As school counselors, we are dedicated to supporting, inspiring, motivating and guiding students in their journey through childhood and adolescence. By promoting our students' Social and Emotional Learning, we enhance their personal development.

 

What is Social and Emotional Learning and why is it important?
CASEL (The Collaborative for Academic and Social Learning), an organization based at the University of Illinois, defines Social Emotional Learning as "the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make positive decisions."

There has been a shift in how educators and child development experts think about the skills that students need to be successful in school and in life. Some researchers now suggest that a child's success or or failure isn't only determined by cognitive skills, as once thought; Social Emotional Learning (SEL) skills, or those most related to character, including grit, optimism and self-awareness, are other important contributors to student success.

School counselors are a resource for students, teachers, parents and administrators to help our understanding of ourselves and our relationships with one another.

Primary School Resources

• Great Reads
• Parent ToolKit
• Aha! Parenting: Explaining Death
• Aha! Parenting: Steps to Encourage
• Understood: For Learning and Attention Issues
• Social Learning for Well-Being
• 5-Point
• Common Sense Media
• Social-Emotional Learning: What It Is and Why It Matters (VIDEO)
• How To Stop a Bully (VIDEO)

How to Activate Kid's Empathy - Michelle Borba
Short version (six minutes)

Lower School Resources

• The Power of Mindfulness
• Parent Toolkit
• Zones of Regulation
• PBS Parenting: Raising Boys
• PBS Parenting: Raising Girls

Middle School Resources

• Six Truths About Parenting Teenage Tween in the Digital Age
• Common Sense Media: 6 Messaging Apps That Let Teens Share (Iffy) Secrets
• Common Sense Media: Privacy and Internet Safety
• Teenage Brains, National Geographic
• Top 15 Things Your Middle School Kid Wishes You Knew
• Effects of Screen Time on Our Children
• Managing Student Stress and the Pressure to Succeed  Part 1,  Part 2

Books

– "UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World" by Michele Borba, EdD
– "Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions Into Adulthood" by Lisa Damour, PhD
– "Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-asked Questions about Raising Sons" by Michael Thompson, PhD
– "The Price of Privilege" by Madeline Levine, PhD
– "Brainstorm—The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain" by Daniel Siegel, MD