EASE Back to School with Emozi® High School SEL Lessons
Are your high school students overwhelmed with the start of classes? For freshmen, transitioning to high school can feel like being thrown into the deep end. For continuing students, moving up a grade brings increased responsibilities and challenges. Help your students EASE into high school with Emozi® SEL lessons.
Emozi® High School is a social emotional learning curriculum that can be integrated into mixed-grade classrooms or used in single-grade subject matter classrooms, giving educators flexibility in implementing the program. The online and educator-led curriculum helps build stronger teacher/student relationships and increases school connectedness. Learn more about it here.
Transitioning from one grade to another may seem like a breeze, but there are still new responsibilities and stressors. Help your students EASE (Establish a Baseline, Align Expectations, Share the Concepts, Exercise SEL Skills) back to school with these steps.
Establish a Baseline
Before you dive into teaching SEL, you will want to establish a baseline of where your students’ SEL skills are. Complete a SEL evaluation for each student if you haven’t already. Several options exist, from Aperture, Panorama, ACT, and more.
This will give you a baseline of your students’ social and emotional development at the beginning of the year. We recommend repeating the assessment at the end of the year to see how far your students have progressed in their SEL growth. Some schools also conduct a mid-year check-in depending on their resources.
Align Expectations
To help re-establish teamwork and cooperation, you can start with a review of the SCOPE-IT Strategy in all grades to help reacquaint students with self-control strategies and problem-solving.
Students may need a refresher on goal setting, time management, and teamwork now that they’re in a new grade. Here are a few lessons that can help EASE students back to school:
Module 1: Identity & Perspectives (Primary CASEL Domain: Self-awareness)
Your Predicting Brain
Strengths and Interests
Character Strengths
Skills, Abilities, Interests, and Careers
Module 2: Self-management & Self-care (Primary CASEL Domain: Self-management)
SCOPE-IT Strategy
Module 3: Communication Skills (Primary CASEL Domain: Relationships Skills)
Teamwork
Collaboration
Module 4: Relationships (Primary CASEL Domain: Social awareness)
Social Norms
Relationships (including work)
Module 5: Go for Your Goals (Primary CASEL Domain: Decision-making)
SMART Goals, Part 1
Being Responsible & Time Management
Organization Skills
Share the Concepts
While high school students may feel grown up, their family members still want to be kept in the loop. Emozi® High School includes parent and home communications materials to build connections and keep families informed about the life skills that their teens are learning.
Communicating with families and caregivers can pre-bunk any negative perception of SEL in your school. It can also help reinforce the skills at home when parents and families use the same concepts.
Here is a Parent Communication Toolkit you can use to share what SEL is and what it isn’t with your community.
Exercise SEL Skills
Emozi® High School is designed for use in nearly any subject matter. Just like exercise, you can’t expect to do one workout and be 100% fit. Develop an SEL exercise routine by integrating the activities throughout the school. Help students practice SCOPE-IT when they get frustrated in math or science. Encourage them to practice their leadership skills in after-school club activities. Fine-tune their budgeting skills in the cafeteria. There are countless ways to integrate Emozi® activities into students’ and educators’ daily routines.
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