Integrating social-emotional learning (SEL) on a daily basis is important to all students. By taking time each day to integrate SEL, you will help develop your students’ well being and promote a positive classroom community.
Here are five ways to integrate SEL into your lesson planning whether you teach in person, hybrid, or virtual learning.
- Google Forms
Create a Google Form that serves as a daily or weekly check in. You can integrate emojis that correspond with various feelings from which students can select their current emotion. Students can then bookmark the form on their device and visit this as often as they choose. Many students may feel more comfortable submitting an answer online than saying how they feel out loud. Through the data gathered, you can better serve your students. - Pear Deck SEL Templates
Download these free templates onto your Google Slides (add-on). Students answer various prompts such as how they are feeling, stress level check, moment of silence, stretch break, and many others. These questions allow you to collect more data and your students will know you care about their entire well being. Through the students’ responses, you can get feedback on the entire class and how each individual student is feeling. - Mentimeter
Create questions where students can answer how they are feeling through a multiple choice bar graph, word cloud, or free response. This website is free and allows you to collect participant responses in real time. You have the option to display the entire results on the smartboard or via Zoom. - Make a Meme
This website provides an opportunity to create memes based upon student feelings. These are also great for lesson hooks that spark student interest and inquiry. - Flipgrid
Create grids where students can check in with you daily or weekly. Through Flipgrid, students have a voice and they feel connected to their classroom community. You can also create gratitude grids, show-and-tell, birthday celebrations, and introduce family/pet grids. These all help build community and give students a voice, whether they are at home or in the classroom.
More Social-Emotional Learning Resources
For other ways to incorporate the critical components of social-emotional learning in your classroom, check out these resources:
- Misconceptions I Had about SEL (blog)
- Social-Emotional Learning Activity Templates for Google Jamboard (blog)
- Bring SEL Practices to Your Remote Classroom (blog)
- Helping Students with Social-Emotional Challenges (blog)
- Empowering Students Through Digital Citizenship and Social-Emotional Learning (blog)
- Social and Emotional Learning (online, self-paced course)