Why Teachers Should Introduce SocialEmotional Skills in the Classroom
While we cannot predict with certainty the types of jobs that will exist in the
future, we know that today’s students will need a variety of skills, whether
referred to as “21st century skills” or “future-ready” skills, they need to be
flexible to adapt with change. As we have seen and experienced even
more so during the past school year, there has been an increased focus on
the mental health and wellness of our students and ourselves. Dealing with
the changes in our schools and in the world, we’ve all had to make
adjustments and develop or enhance our skills to work through the
challenges that we faced in our personal and professional lives. The way
that we handled these challenges and worked through stress was important
as we are modeling for our students. What are the best ways to provide all
students with authentic, unique, and innovative learning experiences that
will foster the development of these essential skills? How can we prepare
students for jobs which may not exist yet in our ever-changing world?
To best prepare students for the future, we need to help them develop the
essential skills that will enable them to adapt as they work through potential
challenges they may encounter in the future. With learning and preparing
for the future comes additional challenges and stress related to the work
we do. To prepare students, we need to design experiences that will best
support them on their journey and this means helping them to become
future-ready by developing the essential social-emotional learning (SEL)
skills.
What are social-emotional skills and why do they matter?
Social-emotional learning or SEL has five competencies: self-awareness,
social awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, and
relationship skills. SEL matters because there is a direct correlation
between social-emotional learning and the skills that students will need for
future employment. Being “future-ready” means possessing the essentials
like collaboration, communication, decision making, problem-solving, and
teamwork, which are a few of the future-ready skills listed by the World
Economic Forum. Research shows that by regularly addressing the five
competencies of SEL in our classrooms, we will positively impact and see
an increase in student academic performance. To learn more about SEL, I
recommend that educators check out the resources available from CASEL,
the Collaborative for Academic, and Social and Emotional Learning.
In our work, we need to promote the future readiness of our students and
the five SEL competencies directly correlate to the social-emotional skills
students need. The five competencies are:
1. Self-awareness: Being self-aware helps students to understand where
they are during the learning process and identify their skills and interests as
they continue to learn and evolve as learners.
2. Self-management: Students develop the skills to deal with any emotions
or stress experienced during the learning process. In building selfmanagement skills, students focus on setting goals and dealing with any
stress they experience. Through learning activities that are scaffolded or
promote independent learning, students will see learning as a process,
rather than a final product as they develop their own personalized work
plan. Developing skills of self-management is essential for the future.
3. Social awareness: Students develop an understanding of others’
perspectives and different cultures. The development of compassion and
empathy are important for students as they learn to interact with others and
build interpersonal skills.
4. Relationship skills: As employers seek skills such as teamwork and
leadership qualities, providing opportunities for students to build supportive
relationships will help them to feel confident asking for help and working as
part of a team. Developing relationship skills will best prepare students for
future workplace success.
5. Decision making: Students develop critical thinking and problemsolving skills, learn to process information, and find solutions. By providing
students with learning activities that promote higher-order thinking and
collaboration, for example, we will empower students to make decisions
about their own personal growth and develop social-emotional skills that
will transfer to whatever they decide to do when they leave our classrooms.
Bringing SEL to our classrooms
Finding ways to bring SEL into our classrooms is not meant to be
something extra or time-consuming. We have many ways to weave SEL
activities into what we are already doing that will promote student
engagement in learning and help students to develop the essential SEL
skills to best prepare them for the future.
1. Digital tools. There are digital tools that can help educators to create
spaces for students to build self-awareness and self-management. Using
tools that promote reflection or check-ins are good options for helping
students to gauge their understanding and check their progress in learning.
2. Digital portfolios. Creating evidence of learning is important for students.
Using a digital portfolio is an option that can help students develop selfawareness and self-management as they reflect on their growth and set
new goals for their learning journey.
3. Collaborative spaces. Using online collaborative spaces is beneficial for
fostering a sense of community, in particular, useful for when students are
learning from home rather than in the classroom and good preparation for
future work.
4. STEM activities. With the variety of options available, STEM can promote
the development of SEL and empower students with new ways to create,
innovate, iterate and reflect, all of which help to develop SEL skills. EVERFI
has a variety of programs and resources that can provide students with
access to learning about STEM careers, business planning, and career
readiness.
5. Inquiry methods. Methods such as project-based learning (PBL) promote
the development of SEL and self-efficacy through a student-directed,
independent learning experience. We want to promote student agency and
PBL helps students to work through challenges, decide how to balance
their work, and come up with their own workflow. PBL promotes critical
thinking, creativity, problem-solving, and enhances the learning potential for
each student as they design their own learning path. Students need more
real-world experiences, where they can assess needs in their community
and brainstorm ways to effect changes that will positively impact others
beyond their classroom walls.
Benefits of SEL for the Future
With more social-emotional awareness, students will be better able to
evaluate their skills and set goals for the steps they need to take in order to
continue to grow as learners. As for long term benefits, competency in SEL
positively impacts the future success of students whether in college or in
the workplace. If we provide ways for students to more actively learn and
explore the world, they will build skills in communication, collaboration,
problem solving, resilience and others that employers seek. Students will
have the right skills, real-world awareness, and flexibility that will best
prepare them for a constantly evolving world and changing work
environments.
Rachelle Dené is a Spanish and STEAM: What’s nExT in Emerging
Technology Teacher at Riverview High School in Oakmont, PA. Rachelle is
also an attorney with a Juris Doctor degree from Duquesne University
School of Law and a Master’s in Instructional Technology. Rachelle is an
ISTE Certified Educator and serves as the past president of the ISTE
Teacher Education Network. She was named one of 30 K-12 IT Influencers
to follow in 2021.
She is the author of six books including ‘In Other Words: Quotes That Push
Our Thinking,” “Unconventional Ways to Thrive in EDU”, “The Future is
Now: Looking Back to Move Ahead,” “Chart A New Course: A Guide to
Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow’s World, “True Story: Lessons That
One Kid Taught Us” and her newest book “Your World Language
Classroom: Strategies for In-person and Digital Instruction” is now
available.
Follow Rachelle on Twitter @Rdene915 and on Instagram @Rdene915.
Rachelle has a podcast, ThriveinEDU available at
https://anchor.fm/rdene915