The 5 Social-Emotional Learning Skills
Let’s talk about the 5 Social-Emotional Learning Skills (CASEL Competencies)! What are they? And why do they matter?
Whether you’re a veteran Speechie or you’re new around here, you’ve probably noticed that the 5 CASEL Competencies (Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making)?are the core of the Everyday Speech SEL curriculum.?
But, you might be wondering, “What exactly is CASEL?”?
Good question! CASEL (which stands for the CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) ) is a highly respected and well-known leader in the field of Social Emotional learning.?Their mission?is to, “help make evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) an integral part of education from preschool through high school.”??
Because social-emotional learning truly impacts every aspect of a student’s life, now and in the future, we’ve chosen to build our SEL curriculum around the “CASEL 5.” Through extensive research, making them the gold standard for SEL, CASEL has identified the 5 most important SEL skills for learners to develop.?Our SEL curriculum specifically targets these areas with the aim of improving student mental health, academic performance, social relationships, and overall higher levels of well-being throughout their lives.?
Within each grade level of?Everyday Speech’s Pre-K-5th SEL curriculum, you’ll find 5 different units, each one carefully aligned to each of the competencies and jam-packed full of relevant content like:?videos, interactive activities, games, lesson plans, discussion prompts, and more.?
First things first; let’s start with the CASEL Competency definitions:?
Now, let’s take a deep dive into each competency to see why they’re so integral to social-emotional learning and to understand our reasoning behind building our entire SEL curriculum to support students in mastering these critical life skills.
?Self-Awareness:?
At the crux of self-awareness is:?
As we grow, so does our ability to understand the complexities of our thoughts, our values, and even our cultural identities.?In essence, it is our ability to recognize that emotions can,?and do, impact our behavior.
When we understand the “why” behind our actions, it empowers us to have more control over our life which leads to countless positive outcomes including:?
Is it any wonder that Self-Awareness is always the first unit in our SEL curriculum??Throughout our Self-Awareness units, learners will develop an emotional vocabulary and the skills to help them label and make sense of their feelings.?They’ll learn about:?
Self-Management:?
If self-awareness is the ability to recognize and label our emotions, then self-management is the next logical step; it’s how we?manage?those emotions and how we behave as a result.?It’s not the why, but the?what?we do.?
As human beings, we are constantly managing our emotions, processing our experiences, and reacting to them.?
As an educator, I know you’ve seen a student lose a game. And, often, they pout, they blame their teammate or competitor, they cry, they yell. None of which feels good! In fact, when we feel stress, we are experiencing?a chemical reaction?in our brains that increases our heart rate, our blood pressure, and our breath—it isn’t healthy. That’s why it’s essential to teach our students how to take ownership and manage emotions?differently.?
Our Self-Management units will teach learners important skills like:?
Students will learn to apply important concepts like:?
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Social Awareness:
Social awareness allows us to understand the perspective of others, show compassion and curiosity, value diversity, and identify positive resources.?At the center of social awareness is truly the ability to see ourselves as a participating member of a community.?We contribute to the community and the community contributes to us.?
I know you’ve seen a lack of social awareness in your learners. Who hasn’t been in the middle of a serious discussion or lesson when a student loudly asks if it’s lunchtime because they are so hungry?
When we lack social awareness, we see ourselves as an isolated unit and don’t consider the perception of others or the impact we have in our community. As we develop this foundational competency we:?
Our Social Awareness units focus on:
Armored with these important skills, you will see your learners demonstrate empathy, express gratitude, engage in perspective-taking, recognize unjust behavior, understand the importance of community support, and patiently wait for lunchtime or recess without asking (wink, wink).?
Relationship Skills:?
As educators, our ultimate goal is our students’ success. But education doesn’t exist inside a bubble filled with math facts, spelling lists, and the periodic table of elements.?Research?tells us that maintaining positive relationships is an important component of future, and current, happiness and success!?Everything is easier when we’re happier–even learning multiplication!?
So which relationship skills should we equip our students with?
As we teach relationship skills, our students will experience and learn the importance of social success which will prepare them to:?
The Relationship Skills units in our curriculum highlight:?
Relationship skills are an essential part of our overall health, success, and well-being. We know the resources housed in these units will help you get your students exactly where they need to be!?
Responsible Decision-Making:
Responsible decision-making is centered around?informed choices.?When we make well-informed decisions, we grow our ability to engage in critical thinking and self-discipline which helps us to validate and manage our emotions.?
Consideration of ethics, values, consequences and safety all make us responsible decision-makers.?
Remember the scenario we discussed earlier about students losing games? At the end of the game, the student has a choice to make: to be sad and act out, or to move on. We’ve seen the crying and the pouting, but a?responsible decision-maker?would definitely make a different choice. It may not be easy, but they’d consider more than just themselves, they’d consider their:
…and make a choice to recognize that it is just a game.?
Important principles our Responsible Decision-Making units teach are:
As we wrap up the final competency in the Everyday Speech SEL curriculum, it is evident how the curriculum?has been intentionally designed and?scaffolded?for successful teaching and learning! Meaning, it’s no surprise that responsible decision-making is the last competency to be addressed. As students progress to our final unit, they should be well-equipped with a vast range of social and emotional skills that will prepare them for the final competency–Responsible Decision-Making.?Putting?all?of these skills into practice will help them to become reflective, caring, and constructive decision-makers!?
Hungry for more? If you’d like more information on the 5 CASEL Competencies, check out?our training videos?on each competency!
Also, sign up for a free 30-day trial?to sample our 40-week no-prep SEL curriculum, complete with videos, games, activities, and more to support your students in becoming SEL all-stars.?
Do you want to learn more about SEL? Visit our blog!
SLP with 21 years experience in AAC, supervision, management, IEP’s, disabilities, early intervention, and technology marketing. Background in marketing, technology, client relations, and project management.
1 年Yes! I am seeing an enormous amount of preschoolers come through Intake who demonstrate emotional regulation and work behavior difficulties. Social-Emotional learning skills are crucial right now! ??