I'd really like to know how to get a whole school on board. I no longer have my own classroom - I co-teach with other classroom teachers - so I can't set the "culture" I used to have when it was just me and my students. I'd really love strategies, ideas, etc. on how to get others to share your philosophy especially those who are less than enthusiastic.

Thanks!

Erika

Thanks for posting this Betty. As part of the team that conducts Edutopia's webinar, we'd also love to know what grade level you teach. We know that teaching SEL best practices tend to be most effective when they are targeted to an appropriate ages (i.e. what works in kindergarten may not work well in 3rd grade). I'd like to know what grades everyone teaches, so we could tailor the webinar to those that attend.

Our first thought was to gear it towards elementary/middle school, since we did our last webinar on a high school. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Elana

I am very pleased to be joining this discussion. I have been involved in SEL program development, implementation, evaluation, and school-wide integration for several decades. My blog for Edutopia covers the wider topic of Social-Emotional and Character Development and over the past months, we have addressed many logistical issues related to SEL, including the buy-in/getting people on board issue. So please check out the posts and comments! Also, the idea of an SEL webinar is terrific and will be a great boost for the field, so please respond with your ideas and encourage your colleagues interested in whole child education to do the same!

Best wishes for the New Year,
Maurice

Good point, Elana. I think SEL is very age/grade specific. I teach high school, but I am always adapting/modifying strategies and lessons that I find for middle-school students.

I am also curious about which grades other members teach.
:)

I teach in a Day Treatment Program and have a class that contains all four high school grades.

My school uses Skillstreaming to teach prosocial behavior, but I would be interested in other approaches. Skillstreaming depends on role-playing by students but many of my colleagues find it nearly impossible to get any participation from them.

As a parent and as an administrator I am interested in how a school can promote consistency in practice across the staff. How do you create and support a positive culture for social emotional learning?

This is such a good question, Stefan. I know what I'm about to suggest seems so obvious, but I think it really starts with a discussion. I know at my school, it's hard to find the time to have a whole-staff discussion. But we do try to meet at least once a term to check in. It could be effective, too, to send out an electronic survey to all of your staff to find out how interested or opposed people are to the idea of SEL. Then you could start with a small team (either an Instructional Leadership Team or a School Site Council), and have them start to brainstorm ways to weave SEL into what your school is already doing. Or you could have a group of collaborating teachers pilot something--maybe even just one small routine. And then look at the data around how it influenced (or didn't) community and/or student achievement.

It should be what school is all about. I have a belief that our society cannot improve unless we recognize the importance of the whole student. It really is not about control, but rather how to deal with freedom. How about a handshake, a look in the eye, and a smile.

Thanks for the great suggestions, everyone! Would love to hear any others, so feel free to jump in.

There are two elements I'd love to learn more about:

1. Age/grade level differences in SEL

2. Why it's important to teach. I believe that we are coming to a place in education where schools are going to play a greater part in the raising of our children and our community (like a center of sorts). So I would love a webinar that could address what the writing on the wall is about incorporating SEL into schools. If it's coming, fewer teachers can debate whether or not to include its strategies.

Thanks for this thread!

-Heather WG