Social Emotional Learning Through Literature

When students came back into the classroom in the fall of 2020, I noticed a need for increased social and emotional learning. As a public school classroom teacher, I didn't have much time for focus on understanding emotions or social interactions because I needed to cover 7th and 8th grade English standards. Because I am passionate about both English instruction and psychology, I began to combine the two in my lessons. That is where social emotional learning through literature was born. 

Two full weeks of this course is devoted to each social emotional learning competency- self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Students will read two classic short stories and a poem that help them think critically about the core competency. Students will always be asked to contemplate the core competency in relation to the text and their own lives and experiences. This is ALSO a literature course. Students will be asked questions that are entirely text-dependent in order to ensure their understanding of the literature. 

Before reading each text, students will complete a pre-reading activity. Students will then have time to read the text. As this is a combination of a literature and an SEL class, students will be asked questions about the text itself and about the SEL competency related to the text. Students will encounter short answer questions, paragraph writing, interviews, and letter writing throughout this course. 

All reading in this course will take place outside of class time. Students will have access to assignments before class time. Our class sessions together are for discussion of literature and social emotional learning topics. Students are also welcome to bring any questions they might have to our class sessions. It is important that students have their cameras on and are willing to discuss with the teacher and classmates during this class. 

I am extremely enthusiastic about helping students boost their English and social emotional learning skills. I am extremely proud of this course and its content, and I am eager to share it with learners. My typical working hours are 9:00am to 5:30pm central time Mondays through Fridays. I will respond to student inquiries and provide feedback within 36 hours, not including weekends.