Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators

by Maurice J. Elias

Fostering knowledgeable, responsible, and caring students is one of the most urgent challenges facing schools, families, and communities. Promoting Social and Emotional Learning provides sound principles for meeting this challenge. Students today face unparalleled demands. In addition to achieving academically, they must learn to work cooperatively, make responsible decisions about social and health practices, resist negative peer and media influences, contribute constructively to their family and community, function in an increasingly diverse society, and acquire the skills, attitudes, and values necessary to become productive workers and citizens. A comprehensive, integrated program of social and emotional education can help students meet these many demands. The authors draw upon scientific studies, theories, site visits, and their own extensive experiences to describe approaches to social and emotional learning at all levels. Framing the discussion are 39 concise guidelines, as well as many field-inspired examples for classrooms, schools, and districts. Chapters address how to develop, implement, and evaluate effective strategies. Educators who have programs in place will find ways to strengthen them. Those seeking further direction will find an abundance of approaches and ideas. Appendixes include a curriculum scope for preschool through grade 12 and an extensive list of contacts that readers may follow up on for firsthand knowledge about effective social and emotional programs. The authors of Promoting Social and Emotional Learning are members of the Research and Guidelines Work Group of the Collaborative for the Advancement of Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Zach]

Thorough and informative with sound research on SEL and intended for the reader that is ready (and able) to implement a district wide program -- or for the reader daydreaming about it.

[Larina Warnock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend for school administrators looking to implement SEL schoolwide.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elias et al did an amazing job of creating a book that's at once comprehensive and inspiring. It clearly lays out the need for some form of emotional education and for the reintegration of different subsets of education based on extensions of Gardener's theory of multiple intelligences. That is still relevant and prescient today really shows how and why this became a seminal educational text. More importantly, it addresses the needs of teachers in the way it converses on social emotional learning and its implementation.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great resource for SEL in an educational setting. I will continue to reference this book throughout the school year, and use it as a guide.