The post is sponsored by The Allstate Foundation. All opinions are my own.
A few weeks ago, I asked my AP Lit students to set aside our literary study for a week and to simply respond to the world around them. I was inspired by Kelly Gallagher’s concept of looking for “seeds” in the real world— the inspiration of ideas that inspire us to respond. As my students submitted their “seeds,” I could see, overwhelmingly, that they all focused on COVID-19. Some of them expressed fear; others expressed speculation about the future.
But it became clear to me that my job as an educator was more than just about teaching Shakespeare. I needed not only to give my students an assignment outlet that allowed them to process this dramatic change to our lives, but I also needed to acknowledge their fears and acknowledge their voices. It became obvious that SEL is a crucial part of our jobs as teachers.
SEL = Social Emotional Learning
This new catch-all acronym has caught hold of the new focused trend in education as a means of emphasizing the fact that as teachers, we do NOT just teach content. We do more than just teach Shakespeare and the Pythagorean Theorem. We also hold the responsibility of training our students how to behave socially and also how to express emotions in a healthy way. Now, more than ever, the social emotional aspect of our jobs as teachers has taken the forefront over content as we grapple with the “new normal” of COVID-19 quarantines and literal isolation from friends and family— neither of which are good for any person’s mental health— let alone a teenager who is learning how to deal with hormones and attempting to shape a life identity. You can find an entire guide from The Allstate Foundation on how to help teens build SEL skills here.
Click on the picture to download this FREE GUIDE on Life Skills That Help Teens Succeed!
In times like these, social and emotional learning is more important than ever, and we as teachers need to implement practices in our classrooms to help students with life and not just focus on learning content.
Here are three strategies we can use as secondary teachers to support the social emotional learning aspect of our students.
Strategy #1: Give Students an Outlet to Respond to Life
When I gave the “seed” assignment to my students, my goal was to give them an outlet to respond to life. I stepped away from the literature to let them focus on what’s going on in the world and to give a real life purpose for English Language Arts— essentially to communicate. Students took on so many unique angles to the pandemic from theories about the causes to psychics who predicted it was going to happen. Each and every student was able to process COVID-19 in their own original voice, in their own original way.
The point here is that we need to be bold and brave enough to step outside of our content areas and allow students a chance to process life. Life is not always easy, and we can’t necessarily solve our students’ problems, but we can give them an outlet. We can give them strategies for how to process the hard times. We can listen, and we can respond.
Now, I know that some teachers would argue that SEL is not “our job” and that we have enough to do as teachers. I get that. I see that point of view. But today’s secondary students are dealing with so much media intrusion and so many issues at home that we can’t just throw our hands up and say, “not my problem.” If we love our students, then SEL is our problem.
Strategy #2: Acknowledge Students’ Opinions and Feelings
As I responded to each individual student’s “seed” assignment with the simple question, “How are you?”, I came to the realization that ACKNOWLEDGMENT is the most important SEL gift we can give our students.
I was especially touched by a Chinese-American student of mine who expressed fear for his parents to go to the grocery store due to the outpouring of racist actions against Chinese-American citizens as a result of the COVID-19. This young man is 17-years-old and telling me that he is literally afraid to step out of his front door. What kind of teacher would I be to ignore this kind of response to “seeds” in the world in lieu of Shakespeare? Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m using Shakespeare as a metaphor here for the “typical” English teacher job, and there is nothing wrong with teaching Shakespeare. But times like these demand and command us to do MORE.
So, I responded to my student… not that I had the answer or even knew what to say. But I responded to him that I cared and that I was listening— that I heard his voice— that I ACKNOWLEDGED his fears were REAL. I’ll never forget his response back to me.
“Ms. Dobbs—
I didn’t know that you’d ever actually read this. Thank you for responding.”
And right then and there, I knew that my job wasn’t just about literature— and that we have so much power as teachers to really support our students in all aspects of their daily lives— if we just listen and acknowledge. Listen and acknowledge— even when we do not have the answers— because we play an important role in shaping teens as they transition into adulthood.
Check out the The AllState Foundation’s ‘Happy, Successful Teens’ SEL Parent Guide to find out more tips for helping teens make this transition.
Click on the picture to download this FREE GUIDE on Life Skills That Help Teens Succeed!
Here is a list of specific ways you can give your students an outlet in secondary ELA:
Redirect their focus to learning a new skill or doing something new even if it’s as simple as planting a flower or cooking a new recipe.
Engage students in community and collaboration within the classroom— even if it’s just an online chat.
Check in with students regularly with the simple question, “How are you?”— sometimes, no one EXCEPT YOU is asking this question.
Play games! Make your class fun, lively, inviting, and community-oriented. Students will not remember another timed writing, but they will remember that day their team won at Othello jeopardy.
Strategy #3: Give Students Power
The follow-up to acknowledgement is giving students some semblance of power over their situations. A great exercise to do with students is to have them do the inner/outer circle activity in which they place themselves in the center of the circle and list all the things in their lives they can control. Then, on the outside of the circle, they place everything they cannot control. This can help students (and people) focus on problems in life, and when we can realize that we do not have control over everything that happens to us, we can begin to focus on how we respond to things that happen to us.
I feel like every self-help guru out there has said this. It’s not new news, but it is new(ish) to involve these kinds of practices in the classroom. So, to put that into practice, it’s always good to focus on what we have power over instead of what we do not.
Here are some ways that we can give our secondary students “power” in powerless situations:
Encourage students to keep a diary or journal of their experiences.
Teach students how to practice mindfulness through meditation or yoga— maybe even build a 5-minute meditation session into class time.
Promote a growth mindset attitude in the classroom by focusing on how challenges make us grow our minds.
Encourage students to create SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). Goal-setting helps students focus on the future in a positive way.
Have students create a portfolio of their work so that they can focus on their accomplishments instead of what they have not accomplished. Alternatively, have students create a scrapbook of the school year to focus on the good times.
There are many more ideas where these come from. Where do you stand on the SEL issue? How do you implement SEL into your classes?
I’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below to join the conversation.
About the Author
I am Meredith, the founder and creator of TeachWriting.org and Bespoke ELA. I have taught high school English for 10+ years in Dallas, Chicago, and New York City, and I hold a M.A. in Literature from Northwestern University. I have always had a connection to the written word-- through songwriting, screenplay writing, and essay writing-- and I enjoy the process of teaching students how to express their ideas. I enjoy life with my daughter and sweet Yorkie named Teddy.
This post was written as part of The Allstate Foundation and We Are Teachers SEL Parent Guide campaign, and sponsored by The Allstate Foundation. All opinions are mine. The Allstate Foundation empowers young people-- and those that guide and teach them-- with social and emotional skills to build character and transform lives. Learn more at www.allstatefoundation.org.