Incorporating SEL in classroom environments and lesson plans helps students to personally identify with the material, which holds attention spans, in addition to other academic benefits. Students develop social understanding and learn how to learn through creative projects in history, civics, language, literature classes, as well as through classroom rituals and critical feedback.
Schools can support SEL by making it a priority of the school environment, otherwise known as a school-wide approach to relationship building. Relationship building also bolsters learning and provides opportunities to practice emotional intelligence.
TIPS for an SEL conducive classroom:
- Create a “quiet corner” or a “social corner” of the classroom if space allows. Here, students can self-regulate, or work together comfortably.
- Display your class’s Community Agreement prominently in the room.
- Push desks to the edge of the room and put chairs in a circle, or sit in a circle on the floor for certain discussion activities or reading periods.
- During presentations, have students push their desks to the outside of the room, arrange their chairs in rows, and draw a “stage” at the head of the room using tape on the floor.
- Turn off the lights or turn on a soft-light lamp when practicing mindful self-soothing moments in the classroom.
Contact CIS to workshop how to create a customized SEL curriculum for your school or class.