As a school social worker, social-emotional learning is, and has always been, the heart of your role. As the link between the home, school, and community, your expertise in SEL is a crucial tool in supporting whole-child development.

If you’re reading this, you may be looking for new ways to incorporate SEL into the many hats you wear within your career. Rest assured, we’re here to support this journey!

In this article, we’ll outline easy and effective ways to:

• Create meaningful instruction
• Extend SEL beyond direct instruction
• Support other educators
• Make home connections

We’ll also provide you with tools to get started right away!

Creating Meaningful Small Group Instruction

Start with the end goal in mind and work backwards.

• Start with the mindset of grouping your students by need, rather than schedule.
• While scheduling is a beast, skill-based grouping helps identify a clear focus and outline building blocks, saving you time on lesson planning and showing greater student improvement.

Don’t leave out the prerequisites.

• New actions start with a shift in thinking. Maintaining self-control over impulsive emotions starts with an awareness of both our mental and physical state.
• If your student has had a similar SEL goal for more than a year, is there a prerequisite skill they’re missing? Our Scope and Sequences are a great resource to support decision-making.

Remember that all Social and Emotional Skills work together like a puzzle.

• In fact, mental health even relates to executive functioning skills! If we are feeling overwhelmed, strategies like chunking, routines, and rewards can be helpful in teaching SEL.
• Check out our 7-minute, on-demand training on The Partnership Between Social-Cognition and Self-Regulation!

Taking SEL Beyond Direct Instruction

Look no further for meaningful ways to generalize Social and Emotional Skills throughout the day:

• Offer to lead a “Mindful Minute” during morning announcements one day a week!
• Model talking about your own feelings and how they’ve changed over the course of the day with your students and colleagues.
• Plan your whole-group classroom sessions right before or after lunch/recess. This gives you the opportunity to naturally model transition skills!
• Talk about the health of our social and emotional brains being just as important as the health of our physical bodies.

How Can I Support Other Educators and Families?

Supporting other educators at a time where SEL is crucial for all is no easy task! Here are some strategies to consider when supporting other educators:

• Be sure your efforts are combined with other SEL Leaders within your school (counselors, psychologists, etc..)
• Develop and promote common SEL language to support students within your MTSS.
• Support general education teachers by providing resources to include mindfulness activities throughout the school day.
• Share the research and promote an inclusive SEL community within your school.
• Promote positive, preventative work for adults, especially those who are struggling.
  • Social workers are great advocates for normalizing therapy, prioritizing mindfulness, and finding our own SEL “toolbox.”

Supporting families, especially those who have children in need of direct social and emotional services, is an important part of your role. You can encourage generalization of language, skills, and strategies with the following:

• Start with the basics – Don’t assume parents know where to start or have background knowledge on the importance of social-emotional learning.
• Share a one-pager of common SEL language used in school.
• Share mindfulness strategies practiced and utilized in your sessions.
• Encourage the use of visual supports at home.
• Share self-care strategies for struggling parents and encourage them to model these for their children.
• Promote being present in the moment, whether it’s a meal or any time together by putting phones away and tuning in.
• Create a pamphlet of community resources that families can access.

Where Can I Find Materials for SEL Lessons?

Everyday Speech offers several free materials to incorporate SEL into your sessions – no matter which tier of students you support!

Visit our YouTube channel for free videos and sign up for our Material Mix Monday Newsletter for free activities in your inbox every week. 

Not sure which curriculum is right for you?

You can also sample both our Social-Emotional Learning & Social Communication Curricula free for 30-days, complete with videos, games, activities, and more to support your students – no matter where they are in their SEL journey!