Social emotional learning is making a big move right now in education. For counselors, we're nodding our heads and (perhaps) whisper-shouting "I told you so." Hey, let's just appreciate that we were ahead of the game. Where I work, schools are being required to include social emotional learning components in their school improvement plans and several districts in my area are hiring social emotional learning central services staff. I'm thrilled that this whole child approach is getting the spotlight.

At the same time, there's a lot of pressure for counselors to do this right. We may be one of the only people in the building with deep knowledge of social emotional learning best practices. I use the analogy of technology in the classrooms. When we started getting more computers, smart boards, and then iPads (I'm old, don't remind me), the entire staff turned and looked at the technology teacher. Great, they thought, our students can learn technology from that person and I can keep on with my usual. Now, we wouldn't dream of only one person in the building teaching technology as a separate entity from core instruction. I think the same will happen with SEL. It's a heavy lift for counselors right now but eventually we can build the capacity of our whole staff to not just teach SEL but to incorporate social emotional learning into the curriculum as a whole. 

CASEL, the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning, are the gurus on SEL right now. I look to them first when I am working on SEL. They look at SEL implementation in four parts:

• SEL lessons with explicit instruction: counselors teach these in their curriculum but teachers do too! When a teacher introduces a project based learning activity to students, they often go over expected behaviors and organizational strategies. That's explicit step-by-step instruction.
• Teaching practices that create positive conditions that support social and emotional development in students: students have to feel emotional and socially safe at school in order to learn social and emotional skills. Culturally responsive instruction is going to be a huge part of this. Schoolwide expectations and tier one practices like PBIS are in this tier as well.
• Integration of instruction and practice of SEL in the academic curriculum: This is more than teaching expected behaviors. This involves actually incorporating SEL competencies into instruction in a meaningful way.
• Policies and organizational structures: When we have policies and structures in place that support SEL as a clear priority for the school they are much more likely to happen.

CASEL has identified 5 core competencies for social emotional learning. They have a great handout that breaks down all of the competencies into skills. What I love about the skills highlighted by CASEL is their broad application. Students must actually have these skills in order to be successful in academics. This isn't fluff. It isn't something nice to "add on." 

I recently led a professional development for a full staff on social emotional learning. Social Emotional Learning is something that all educators can quickly understand and apply if they are given the opportunity to personally reflect and reflect on their classroom practices. After completing a culturally responsive classroom checklist and discussing the components of SEL, the teachers worked in cross grade level teams to complete a "cheat sheet" for each of the competencies. In this activity, the staff answered:

• What competencies/skills are listed under the core competency?
  
• Why it matters - why do students need to have this skills to be successful?
  
• Students will - a list of observable behaviors for students at each grade level.
  
• Teachers will - a list of observable strategies that teachers can implement. This is a great resource for ideas.

Overall it went really well and I think the staff walked away with new learning and reflection. If you'd like to snag the entire presentation and materials, you can find it here. 

On a recent post on my Facebook page, I mentioned MTSS and School Counseling and the internet blew up a little bit. I promised to come back and share more details with you. I'm over at Confident Counselors sharing a bit more about MTSS, Core Counseling, and tiered counseling interventions. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do! 

I recently got a fortune cookie that told me to "bite off more than you can chew and chew like hell." When I first got it, I thought it was so fitting. I laughed and thought about framing it. This past year, I worked, (sortof) blogged, took 24 credit hours in grad school, and wrote a book. It was a challenging year. We've all had them right?! Either because of extra tasks you've taken on, tasks you've been given, family crisis, or school crises, you've felt like you are under water and you can't get above it. 

So here's the thing, I thought I had it. I thought I was doing well until about a month before the book deadline, when I was finalizing my last project for grad school and trying to wrap up the work on the book, I just buckled. You see, you can only sustain the pressure for so long before you just can't any more. Since then, I've been sick more days than I've been well but I'm finding ways to pull myself up out of the valley and remember being normal again. I thought I'd share some ideas that I have to help make it through.

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When I used to wait tables, a job I am terrible at by the way, we say we were "in the weeds" when things were overwhelmed. I have no idea if people still say this but I use it all the time. That's how you feel, like you're stuck in the weeds and you may never get out. 

Pick your top priorities and say no to everything else. ​​​​​           
Whether your stressors are self-imposed or coming from an outside source, choose your priorities and ruthlessly cut out all other asks. There are always people/things/interests that will pull on your time but when you're in the weeds, ain't nobody got time for that.

​Prioritize something good. 
Make sure at least one of your priorities needs to be good for you. I love to read. I read over 100 books while in grad school and writing a book. That's because reading to me is such a part of who I am that, without it, I wouldn't be me. 

Share where you are. 
It takes a village people. Who is your village? Who knows what's going on with you and will check in on your status? I think that we need at least one family member, one colleague, and one friend who can be our person on tough days. If you don't have that, think about how you can cultivate it.

Don't forget your why.
Whatever your stressor, you haven't peaced out and moved to Timbuktu for a reason. What is your why?  Are you supporting your family? Following a dream? Working for the good of your students? Relate what you are doing to your why and keep your eye on the goal.

You did it! You made it through the stressful time. Everything is good right? I definitely underestimated the recovery portion of this journey. I thought that when I finished all the things of this past school year, that I would unlock all this free time to get more done. 

Give yourself the gift of non-productivity.
After moving past your time of "biting off more than you can chew," you need a break! Like, a real break. Vacations might count but there will be some time when you are less productive than your usual self. That's to be expected. When we're lucky, that happens right around the time of summer break! Even when it doesn't, give yourself some grace.

Share where you are.
Remember that village? It doesn't end when our stressors do. Keep sharing where you are. Not just the good stuff too - the main stressors may have passed but we're still working our way back to normal (or a new normal). 

Celebrate successes.
Friend, you have done amazing things. Celebrate those things. 

Grant time to grieve.
If your time of great stress came from crises, work environment, or other negative circumstances, give yourself the time to grieve that which once was. 

I've ended this season of my life and moved into a new one. I am so thankful for the opportunities that I have had but I've also learned my lesson. I will be much more realistic about what I can take on in the future. What about you? Have you had one of those years?

Why did you become a school counselor? Most people will say it's for the kids. I'm right there with ya but I say to that, why? What about the kids drives you to wake up every morning to come to work in a super hard job that has some serious pitfalls?

You probably (hopefully) say you love your job. What makes you love it? What makes you strive to better your practice for kids? Recently, I had the opportunity to be a guest on the Cutting Edge Conversation podcast. We talked about the book I was currently reading, my love for Dr. Pepper, and how I finally jumped on the apple cider vinegar bandwagon. In the middle of the conversation, something happened. I remembered my why. I think you can even hear it in my voice. 

But this post isn't about my why. This post is about your why. If you've lost yours, or never had it, I recommend this TED talk as a place to get started. It's titled "Why Great Leaders Inspire Action." As we know, counselors are leaders within your building. If you want to change outcomes for students, we can't just work with students, we must also work with the adults who guide the students' days. 

So unless you know your why, it might be hard to inspire others to change. Here are some sentence starters that might help you:

• I decided to be a school counselor because ____________________________________.
• I wanted to (insert answer from above) so that kids could __________________________.
• I think this is important for the world because _________________________________.

Then, make a list of all the things you get to do at work everyday that fulfill your why. If you've been struggling to find the time to be a school counselor because of all the other responsibilities heaped upon you, think about how you can find your why even in lunch duty, test administration, volunteer coordination, or the other random things on your plate. Find your why each and every day and don't give up on it. 

Now, go write that why down and post it somewhere. Remind yourself of your why every day, even when you feel you may have forgotten. Especially when. 

I would love for you to comment below with your answers to the sentence starters above. Who knows, you might inspire someone else's why. 

Some of you with a keen eye have noticed my to-do list for creating anti-bias lessons. I began by calling them equity lessons but a colleague pointed out that students can't really control equity. Equity is systemic and beyond the reach of children. Semantics, maybe, but it hit home for me. I am working with a group of counselors in my district to create anti-bias lessons for counselors to use in Grades K-8. We are aligning each of the lessons to ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors and then using the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards for the learning objectives. I'm am writing about the scope and sequence of the lessons in my upcoming book and, when they are done, I will share some of the slide decks and lesson plans with you here. In the meantime, let's dive into the Social Justice Standards.

Teaching Tolerance released their Social Justice Standards in 2016 with four domains: identity, diversity, justice, and action. They have identified anchor standards for each of these domains but they also go a step further to identify grade level outcomes. The outcomes are divided into grade spans K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. If you follow the domains from grade level to grade level, you can see how the same idea progresses into deeper and more critical thinking skills. Let's look at an example:

Identity 3: Students will recognize that people’s multiple identities interact and create unique and complex individuals.

• K-2: I know that all my group identities are part of me—but that I am always ALL me. 
• 3-5: I know that all my group identities are part of who I am, but none of them fully describes me and this is true for other people too.
• 6-8: I know that overlapping identities combine to make me who I am and that none of my group identities on their own fully defines me or any other person. 
• 9-12: I know that all my group identities and the intersection of those identities create unique aspects of who I am and that this is true for other people too.

I highlighted some of the major differences in the outcomes. I love the progression of complexity, I can see how a child might learn and grow through the standards.

In designing our lessons, we tried to concentrate on identity and diversity first and then move into justice and action. We felt it was important for kids to understand who they are and who others are before thinking about how differences effect some people. School counselors do a pretty great job of helping students with identity and diversity. Some programs really focus on action but few, I think, focus on Justice. Let's look at a progression through the justice outcomes:

Justice 14: Students will recognize that power and privilege influence relationships on interpersonal, intergroup and institutional levels and consider how they have been affected by those dynamics.

• K-2: I know that life is easier for some people and harder for others and the reasons for that are not always fair.
• 3-5: I know that life is easier for some people and harder for others based on who they are and where they were born.
• 6-8: I know that all people (including myself ) have certain advantages and disadvantages in society based on who they are and where they were born.
• 9-12: I am aware of the advantages and disadvantages I have in society because of my membership in different identity groups, and I know how this has affected my life. 

Cue the record stopping and crickets. This is a whole new world for many. We don't talk about this stuff and it might bring up uncomfortable feelings for you. More importantly, what might parents say?!?! Take a deep breath, you got this. 

I encourage you to print out the Social Justice Standards. Circle the outcomes that you already use within your core curriculum. Next, choose a few outcomes that you would like to add in. Take your list to a teacher who is knowledgeable about the English/Language Arts and Social Studies curriculum. You will find there is a lot of overlap where you can work with core teachers to embed the Social Justice Standards. Teaching Tolerance also has a searchable learning plans site that aligns common core standards with the Social Justice Standards.

Choose one anti-bias standard or skill that you want to implement in the upcoming school year and make it happen! Tell me below how you are implementing anti-bias social emotional learning for your students.