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Strategies for Updating Your SEL Plan With Practices From Corresponding Pedagogies
4. Relationship skills 5. Responsible decision making
The CASEL 5 (which will be fully explained in chapter 1, page 15) is important to understanding the contents of this book, and particularly the Equity and SEL Integration Framework. These competencies are grounded in research on how educators can help students develop emotional intelligence skills for personal and social competence (CASEL, 2021c).
The five-step Equity and SEL Integration Framework uses the CASEL 5 and emotional intelligence as the foundation for developing the cultural intelligence that educators need in order to personalize SEL plans. These five steps will be fully explained in this book’s first five chapters.
1. Learn the basics of the CASEL 5 and emotional intelligence. 2. Assess your unconscious biases and beliefs about students. 3. Improve your knowledge of your students. 4. Help students develop emotional intelligence skills. 5. Activate SEL in your lessons (curriculum).
Each step of the Equity and SEL Integration Framework will interact meaningfully with each competency of the CASEL 5 to ensure students gain the skills they need to become emotionally independent while in a safe, equitable space.
Who Should Read This Book
I wrote this book for K–12 teachers who are looking to develop or enhance their SEL plan but may not have experience aligning SEL with other related pedagogies, such as culturally responsive teaching, restorative justice, and trauma-informed teaching. That’s where the Equity and SEL Integration Framework comes in. This book is also for district and school leaders looking to create systemic change.
Ultimately, this book is for all educators who want to raise equity for vulnerable students by becoming more inclusive in their practice and activating SEL in lessons as needed but who are unsure of where to start and how to scaffold the learning experiences of all their learners. Through lessons on the fundamentals of SEL and other equity-raising practices, both the novice and the expert can level up their SEL-infused teaching by applying the content in this book.
Whether you’re an English language arts, mathematics, science, history, art, computer science, or career and technical education teacher, this book provides you the
know-how for strategically engaging your learners with lessons that do not skimp on the appropriate rigor levels required for your class. Additionally, this book is for the special education support teacher and the teacher tasked to hold out-of-schooltime remote clubs of any sort (such as 21st century after-school programs).
Although this book shares strategies you can adopt on your own as an educator, you will preferably tackle this material with the support of a collaborative team or as part of a school- or districtwide collaborative team. So, whether you are teaching students in a support role, in an after-school club, or just as a fun activity, you will find strategies in this book to support you on your SEL teaching journey.
How to Navigate This Book
This book is organized into three parts, each with two or more chapters. Part 1 (chapters 1–5) defines and explores the fundamentals of the Equity and SEL Integration Framework and provides empirical evidence and lots of straightforward examples for its use as part of a comprehensive SEL plan. (The rationale and research methods employed to develop the Equity and SEL Integration Framework are found in appendix B, page 207.) Also, the intersections of educational equity, socialemotional learning, and solid strategies for becoming more socially and culturally competent are highlighted in these chapters through research, vignettes, and instructional practices. Chapters 1–5 each represent a step of the framework, respectively, and are as follows.
Chapter 1, “Learn the Basics of the CASEL 5 and Emotional
Intelligence”: This chapter defines emotional intelligence as applied in the rest of the book and explores the elements of the Collaborative for
Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Chapter 2, “Assess Your Unconscious Biases and Beliefs About Students”:
This chapter provides tools to help us identify and unlearn our own prejudices as educators and people so we can better serve our students. Chapter 3, “Improve Your Knowledge of Your Students”:
This chapter explores respectful and appropriate tactics to become more familiar with students so we can begin to accommodate their unique needs in the classroom. Chapter 4, “Help Students Develop Emotional Intelligence Skills”:
In this chapter, we revisit some of the tools we gained in chapter 1 and apply them to our curriculum so students can develop the emotional intelligence they need to excel in their learning.
