Key Points
Back to top- The Third Coast Learning Collaborative (TCLC) uses interdisciplinary project-based learning and portfolio-based, feedback-driven assessment to promote social and emotional learning (SEL).
- Students engage in real-world projects, such as designing learning spaces, while applying CASEL competencies like self-awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
- By connecting learning to real-world contexts and incorporating social and emotional skills, the initiative aims to improve student outcomes and support students in becoming purposeful, reflective, and engaged community members.
Today in a classroom in Orchard View Schools, students are talking about the way they want to learn together. Their teacher leads a discussion about the CASEL 5 competencies for social and emotional learning (SEL), and the students make connections between those competencies and how they want to show up in the classroom. Then they design the norms they want to establish that will help them embody that standard to create the kind of learning environment they want to be in.
It’s all part of the way the members of the Third Coast Learning Collaborative (TCLC) is working to provide the conditions needed to promote social and emotional skills like resilience, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration—all key factors in helping students lead meaningful, joyful lives.
Building the Team to Support Students
Back to topDesigned to bring together both research and practical application experts to the question of what students need to learn and thrive, the TCLC is a 5- to 15-year initiative funded by the U.S. DOE’s Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant program. It comprises Orchard View Schools, Reeths-Puffer Schools, Human Restoration Project, and Open Way Learning, with the work independently evaluated by the University of Virginia.
TCLC creates a unique educational experience by combining two key components: interdisciplinary project-based learning (PBL) and portfolio-based, feedback-driven assessment. Students in collaborative cohorts engage in multi-week projects that connect learning to their local community, allowing them to apply their knowledge in real-world contexts.
Through intentional inclusion of SEL, we see mutual dependency between these practices. TCLC provides an example of how PBL and portfolio-based, feedback-driven assessment can systemically contribute to authentic SEL delivery.
Designing Our Space
Back to topPBL is a natural framework for teaching social and emotional skills. Through experiential learning and reflection, students have already had many opportunities to apply various CASEL competencies in their learning.
In their first project, “Designing Our Space,” students at TCLC schools explored how spaces can foster a sense of belonging and community, and how design choices can significantly impact individual and collective experiences. (You got a glimpse of their work at the start of this blog post!).
After assessing local spaces, they proposed classroom improvements to enhance learning environments. Their ideas, presented to administrators, are now being implemented, transforming classrooms into more engaging and inspiring spaces for all.
To kick off this project, students and teachers explored how each of the CASEL competencies are related to the classroom community. They researched and discussed the ways that specific social and emotional skills can be applied in the classroom, and how development of these skills can benefit a community. From this exploration, they co-designed classroom norms and identified values to consider in their design proposals.
| CASEL Competencies | SEL in the “Designing Our Space” PBL Project |
| Self-Awareness | Students reflected on their personal strengths/values and considered how they fit in with others to develop a caring classroom community. |
| Self-Management | Students were introduced to planning and organizational skills while mapping out their design proposals in teams. In this experience they had the chance to take action within their school spaces. |
| Social Awareness | Students practiced taking others’ perspectives and empathizing with stakeholders to prepare design proposals. They created surveys for their peers, interviewed community members, and observed other spaces in the greater community that promote belonging. |
| Relationship Skills | In their project groups, students practiced teamwork and problem solving, leadership skills, and management of disagreements. They learned communication strategies through peer-to-peer feedback and reflection protocols. |
| Responsible Decision Making | Students displayed responsible decision-making by providing the meaning behind their design choices. Students said: “Based on our survey results, more than 50% of students would like comfortable seating options in the library.” “We want to paint the walls a calming blue color because many students would like a space where they can de-stress and focus.” After the design proposals were presented, admin, teachers, and students voted on which proposals would be implemented. |
| Teacher reflections of the project “[This project] provides the opportunity to get kids out into their community and it helps connect them to their local space, so that they can truly be involved in something—and it makes it more interesting when their learning is connected to things they care about.” -Natasha Bracket, TCLC Teacher “Instead of just looking inwards on themselves about the things that they like, it makes them think, ‘Okay, I’m a part of something bigger, I’m a part of a 6th grade group, a middle school group, an Orchard View group and ultimately a Muskegon community.’ They can see how they can create things that not only they like, but that their peers and community like too.” – Jeff Hall, TCLC Teacher | |
A Meaningful Middle School Experience
Back to topThe combination of PBL, portfolio-based assessment, and SEL adds up to a rich and meaningful middle school experience for TCLC students. These conditions allow students to reflect and connect their work to who they are and who they wish to become. Weaving SEL into the TCLC project allows students to practice skills for purposeful living.
SEL skills are developed through experiences and interactions in all the places where students live and learn, with classroom, school, community, and families/caregivers identified by CASEL as key settings. PBL and SEL complement one another by blending key settings to elevate and connect learning across relevant contexts.
We believe that this holistic approach provides greater opportunity for SEL skill acquisition, will lead to improved student outcomes, and is transferable across contexts. We invite you to follow the journey at thirdcoastlearning.org.
The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.
Cassie Nastase, former school counselor, is the TCLC coordinator with the Human Restoration Project, a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Human Restoration Project works to inform, guide, and grow a movement toward a progressive, human-centered education system.
Related Posts
- Building “STEMpathy”: Engineering Inclusive Classrooms Through Project-Based Learning
- 5 Dos and Don’ts of SEL-Based Collaborative Learning
- Inquiry-Based Learning: What Happens When We Put Kids in Control of Their Learning?
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