Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. SEL involves five core competencies that can be applied in both the classroom, at home, and in students’ communities. These five core competencies are:
Self-awareness: Recognizing your emotions and how they impact your behavior and acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses to better gain confidence in your abilities.
Self-management: Taking control and ownership of your thoughts, emotions, and actions in various situations, as well as setting and working toward goals.
Social-awareness: Putting yourself in the shoes of another person who may be from a different background or culture from the one you grew up with. To act with empathy and in an ethical manner within your home, school, and community is important.
Relationship skills: The ability to build and maintain healthy relationships with people from a diverse range of backgrounds. This competency focuses on listening to and being able to communicate with others, peacefully resolving conflict, and knowing when to ask for or offer help.
Making responsible decisions: Choosing how to act or respond to a situation based on learned behaviors such as ethics, safety, weighing consequences, and the well-being of others, as well as yourself.
P.S. Project Pneuma is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.