SEL Tips
Tips to help you use social & emotional learning strategies to build skills and strengthen your classroom community every day. Sign up for our newsletter to get new tips as we create them.
We can help our students (and ourselves) calm down, focus, and respond constructively to stress by practicing deep, focused breathing.
Empathy isn’t just a quality – it’s a skill that can be learned. Here’s an activity to help students practice their empathy skills.
We all have self-talk. Fortunately, we, and our students, can learn to shape what that self-talk is.
An “I Need Message” is a short and sweet way for students to be assertive and get their needs met, even with people they don’t know well.
Taking a deep breath isn’t just for difficult moments. This simple soothing strategy can help us and our students any time we need it.
Begin by asking students, "What do you need to feel safe, comfortable, and excited to learn?"
Instead of jumping ahead to brainstorming solutions, first explore why a problem is occurring.
Encouraging students to use put-ups can improve the climate in your classroom. But many put-ups are about surface qualities. (I like your shoes!) Help students craft deeper put-ups with these simple steps.
Once your students have identified their personal anger triggers, have them share those triggers with each other. This can foster empathy, increase students' awareness of themselves and others, and reduce conflicts.
Sometimes students become aware only later, after reflection, that they could have handled a situation in a better way. Lay the groundwork for students to request a "do-over" so they can address a mistake or misunderstanding after the fact.