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Unit 1: The Five Areas of SEL

From KNILT

Back to Main Course Page: SEL in the World Language Classroom

Introduction

In this unit, you will learn about the five main areas of Social-Emotional Learning. While we have all developed social-emotional skills over the course of our life, many people have not been explicitly told what these are. Through learning about the different areas of Social-Emotional Learning, you will be able to better identify the needs of your students in the future.

Objectives

  • Learners will be able to explain the significance of the five main areas of Social-Emotional Learning.
  • Learners will be able to identify the Social-Emotional skills they would like to work on with their students.

Lesson

This lesson will give you an introduction to the five main areas of Social-Emotional Learning and why teaching our students these skills is significant.

First, click the link below to go to the CASEL Framework for Social-Emotional Learning. You should watch the first video and then read about the five areas on the interactive CASEL Wheel.

CASEL Framework for SEL

As noted in this reading, the five main areas of Social Emotional Learning are

  • self-awareness - the ability to understand one's emotions
  • self-management - the ability to manage one's emotions and behaviors
  • responsible decision making - the ability to make constructive, positive choices about personal behaviors
  • relationship skills - the ability to maintain healthy relationships
  • social awareness - the ability to understand different peoples' perspectives

In classrooms, explicit instruction is one way SEL skills can be taught and practiced. Classrooms are a great place for adolescents to practice and further develop their SEL skills due to them being a safe, nurturing environment.

When discussing SEL for the classroom, it is important to remember that different aged students will be at different stages. Below is a link to an article discussing the differences in preschool, elementary, middle, and high school aged students. Please read the article paying special attention to the information regarding the age group that your students are.

Keeping SEL Developmental

Assessment

After reading, please consider the following questions and record your answers in a journal or notebook for safe-keeping.

  1. What are the five main areas of SEL?
  2. Why is it important for schools to incorporate SEL instruction in classrooms?

Then, create your own discussion post using this link:

The Five Areas of SEL Discussion

Some questions you may wish to consider are:

  • What skill(s) do you find most important in each of the five main areas of SEL?
  • What skill(s) do you think your own students need the most development in?
  • Why do you think they are not well developed in this area?

Sources

CASEL. (2015c). Social and emotional learning core competencies. Retrieved from http://www.casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning/core competencies/

Ready for Unit 2?: Unit 2: Behaviors and SEL

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