a academics
social/ emotional
R E A C H
raising emotional acuity cultural responsiveness healthy behaviors
FEATURE STORY:
Raising Emotional Acuity, Cultural Responsiveness, & Healthy Behaviors: An Update on Our Custom SEL Program By Dr. Sarah Sumwalt, Director of Social & Emotional Learning At Langley, we are incredibly proud to have a unique, custom-made social and emotional learning (SEL) program that is tailored to the needs of our community. This program, titled REACH – Raising Emotional Acuity, Cultural Responsiveness, & Healthy Behaviors – was unveiled during the 2017-2018 academic year. REACH works in tandem with the academic program and Langley’s core values to foster students’ emotional intelligence, cultural responsiveness, and health and wellness. The overarching goal of our program is to incorporate foundational knowledge, skills, and strategies to help our students develop emotion awareness and management, a deep understanding of their own and others’ identities, an appreciation of diversity with a focus on equity and
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inclusion, an ability to respond to social injustice, and a solid foundation in understanding the brain, body, and relationships in order to make healthy decisions. The Langley School’s SEL program is taught across our school, although the nature of the lessons looks different depending on the developmental needs of our students. In our Primary and Lower School divisions, SEL lessons are taught by our teachers and our counseling team and are woven into morning meeting discussions, curricular lessons, and daily practices. Starting in fifth grade, students participate in an SEL class once per seven-day cycle, allowing us to more deeply cover the topics in our REACH program.
