My mission is to help teachers become more comfortable with incorporating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into their classrooms. For me, mindfulness activities helped me embrace SEL. I think it is important to point out the distinction between SEL and mindfulness. According to Teaching Mindfulness to Adolescents , “In mindfulness practice -as an exercise- there is less emphasis on cognitive understanding and more emphasis on engaging the mind-body in particular ways. While the skills of the approaches have considerable overlap, SEL more explicitly focuses on creating harmonious classrooms and communities”(Brensilver et al., 2020).

Since the nature of ELA curriculum lends itself to many effective SEL activities, I have already started incorporating them in my department and I created this site to form a community of teachers who are willing to share there experiences with both SEL and mindfulness.

Another important factor in incorporating SEL and mindfulness into the classroom is embracing a mindful practice as your own. When we share our struggles and coping mechanisms with students, we create an environment that fosters co-regulation, or the interactive process of forming supportive relationships.

When I first began teaching, I was told, “Don’t smile until Thanksgiving.” It was 2001 and I was a lot closer in age to my students as I am now. It was well meaning advice for someone who needed to establish themselves as the authority in the classroom. One of the benefits of being a veteran teacher is that I can focus more on the needs of the students than on myself. After twenty-two years in the classroom, I am still growing as an educator but the most valuable part of my teaching practice is being secure enough in myself to be vulnerable with others.

So I ask, what does SEL mean to you? Do you have a mindfulness practice of your own? What are your apprehensions about incorporating SEL and mindfulness into your classroom? Do you have successful strategies you would like to share?