Key Points
Back to top- CASEL’s SEL 3 Signature Practices offer a straightforward, tangible way to integrate SEL into classes and staff meetings as part of fully systemic implementation.
- CASEL’s free SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook offers a growing library of practices, supporting research, videos, and examples from the field, and templates to plan your own practices and observe for impact.
- For those who want to delve deeper and become an expert facilitator of these practices, CASEL is offering an affordable, two-hour, interactive workshop.
At CASEL, we often hear: “I like the idea of social and emotional learning (SEL), but what does it actually look like in practice?”
SEL, after all, is a big topic! When implemented systemically, SEL impacts everything from hiring, training, and supervision of staff, to classroom and schoolwide practices and policies, to relationships with families and the broader community. Given the breadth of SEL, you might also be looking for some concrete practices to point to and say, “This is SEL.”
If this is a question you’ve wondered about, you’ll want to know about the SEL 3 Signature Practices, a set of easy-to-implement strategies anyone can use to integrate SEL into their class period or meeting, developed by CASEL with our collaborating district partners. When woven throughout the day, every day, as a regular part of planning and facilitating lessons, meetings, and professional learning, these practices offer an easy on-ramp to SEL implementation as part of a systemic approach to SEL. It’s no wonder that the SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook is the most downloaded resource on the CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL!
“The SEL 3 Signature Practices work alongside any program, in any content area; they are flexible, and can be used at almost any age. They are one way to answer the question: but what does SEL look like in action?”
Michelle, District SEL Coordinator
What Are the SEL 3 Signature Practices?
Back to topThe SEL 3 Signature Practices are research-backed facilitation tools designed to foster a supportive environment and help learners of all ages practice and reflect on social and emotional skills. These flexible practices offer a concrete way to help people begin to implement SEL and see the impact it can have as a tangible first step toward the goals of a systemic plan for SEL implementation. The signature practices are:
Inclusive Welcome
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When planning and facilitating activities, educators are always thinking, “What’s my purpose?” The inclusive welcome is an opportunity to bring purpose to life. Offered at the beginning of a session or engagement, the Inclusive Welcome brings everyone together, ensuring that all participants are ready to engage.
Listen to CASEL team member Mary Hurley, one of the original developers of the SEL 3 Signature Practices when she led SEL in Oakland Unified School District, as she demonstrates an Inclusive Welcome:
Other examples:
- Synectics: Share the image or set of images with the group. If offering a set of images, ask that each person select one image that resonates with them. Explain that the goal is to complete the sentence stem: “[Given topic] is like [selected image] because…”.
- Name and Motion: Participants form a circle and interact verbally and non-verbally to learn each other’s names and favorite activities.
Read the research about the impact of an inclusive welcome.
Engaging Strategies
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Engaging strategies encourage participants to more fully grasp content and connect learning to their lives. They balance interaction and reflection to meet the needs of all participants and your intended outcomes for the time together.
Here’s Mary again with an example of an Engaging Strategy:
Other examples:
- Fish Bowl: Two groups are seated in concentric circles, all facing the center. The outside circle listens while the inside group has a discussion about a topic. Then the groups switch places so the listeners become the speakers.
- Gallery Walk: Like viewers at a gallery, individuals or small groups of participants rotate from poster to poster, stopping to view, discuss, and add ideas at each station.
Read more about Engaging Strategies.
Intentional Close
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At the end of a gathering, an intentional close offers a chance to:
- Highlight the content, purpose, and intellectual and emotional experience of the engagement
- Provide a sense of accomplishment
- Build a bridge to a next step
Here’s a Intentional Close I once led:
Examples:
- Future Me: Write a letter to your “future self” about what you learned from this session and what you’d like to take away.
- One Takeaway I Am Going to Try: Participants consider and name a takeaway—an idea, strategy, tool, or action step—that they want to try out.
- I Am Curious: Participants reflect on something they are curious about as a result of the presentation, meeting, or lesson. They then share their reflection with a partner or with their table group.
Read more about the Intentional Close.
“The SEL 3 Signature Practices can be used with any group that is coming together and growing together … . They are a great first step to support integrating SEL into the classroom and across content areas.”
Rochelle, Transformative SEL Curriculum Coordinator
Become an SEL 3 Signature Practices Maestro!
Back to topIn addition to using and adapting example practices from the Playbook, you can become an SEL 3 Signature Practices maestro by attending one of our online, two-hour, interactive workshops, offered by the educators who developed these resources!
It’s the perfect next step for those who want to move beyond “take and use” tools to think more creatively about the SEL 3 Signature Practices framework and develop more intentional and systemic uses of these practices.
Available one-time sessions include:
- Thursday, 6/27/24, 1:00-3:00 pm EST
- Tuesday, 7/23/24, 3:00-5:00 pm EST
- Wednesday, 8/14/24, 10:00-12:00 pm EST
“This is a good way to start introducing SEL structures into adult convenings and in the classroom. If educators can experience this firsthand, this is something that would more easily transfer to the classroom.”
Kelli, international school counselor and nonprofit leader
Related Posts:
Back to top- 5 Back-to-School SEL Strategies for Educators
- 5 Meaningful, Standards-Based SEL Activities for the Classroom
- What Are You Bringing to Your Classroom This Year?
Write for Us
Back to topAre you interested in writing for CASEL’s blog, Constellations? Learn more about what we’re looking for and how to pitch your idea!