Relationship Building

All staff in a school community have a significant impact on a student’s life. Each point of contact in the school environment represents an opportunity to exercise emotional intelligence. Therefore, investing in the support of school professionals will in turn empower those professionals to invest in supporting students, and have a significant impact on the whole school community.

Here are a handful of ways to put SEL principles into practice:

• Create consistent greeting rituals: greet students by name in entryways and hallways; create personalized hand shakes with students.
• Keep supervision during transitions safe and playful. Accompany students to where they are going. If you see unsafe behavior, refer to a restorative practice instead of punishment.
• Focus on supporting unstructured time and engaging the students in ongoing decision-making.
• Relationship Mapping: Link students with appropriate social supports, such as peer buddies and tutors and adult mentors.
• Make an effort to get to know your students' learning needs to maximize success in communicating with them.
• Reach out to students' families and school-based support staff to holistically understand the student, celebrate small successes, etc.

Curriculum

Maintaining a balanced curriculum is critical, including ongoing physical education and other learning experiences alongside core subject areas. Here are some considerations for curriculum and lesson planning:

• Create moments of mindfulness in the classroom–e.g. either a daily "brain break", a reflection query, or a check-in exercise with the Mindset Map.
• Use alternative assessments, such as portfolios or project-based learning, to accommodate different learning styles and needs.
• Creative Arts projects can be part of academic subjects. CIS counselors and staff can help you customize creative projects to your academic needs.​
• Offering flexible deadlines is a vital trauma-informed practice to meet neurodiverse needs of students, when possible and appropriate.
• Increased Phys Ed will bolster academic learning. Ensure that your students get time outside and try incorporating a physical warm-up or "drain off" exercise in daily classroom rituals.
• Scaffold teaching by breaking down tasks into smaller ones, and differentiate instruction strategies to meet students' diverse learning needs.

Environment

What’s in our control? Make your learning space one in which students feel comfortable expressing their feelings. Here are a handful of ways to create an SEL-supportive environment:

• Create a community agreement and display it prominently in the room. Revisit it with students throughout the year and modify it as needed.
• Push the desks to the outside of the room and encourage circles in the middle of the room for check-ins.
• Plan for mindful moments. If possible, encourage or require a phone-free zone.
• Create a playlist with your students that you turn on for independent or group work. Creating the playlist together for different functions (i.e., quiet, focused music, vs. fun, popular music) can give them a sense of ownership of the space.