Social Emotional Learning. 

If you are an educator, Social Emotional Learning is likely such a huge part of your practice that casually dropping the acronym, “SEL”, in daily conversation—discussing emotions, and reflecting out loud as you process ideas—are a part of your day-to-day life. If you are a parent of a child who is approaching school age, the term might be relatively new to you or you have started to hear schools talk about it. Well what is Social Emotional Learning (or SEL) and how do we approach it at Portfolio?

A quick definition: Social Emotional Learning is a process of identifying, teaching, practicing, and reflecting on social skills (such as communication and collaboration) and emotional skills (like empathy and self-regulation). It is also the integration of these skills across experiences, places, and time. 

Now, how do we approach SEL at Portfolio?

To say we have a “Social Emotional Learning” curriculum is not completely accurate. At Portfolio, it’s more like our Social Emotional Learning is infused in everything we do. Yes, it’s that important to us. We believe emotional intelligence is a major determinant of future success and well-being, so a school should support the growth of a child’s EQ (emotional quotient) and not just on academic IQ-based knowledge.

Here’s an overview of how we infuse SEL in our program:

(Please note: the resources here are but a few examples of the many tools and research-based practices that we rely on to help guide our program. One of the many things that sets us apart at Portfolio School is that we are set up to adapt and grow as new tools and new research becomes available. What I am sharing is a truly small sample of what we utilise.)

We approach SEL in three ways. 

  1. We prepare the environment and ourselves as guides and models.

  2. Teaching tools - external curriculum - we use to explicitly teach children "Habits of Mind".

  3. Creating the opportunity for children to be at the center of their experience and a valued member of the community 

Prepared Environment / Prepared Teachers

We spend significant time thinking about the school space and how students will use it. We ask questions such as: what do we want students to be able to do independently (and always safely)? and then construct a space that allows them the opportunity to do so. As a basic example of this, in many schools and classrooms children's ability to use the bathroom or get water is regulated by adults. At Portfolio School, we work with each group of students to establish a set of signals to let an adult know when they are going to go to the bathroom or get water and then they are free to go. The signals helps the staff know exactly why a child is leaving a given space while also providing the student a chance to move freely based on the needs of their body. It supports them in building a sense of independence, trust, and self-awareness. 

When it comes to preparing ourselves as educators, we spend time thinking about the ways in which we will interact with children and each other. We narrate situations, model metacognition, react with planned phrases that remove judgement when something happens, and share - constantly - the mistakes we make and how we either moved on, or used the mistakes to learn or iterate. As an example, a common occurrence at school - as I know it can be at home - is something spilling. When this happens, especially if it impacts another item or person, it can be frustrating and therefore easy to react to with anger. What we practice - so we can do it in the moment - is take a breadth, say, "that was unexpected" (or something similar) and think out loud about what should happen next (cleaning the spill, fixing items, etc.). 

Tools / Curriculum

The tools we use fall into a few different categories:

  • Mindfulness - Mind-Up is one of our go-tos. We use mindfulness as a tool to build self awareness and to regulate our minds and bodies (by regulate, I mean to do something like focus on work after we come in from recess). 

  • Instruction - Kimochis is one of my FAVORITE curriculum. It uses a series of plush toys with fantastically different personalities (think Sesame Street for schools) to teach about feelings, noticing feelings in ourselves, noticing feelings in others, and interacting with people through a variety of situations and roleplay. It is a developmentally appropriate way for children to gain experience solving social situations and then gradually applying the tools they acquire to situations in their day-to-day experiences.  

  • Further Tools - Zones of Regulation is an additional resource we use to give students further explicit language to talk about and notice their own emotions and help them recognize the "zone" or emotional areas within which they are most prepared / ready to learn or play, both with others and independently. 

Children as facilitators of their learning and key community members

The last key to our approach here is in the value we place on guiding and listening to the students. We give them time and space to provide feedback and we take it seriously. We model strategies and tools and then invite them to use those without us. We trust that, with scaffolding and support, they can and should be their best teacher. 

Our school is a community. A place where students establish / continue to develop their identity and sense of self. It is designed to be a place where it is ok to make a mistake and where working through challenges or conflicts is a normal part of the practice. It is a place where students feel joy and pride and are eager to contribute. 

I hope this gives a good overview of Portfolio’s approach to SEL. Send us an email if you would like to discuss or learn more!