everything you need to empower students with self-confidence, respect, and mental well-being. Schedule a live demo to learn more about our program and start changing students’ lives with social-emotional learning!
Why SEL is Important in Education
We’d all hope that parents teach everything children need to know about living an emotionally well-balanced life. Even if they do, the classroom is where most young people put these skills into practice.
Social-emotional learning in classrooms helps solidify the emotional competencies that benefit kids for life. These benefits include improved high school and college performance, increased number of meaningful relationships, and improved rates of responsible decision-making.
By teaching the five core competencies of social and emotional learning like, social awareness, self-awareness, and relationship skills, you set your students up for a happier life.
These are some strong statements, but they are actually backed by research! The Department of Education released a report citing hundreds of studies pointing to benefits like increased academic performance and healthy emotional development.
The Valuable Role of Teachers in Promoting SEL
Just as the best sports coaches foster teamwork, lead teams to championships, and encourage a growth mindset, similarly, teachers guide students to these same goals every school day. Incorporating SEL skills and teaching them alongside academic subjects allows students to practice these crucial life skills in the real world.
Furthermore, building lesson plans that include social-emotional skills leads to healthy relationships among students and staff, making classroom management easier, and allowing students to set goals.
Want to practice teaching SEL in your classroom? Try one of our Friendzy Freebies!
Learn alongside your students with Friendzy’s library of professional learning. When your school signs up for Friendzy, teachers gain access to our extensive resource library that gives teachers the language and materials they need to teach impactful lessons to students of any grade level.
Strategies for Implementing SEL in the Classroom
Emotional intelligence is a must-have skill, especially post-pandemic. It wreaked havoc on the mental health and well-being of young people worldwide. SEL curriculum works concurrently with academic learning, making it easier to implement in your classroom than you think! Here are teaching strategies that make implementing SEL the easiest part of your day.
Incorporate SEL into Daily Routines
The school year is long, but creating routines helps structure each day, especially for your littlest learners. At the start of each day, teachers who utilize a daily check-in tool set the stage for good communication and practicing SEL skills like self-awareness.
Friendzy’s daily check-in tool creates a framework for students to connect with how they feel, naming emotions and handling them in a healthy way. The digital and printable versions engage young students with age-appropriate emojis to help them identify emotions.
Older students benefit from activities like deep breathing exercises. These activities help with self-management and self-regulation, which are other key fundamentals for the SEL curriculum.
Teach and Model SEL Skills
They say kids absorb the world around them like a sponge, including your attitude in the classroom. Modeling SEL skills gives your students real-life examples of how to react when life throws them a curveball.
For example, during your morning check-in, share a tricky scenario you faced that week and how you handled the emotions that arose in a healthy way.
Turn everyday moments into teachable ones with social and emotional learning. Ask your students questions, challenge their reactions in risk-free environments, and discover the lasting impact of teaching these vital skills.
Foster a Safe Classroom Environment
One of the most significant blows to self-confidence for a child is not feeling included or valued. Giving space for students to voice their feelings, concerns, or struggles can make a world of difference in boosting positive self-image.
Students who feel safe in their learning environment can blossom into capable and communicative adults.
Encourage Student Voice and Agency
Along with creating a safe classroom environment, allowing students to have a say in how the classroom operates gives them a sense of agency, responsibility, and ownership.
Allow students to choose what book to read for group work or allow them to decide how to celebrate a class win. Encourage older students to engage in student-led discussions over topics covered in class. (Did you know our high school curriculum is interactive, student-directed, and includes discussion-based lessons?)
Giving students a voice and agency in the classroom empowers them to make good decisions, exercise respect when others share, and recognize other points of view.
Use Cooperative Learning Strategies
We touched on the importance of giving students a voice during group work and how implementing it throughout the school day improves collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills.
The more you can involve every student in classroom activities, the more they feel valued and respected. Plus, group activities give you a platform to educate students in an entertaining way so that the skills they learn stick with them for life!
Regularly Assess and Reflect on SEL Skills
SEL skills are a fundamental part of what makes students successful later in life. But teaching those skills without testing for comprehension is counterintuitive.
Tracking how your students progress through the content while challenging their understanding helps strengthen the most critical skills. It’s almost like a social-emotional workout that allows students to run a marathon.
Friendzy offers the option of including the SELweb assessment tool in your program package. SELweb assesses vital social-emotional skills in students kindergarten through high school. Book a free program consultation today to see how Friendzy makes it easy to measure the effectiveness of our program.
2. Employ Restorative Practices
We all know “that person” who never seems to take responsibility for their actions, and their mistakes are always someone else’s fault. These personalities are difficult to maintain relationships with.
Luckily, you can prevent students from becoming these types of adults by practicing restorative discipline in the classroom. Walk your students through challenges and help them devise creative ways to rectify missteps.
Friendzy’s SEL Program is the Best Way to Add SEL to Your Classroom
We’ve all heard learners complain about how boring social studies class is. We’ve listened to them wonder why they have to do their math homework when their phones can calculate just about any mathematical problem they might come across. However, when it comes to social-emotional learning, the benefits they receive will stay with them long after they leave your classroom.
Implementing comprehensive social-emotional skills in your classroom is easier than you think! With the help of Friendzy, your teachers and support staff receive the education and materials they need to make a lasting difference.
Connect with our team to schedule a live demo or request a quote so you can start implementing the Friendzy in your classroom. If you’re not ready to schedule a live demo, consider watching our pre-recorded demo or check out our vast library of freebies to start practicing SEL in your classroom today.