3 Social-Emotional Learning Tools for the Classroom
Give your students the language they need to talk about mental health.
Welcome to From the Teacher’s Desk, where we take turns further reflecting on our episodes and applications to the classroom.
This is not a new topic for Lit Think.
We talked about the importance of empowering mental health conversation with our students when we covered Dear Even Hansen and Matilda.
So instead of repeating what I’ve already said, I’m going to leave you this week with three of my favorite SEL tools to use in the classroom.
Wellness Wheel
Especially during times of the year when students may be feeling unbalanced or experiencing high levels of stress, I like to pull out the Wellness Wheel.
This is an activity that only has to take up one class period. But as blogger Catherine Beard writes, “The thing is that sometimes we think we need a big change to make life more exciting, but really we just need to make a few small tweaks.”
The Wellness Wheel is based on the research of Dr. Bill Hettler, founder of the National Wellness Institute. And the eight dimensions of the wheel encourage students to think about how different facets of their lives are interconnected, along with where they’re spending most of their energy.
You can check out my Wellness Wheel activity prompt here. Or download this great worksheet packet from Catherine Beard here.
Growth Mindset
This is a great tool to introduce during any unit that involves editing and revision. So often, I see professional writers and students get stuck in a fixed mindset about their work. “This draft is not good enough, which means I’m not good enough…” And the downward spiral only continues from there.
But a growth mindset empowers a level of curiosity and problem-solving that we could all benefit from. Share this slide deck with your students before their first peer-editing activity, and see how it changes the tone of their conversations with each other.
Poetry
Anyone who has sat in my classroom for a small amount of time knows I love poetry. Thanks to the work of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, I’ve been able to turn that passion into a place for students to practice healthy emotional dialogue.
Here are five of my favorite sacred text practices I’ve used with students in discussing poetry. You’ll constantly be surprised (in a good way) by what comes to the surface when you use this tool to lead student discussion in your classroom!
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