SEL, or Social Emotional Learning, has always been a part of STM’s mission to assist families in the formation of the whole child, however, it is also currently a trendy buzzword within education as a whole. Like most buzzwords, there can be and is a difference in how SEL is implemented in a public versus Catholic school setting. So let’s chat about what SEL looks like at STM:
Specialist Gabriela Marcus will visit classes to implement intentional instruction on the following areas as they fit within Catholic Social Teaching:
inner circle image pulled from Buffalo County Partners and edited by STM Staff
One of the biggest questions about SEL is where this fits within our curriculum from the Diocese as well as what instructional time will be used to implement.
SEL will be implemented specifically to fulfill the Diocesan Curriculum Guidelines from Health, where one large focus is Mental Wellness and Social/Emotional Skills. This is a required component in each grade level and is broken down by the Diocese in an age-appropriate way.
SEL also touches Religion by discussing the connection to Catholic Social Teaching and breaking this development down to “How would Jesus handle this situation?”
We can also tie SEL into our Reading/Language Arts curriculum, as students will be expected to read materials from and/or listen to Mrs. Marcus’ presentation and then respond to her either orally or in writing. This measures either reading or listening comprehension and gives the teachers some great ideas for read-alouds that focus on a particular skill set, where we can integrate our beliefs of treating people the way that Jesus would treat us into our Reading/LA classes.
Next week’s topic: Why the focus on SEL now? Is this new?
Questions? Let’s set up a time to talk.
Emily Stocker
(703) 528-6781 x232