SEL Blog
Articles about Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Mindfulness in the Classroom, and Trauma-Informed Teaching
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SEL and Racial Equity
SEL teaches children the lessons they need to understand and practice racial equity. Social emotional learning starts with bringing an end to racism and injustice. But how do we have these tough conversations with young people?
Funding Sources for SEL
You’re a school administrator, you’re already stretched thin. You may want to implement social-emotional learning, but you don’t have the money! Here are some creative ways you can fund your SEL program.
Benefits of Mindfulness for Children
What is mindfulness? And how can practicing mindfulness benefit areas of a child’s life such as in the classroom or socializing with friends? Check out the benefits of practicing mindfulness in the classroom for more details.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Articles
Teaching SEL Online
Teaching SEL Online: how you can use these 6 tips for bringing the classroom to your students.
Daily SEL
How to Teach Social-Emotional Learning Everyday Interested in teaching an SEL curriculum daily? Below is our plan for how any teacher could...
Empowering Education & Conflict Resolution
How does Empowering Education teach conflict resolution? Of all themes that Empowering Education covers, conflict resolution is high on the list....
The Man Behind Empowering Education
Check out our recent interview with Andy Wilfong, Empowering Education’s founder, on the future of SEL. Andy gives insight on advocating for SEL in schools for over two decades and his personal connection to SEL.
A Classroom Activity for Managing Emotions
We’ve provided a classroom activity that’s helpful for talking about mindfulness and emotional management with your students! Classrooms should be a space for kids to learn how to manage their emotional responses.
I Statements for Kids
Try incorporating these I statements for kids to effectively communicate thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Mindfulness in the Classroom Articles
Five Tips to Reduce Winter Break Anxiety for Students
Teachers are almost always excited about an upcoming vacation, but as we approach the winter break, your students may also be experience excitement...
Mindfulness & Silence Lesson
Notes from the Field: A Silent Lesson in Mindfulness from High Tech Elementary Empowering Education recently observed a lesson in mindful silence at...
A Mindful Approach to New Year’s Resolutions
As the days begin to grow longer and we welcome the next calendar year, many are looking toward 2019 with a familiar mixture of hope, trepidation,...
School-Based Mindfulness – Examining the Evidence
The past several decades have seen a marked increase in the use of mindfulness-based interventions to promote psychological health and well-being....
Social-emotional Learning for Teachers Integral to Developing “Deep Practices”
“Educational institutions are full of divisive structures, of course, but blaming them for our brokenness perpetuates the myth that the outer...
Mindfulness in Schools: Finding Analog Rhythm in a Digital World
Life moves in a series of rhythms. In each day there is a natural rhythm to the rising and setting of the sun, and in each year there is a rhythm to...
Trauma-Informed Teaching Articles
Trauma Informed Teaching Part 4 of 4: The Mindfulness Solution
The simple practice of turning your attention to the present moment – your breath, the sounds you hear, the sensations you feel – can actually physically change the structure of your brain and counteract the effects of stress and trauma in less than 8 weeks. Studies are now revealing that mindfulness-based therapy is more effective than anti-depressants and cognitive behavioral therapy combined in treating PTSD. Even better, the results are permanent as long as participants continue to practice mindfulness in their daily lives
Trauma Informed Teaching Part 3 of 4: Adverse Childhood Experiences
“Remember: Everyone in the classroom has a story that leads to misbehavior or defiance. Nine times out of ten, the story behind the misbehavior won’t make you angry. It will break your heart.” —Annette Breaux
6 Trauma-Informed Mindful Teaching Practices
These 6 teaching tips are simple ways that you can leverage your own mindfulness – your awareness of your internal state and the environment around you – to improve your relationship with your students and enhance your teaching practice.
Trauma Informed Teaching: The Fight-or-Flight Response
Teachers and parents are often by perplexed explosive outbursts, emotional volatility, and temper tantrums that seem out of proportion to the actual event. It is important to remember, however, that children (and adults) who have experienced traumatic events are not necessarily responding to events in the present moment.