Social and Emotional Learning

Issue 2: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) 

Governor Mifflin Middle School believes that social-emotional skills are foundational to human development, and should be an integral part of the educational experience. 

Social and emotional learning, while not new in schools, has become more of an explicit focus across the country in recent years. According to CASEL, a leading authority on social and emotional learning, SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. In addition, addressing social emotional skills in schools with a meaningful curriculum that addresses the development of the whole child can advance educational equity and excellence. While SEL can be implicit and/or explicit, its integration within and outside the school walls improves academic inequities, and will define the culture of a school community. 

CASEL's SEL Framework fosters knowledge, skills, and attitudes across five areas of competence and multiple key settings to establish equitable learning environments that advance students’ learning and development. The key SEL settings include the classroom, school, families/caregivers, and community partners. The "CASEL 5" addresses five broad interrelated areas of competence (Casel.org). As an introduction, the competencies are:
* Self-Awareness - The ability to understand one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts.
* Self-Management - The ability to manage one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations. 
* Social Awareness - The ability to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, & contexts.
* Relationship Skills - The ability to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.
* Responsible Decision-Making - The ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations.

In future weeks, we will take a closer look at each are of the competencies individually. In the meantime, here is an article that describes 10 ways parents can bring social-emotional learning home. Please see the article for details, but in summary, parents or guardians can;
1. Take care of yourself, even when it feels like the last thing you can do right now.
2. Establish routines and intentionality.
3. Presence is not the same as being present.
4. Commit acts of service or kindness for others.
5. Engage in creativity together.
6. Celebrate what you can.
7. Practice active listening.
8. Help your child express and name emotions.
9. Practice social emotional learning daily.
10. Transition mindfully.

At GMMS, we believe that SEL is not just something that is taught for 20 minutes, 3 times per cycle, rather a culture that integrates these practices into the daily routines, procedure, interactions, and relationships within the school community. 

On the horizon and some additional resources!
Flex Period Schedule
Days 1 & 4 - SSR - Silent Sustained Reading - Learn More Here
Days 2 & 5 - iReady - Family Resource Page
Days 3 & 6 - SEL - Social Emotional Learning Schedule
* 2/22 - Reset Room Rollout & "Piece of the Puzzle" Activity- We will introduce the purpose and protocols for the reset room.
* 2/25 - Dear Future Me - Students will use Future Me to write a letter to their future self.

In addition, here are a couple free resources for parents.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership in education!


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