“No time.” Again and again, teachers tell me this is why they can’t teach social-emotional skills to their students—and it’s no wonder given the demands placed upon them.
But while a 30-minute social-emotional learning (SEL) lesson might be impossible to fit into a week, slipping a social-emotional concept into already-existing curriculum content may not be. In one study, student teachers were paired with novice school psychologists to create language arts lessons with an SEL focus. The researchers found that the process yielded “creative and powerful” lessons and fostered a desire in both groups to continue such collaboration.
Much of the curricula in schools already has the potential to offer lessons about social, emotional, or moral issues—if educators make these connections.
We decided to try something similar at the GGSC Summer Institute for Educators—and we were astounded by the results. Much of the curricula in schools already has the potential to offer lessons about social, emotional, or moral issues—if educators make these connections.
How to integrate SEL into curriculum content
Schools that want to teach social-emotional learning but find themselves strapped for classroom time can instead take a social, emotional, and moral inventory of what students are currently learning. For example, many topics, books, people, and concepts in the curricula already involve:
- a person’s emotional life
- an ethical dilemma
- a situation calling for compassion
- a societal challenge
- the ethical use of knowledge
- cross-group interactions
- an implicit prosocial concept, such as ecosystems or the Declaration of Independence.
For example, as one of our elementary math educators pointed out, fractions underlie the practice of communities dividing resources. When students learn about the fractions of a pizza pie, they might also ask: How could the pizza be divided based on who was the hungriest?—an awesome introduction to the idea of equity.
In addition, the simple act of working on a particular lesson might bring up social, emotional, or moral challenges for students. When designing a lesson, educators can also ask questions like:
- Does the lesson involve challenging conversations that might surface a clash in values?
- Are students required to work with a partner or in groups?
- Is the assignment so demanding that students might need to attend to their emotions or demonstrate attention and perseverance?
- Do they need to exhibit self-confidence—for example, during an oral presentation—or set long-term goals, or make ethical choices?
By integrating SEL into curriculum content, educators are not only giving students opportunities to practice their social-emotional skills, but also showing them how integral these skills are in our daily lives.
Three lesson plans, transformed
After three days of providing our Summer Institute participants with a foundation in the science and practical application of social, emotional, and moral development—a critical step in the process—we asked them to create a lesson in which they integrated a social or emotional skill, a mindfulness practice, and/or a moral dilemma. Task in hand, participants went into creative and collaborative mode and came up with magnificent examples, a few of which we’re excited to share with you below.
To teach younger children about cognitively reframing a situation—or changing how one views something in a more positive way—our elementary educators suggested using the classic book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
The lesson starts with a mindful moment to calm and center the students so that they may better reflect on whether they have ever had a bad day. Then, after the book is read aloud to the class, students make a list of the problems that Alexander faced and attach a feeling to each of those problems. For example, when Alexander thinks his teacher likes his friend’s picture of a sailboat better than his drawing of an invisible castle, students consider how this might make Alexander feel.
Next, students choose a couple incidents from th