#SEL Learning

[camp-counselor-life]

When I first read through this article, I was going to pull out the section on what SEL skills are (worth reading if you click the link), but then I found this passage, and I would rather share it instead:

"At staff training every year, I ask at least one alumni counselor (once a camper, now a counselor) to speak to the whole staff about a meaningful moment from their time as a camper in our program. One year, a young woman told the story of how she had been physically uncoordinated as a child, and how that had negatively affected her self-worth and social confidence. One day at camp, her cabin group went for a hike in a creek where they had to do lots of balancing and hopping from one boulder to the next. She reluctantly made it through the hike, feeling anxious and unimpressed with herself, and moved on with the rest of her day without thinking much of it. That night before lights out, her counselor came to her bunk and said something to the effect of, “Remember today on the creek hike? I know you didn’t love that, but I saw you challenging yourself and not giving up, and I’m really proud of you for that. It shows what a strong person you are.”

It wasn’t the experience of the creek hike that made a difference for this young woman. It was the moment of reflection, when her role model shined a light on the perseverance that almost went unnoticed. From that moment onward, she carried a new understanding of who she was and what she might be capable of.

Be that mirror and shine that light in your program this summer. Use good judgment and take good care. Make good decisions and good friends. Make some mistakes (hopefully small ones), and use them to role model how to be accountable, honest, and to show that everyone has the power to fix their mistakes, overcome challenges, and use SEL skills to improve other people’s lives."

[richardtheteacher]

How I Use SEL in My High School Lessons (And How You Can Too!)

Richard James Rogers, Award-Winning Author and Teacher, describes ten which Social Emotional Learning (SEL) practices can be incorporated into High School Lessons.

A blog post by Richard James Rogers (Award-Winning Author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management and The Power of Praise: Empowering Students Through Positive Feedback). This blog post has been beautifully illustrated by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati. As high school teachers, we know that our students need more than just academic knowledge to thrive. They need tools to manage their emotions,…

[tiresomespaceplant]

that creation vs creator trend

[juuria]

first break at my minimum wage job guys!!!

[selbeane]

I’ve recently have been having a hard time getting back into drawing Sel. After a rough semester and the many changes at work work I just didn’t have it in me to do anything when Winter break. However with a little bit of inspiration from my mutuals, proper rest, I decided to look for a few of my WIPS from a few months ago and found these. Some tracing work I did of Sel in different age groups and just thought I would share them here.

[iwakuraz]

I really wanna post my drawings here more often and I have so many lain doodles so ? have this arilain!!! yay!

theres more stuff under the read more :>

^ignore how I just cannot take pictures of my art very well plsplspls ..

^^drawn in maths class but I don't really remember why ,, they're best friends ig or something like that

[selvepnea]

Been thinking about my body a lot

[genderjester]

I feel like after this trip i must gain some sort of resistance to high temperatures. I dont remember the last time we had a day under 25C. We once went on an evening walk with 40C. We set the a/c to 25-27C and it feels nice and cool. What the hell

[nothorses]

Do you have any more info on social-emotional learning?

I can only find versions for kids that include "follow the rules" in a million different words which uhh seems antithetical to the concept of SEL

I don't have as much relevant info as someone who's been formally trained/educated in SEL specifically, but it's definitely a big part of the philosophy of education in my program. My understanding of SEL is that it's about teaching kids to identify, process, and self-regulate their emotions, and to be in community with others.

A lot of the work I see around SEL is very intentionally informed by culturally-responsive education, which is, in a nutshell, about valuing students' individual cultures ("culture" meaning, like, everything from the general understanding of the word, to stuff like family culture and communities students are a part of- like the queer community- to neurodivergence and disability). That manifests as a way of teaching students that directly involves and welcomes their cultures (ex: having students teach each other, inviting community members to teach students, etc.), valuing the unique knowledge that students of different cultures bring to the classroom, helping students develop a positive sense of identity, and teaching students to value the cultures of other students.

This is also why it's under attack from conservatives; SEL necessitates discussions around justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

There are a lot of ways this shows up, but tbh, I would avoid SEL resources that emphasize academic performance or adherence to rules/"good behavior". The purpose of SEL is not to serve educators; a happy and healthy student is going to have an easier time in the classroom, but that's for the students, not the educator. Students should also be learning, like, autonomy, confidence, and self-advocacy. And educators should be making an effort to meet students where they are with their needs; we don't demand attention and punish students when they struggle to give it to us, we seek to understand why students struggle with our methods, and adjust them to meet their needs.

I've seen some decent resources floating around, and I think one of the best keywords to look out for is "culturally-responsive"; if you're just seeing resources that stress following rules, maybe try adding that onto your search!

I'm personally just a little hesitant to recommend anything without having time to comb through it more thoroughly first, and a lot of the SEL-related content I've learned through has not actually named SEL itself. 🤷‍♂️ If yall are interested in some readings around cultural responsiveness & supporting student health and happiness, though, I'm happy to provide!

[feyres-divorce-lawyer]

💀 honestly explained a lot on my first read

[neworkimprov]

Laughter: The Best Medicine You're Not Taking (Enough Of)

We all know the feeling: a belly laugh that leaves you breathless and your cheeks hurting. But beyond the immediate joy, laughter offers a surprising amount of benefits for our mental and physical well-being. Here’s why you should prescribe yourself a daily dose of humor: Stress Slayer: Feeling overwhelmed? Laughter can be a powerful antidote. By lowering stress hormones like cortisol, a good…

[camp-counselor-life]

So I recently finished an online class and wanted to share this about SEL (Social Emotional Learning) with you:

"RULER is the name of our systemic approach to SEL, and it also is an acronym for the five skills of emotional intelligence:

Recognizing emotions in oneself and others

Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions

Labeling emotions with a nuanced vocabulary

Expressing emotions in accordance with cultural norms and social context

Regulating emotions with helpful strategies"

The accompanying video described how this "RULER" has been implemented in a school and what the kids thought. Overall, I find SEL to be such an important aspect of school, and youthwork in general.

They talk about a "charter" as a key component, which is basically the team contract we make with our kiddos at the beginning of the week. They also talk about the mood meter, to label emotions, the meta moment to "activate our best selves," and the blueprint, which seems to be some kind of feelings worksheet that invokes emotional labeling and empathy.

They also had this graphic:

Image ID: Five concentric circles. The inner most is labeled "Social and Emotional Learning," and around it, in the second circle, are five spokes colored orange, green, and yellow, that read, "Self-awareness," "Self-management," "Responsible decision-making," "Relationship Skills," and "Social Awareness." The next circle out is bright blue and reads "Classrooms," and "SEL Curriculum and Instruction." The next circle out is a lighter blue and reads "Schools" and "Schoolwide practices and policies." The outermost circle is the lightest blue and reads "Homes and communities" and "Family and community partnerships." All text is in black and all caps. Circles are outlined in white. There is a watermark on the lower right corner that reads (c) CASEL 2017. End ID.

[omgneptunee]

no bc why tf in my sel (social emotional learning) class we watched a video about social awareness and all of a sudden it started talking about Undertale, Toontown, Fortnite, Roblox, and Among Us

[openstorygames]

Journaling RPGs

TL;DR Journal games provide an escape that brings you back to reality through reflection and creativity. Kids' journal games look very different from adult ones, but both can achieve similar goals. When I started writing games (months before I was brave enough to hit "publish"), I stumbled across journaling RPGs.

Playtesting

I playtested a few games for other creators, and I realized that the process of journaling in character was perfect for me! A limited project with defined rules that helped guide my thinking to a conclusion.

As a writer, I've always struggled to bring things from the middle to an ending. It's the hardest part of the process for me.

Journaling games aid that process by forcing an end. You draw a certain card; you run out of a limited resource; if you're lucky, you achieve your goal. Suddenly, your adventure has come to an end.

The game gives you the scenes along the way, but it's your job to put them in character and connect the dots. The ending exists, but how do you get there?

First Writing

After playing a few journaling games, I was intrigued. I wanted to write my own!

That first experiment gave me the rough draft of Dolorine. It wasn't anything special, at first. I had some growing to do before my deity of affliction would reach her full potential.

Lil Gremlins

I tried my hand at some other types of narrative TTRPGs, and I've enjoyed each project. But that journaling game just kept brewing in the back of my mind.

Still not ready to go back and face the (possible) mess of Dolorine, I shifted my focus to a kid-friendly journaling game.

That's a whole different experiment!

Kids don't have the stamina or hand strength to write long, extensive passages. They don't do well with dense text explaining complicated rules.

I knew I'd need to have simple rules and a journal template for Lil Gremlins to have a chance.

So I set to work, creating a game about your friend/pet monster, who gets into mischief quite a bit.

The great thing about journaling games is that they give you the opportunity to reflect on yourself and your own thoughts, feelings, and actions.

The tough thing about making that a game for kids is that kids don't have much practice with that. And their brains aren't fully developed yet. They've got a lot to learn!

Cover art by Mary Bransom

I intentionally wrote Lil Gremlins to be customizable and to grow with kids who play it. I designed it to handle big social-emotional learning topics in manageable chunks.

This game was for kids to take some power back. For them to wield the word NO! in a safe context. For them to be in control of what was allowed. For them to reflect on why certain things might be considered troublesome.

Lil Gremlins is a journaling game, but it's not meant to be played solo. It can be, of course, but it's written to encourage you to share your story! A younger player might want some help writing; a bigger kid might ask for their completed journal to be displayed.

And in doing all of that work, I created a game that helped me learn to write journaling RPGs for other audiences.

Back to Dolorine

With that first experience under my belt, I was ready to tackle the mess of Dolorine again.

A game that is very much not for children, Dolorine comes with a host of content warnings and a much darker theme.

After all, when the character you're playing is a deity who chooses to accept suffering for the purposes of transforming that suffering into power, things can get pretty grim.

During the months that passed between Dolorine's first draft and editing, I discovered the wonder of SRDs. I didn't have to build my game from the ground up. I didn't need to struggle to convert my Lil Gremlins skills to an entirely different context.

I used the Aspire SRD and the Caltrop Core SRD to give my dark fantasy vibe some structure.

With those building blocks, the game settled into its final form.

Dolorine is a solo journey through what it means to be afflicted. But it gives the player power, though in a very different way than in Lil Gremlins.

When I started my first draft, I wanted a game that gave pain purpose.

In a world so full of suffering, we can easily be overwhelmed by the senselessness of it all.

But for the Dolorine, deity of affliction, all pain has a purpose. She lives in a world where her suffering is never lost in the void.

There's a fantasy to that. A chance to use our pain for something worthwhile.

There's a danger in that. An opportunity to become the cruelty we seek to eliminate.

Either way, Dolorine has you reflecting on some tough themes as you channel affliction into the ability to rid others of their power to harm the vulnerable.

Very different game from Lil Gremlins, to be sure.

Comparison

Lil Gremlins is set in a world of peace and lightheartedness. There is no trouble so large that it can't be solved with a hug or a good book.

Dolorine wanders through a realm of agony. Nowhere can she turn that she doesn't find trouble.

But both games offer the player some hope against the powerlessness that we all feel at times.

And both give you the opportunity to reflect on your own role. You may be the responsible one in Lil Gremlins but the mischief-maker in your life. You might feel powerless in Dolorine but discover that you can change things even without deific abilities.

You might learn some uncomfortable things about yourself. Or you might just tell a good story. Either way, journaling games are an excellent way to grow as a writer, creative, and person.

Quick Promo

If you're interested in either of the journaling games I mentioned above, be sure to check them out at the links below!

Lil Gremlins is on sale for another week. Don't miss your chance to pick it up at a discount!

Dolorine is PWYW for a limited time! Try it out, and consider leaving a rating so I know how you like it!

[meangirlsbway]

my new favorite thing is going through an anti tag for a fandom i know absolutely nothing about

[galaxywhale]

Im trying so hard to work more as a team with my teaching partner and she’s making it soooo hard 🫠