Restorative Practices: "An emerging social science that studies how to strengthen relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities. The purpose or restorative practices is to build healthy communities, increase social capital, decrease crime and antisocial behavior, repair harm and restore relationships (Reference: International Institute of Restorative Practices)." iirp.edu
An important part of building staff skills around SEL is modeling by school leaders. These strategies can provide ideas for administrators and leadership teams to build relationships and show staff they are cared for and appreciated.
SEL is a powerful lever for creating caring, just, inclusive, and healthy communities that support all individuals in reaching their fullest potential.
While your team works to align school discipline policies to SEL, it’s important to ensure that all classrooms consistently reinforce a student-centered approach to discipline.
Professional Learning Communities
Professional learning communities provide an important opportunity to integrate SEL into existing practices, work collaboratively on the goals of schoolwide SEL, and cultivate their own social and emotional competencies.
Social and emotional learning is essential to every child’s education.
Integration of SEL and Instruction
Social and emotional competencies serve as a foundation for achieving academic goals, while academic instruction also provides a ripe opportunity for teaching and practicing SEL.
Aligning SEL and Academic Objectives
As your SEL team works with teachers to align SEL and academic objectives, it’s also important to consider how the content is delivered so that it supports the practice of social and emotional competencies.
Establish a structured, ongoing process to collect, reflect on, and use implementation and outcome data to inform school-level decisions and drive improvements to SEL implementation.
Align schoolwide systems, policies, programs, and practices to promote SEL for students.