Social Emotional Learning in the School Library

Chani Craig is a librarian at Turners Falls High School 

Even though Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has been around in education since the early 1990’s the term seems to be popping up all over schools in the past few years. Headlines touting “Mindfulness instead of Detention” or “Yoga in Schools” have become frequent occurrences in news articles and media feeds. Just last November a high-profile, national policy-recommending commission was formed through the Aspen Institute to investigate SEL as the potential “additional indicator” for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which goes into effect in the 17-18 school year. Even in Massachusetts, as far back as August of 2011, the Department of Education published its “Guidelines on Implementing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Curricula” and more recently this past summer’s Massachusetts Superintendents’ Conference theme was “Meeting the Social-Emotional Needs of Today’s Diverse Learners.” In light of all this recent attention it’s a safe bet Social Emotional Learning is here to stay.

There are very good reasons for SEL’s recent surge in popularity: recent neuroscience research (especially around the teen brain), scientific studies that continue to prove the benefits of social and emotional tools in reducing ever increasingly high levels of student and staff stress, raising standardized test scores, and lowering discipline issues all indicate that SEL is effective in many domains. In this standardized test, anxiety-riddled educational culture it has become increasingly apparent that schools cannot continue just to focus on just one specific area of intellectual development; schools need whole child education.

While much of this type of learning is something good educators already intuitively know and do with students, pioneering organizations like CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning) are standardizing strategies and language to frame the larger conversation of SEL implementation. CASEL’s five core SEL competencies are Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making. This is also the exact language used in the 2011 DOE guidelines. These competencies, as a progression of developing skills, are reflective of most other methodologies promoted by various SEL programs; first an individual is taught tools to bring emotions and their underlying causes into consciousness and then they utilize strategies to regulate their reactions to those emotions. The focus then shifts to tools for social awareness and compassion as the individual seeks to integrate himself into the community. The final step, that of co-creating community, engages students in fostering positive change. As librarians we know all about the journey of self-discovery and community-building. I even believe that’s why most of us are in this profession; because we know the library is a special place where this type of learning takes place daily.

But what this current educational conversation means for school libraries is that we have an opportunity to take what we already do so well and use it to demonstrate how we can become leaders in SEL educational reform by communicating our SEL competencies (many we likely already do) to our administrations and school committees. This could be especially important as budgets are shrinking and more and more library positions are ending up on the chopping block. In effect, SEL initiatives could be a lifeline for school libraries. Here are four basic ideas of how:

1. The School Library as a Safe Space: Space as the Third Teacher

Create a space that invites students to come and spend time studying, creating, and enjoying learning. If you know me even a little you know that space and library redesign is one of my passions, so, in an effort to be brief, I will just say that good design is both utilitarian (patron focused NOT librarian-centered) and appealing (intrinsically interesting). Patrons should be able to: search intuitively (perhaps genre-fied if appropriate), restructure space to suit their needs (i.e., flexible space is a must), and see representations of themselves (student artwork displays, student assistants, etc). And the design/redesign process is a continual, never-ending one that requires feedback and exchange with all parties. A library that is well-designed increases a sense of personal well-being and can become a space where students feel comfortable to explore the more internally-focused core competencies of self-awareness/management and social awareness which are best explored in quiet. But it should also provide areas to pursue the more interactive and externally focused relationship skills and responsible decision making by allowing opportunities for students to play in Makerspaces/FabLabs, clubs, or other social activities. Your space can promote social emotional learning.

1. Bibliotherapy: Reading to Know Thyself

As students work to understand themselves, and how they feel and relate to others, books and stories can be wonderful tools for facilitating this process. And all you have to do is demonstrate to your administration that you are consciously selecting materials that relate to the process of self-awareness and the other core competencies. Open Circle, a Wellesley College SEL organization, has wonderful K-5 book lists and resources for the specific CASEL/MassDOE competencies and I have begun work with MSLA colleagues to compile an SEL book list, by competency, for the middle and high school grades (your suggestions are welcome!). Your collection can promote social emotional learning.

1. Staff Development: Be the Host with the Most

If you are “lucky” enough to have faculty meetings or other staff trainings in your space, take advantage of that by posting signs with competencies, talking up other staff about SEL ideas for lessons or, if you’re brave, lead some mindful break activities such as can be found in many different SEL-in-the-school resources like Carla Tantillo Philibert’s Everyday SEL in Middle School or Yoga 4 Classrooms’ Activity Card Decks for elementary students. Check with your principal to ensure as a school you are codifying language and using the preferred SEL curriculum structures they are familiar with or wish to adopt. But regardless of the specific curriculum there are many simple activities available which can be useful for mini-mindfulness breaks with staff and students alike and can easily be incorporated into existing structures. Learning and leading a few simple breathing exercises, for example, can go a long way towards establishing your credibility as an SEL leader in your school (see references for additional resources). You can promote social emotional learning.

1. 21st Century Skills: AASL Does it Again

The very structure of the AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner is basically the progression of skills from the core SEL competencies: 1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge (self-awareness and social-awareness), 2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge (self-management, and relationship skills), 3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society (relationship skills and responsible decision making), and 4. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth (a whole, well-balanced being is, after all, the purpose of all SEL initiatives). Show your principal that connection and it may go a long way towards demonstrating the usefulness of you and your program. Your profession can promote social emotional learning.

Though this is barely scratching the surface of SEL possibilities in school libraries, I hope it can begin a process of reframing the way in which we and our administrations view school librarians as social and emotional learning leaders for the future.  

Works Cited

Blad, Evie. "Commission Formed to Advance Schools' Focus on Social, Emotional Development." Education Week, 20
     Sept. 2016, 
blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/2016/09/commission_formed_to_advance_schools_focus_on_social_emotional_development.html. Accessed 20 Dec. 2016.
CASEL.org. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2016, www.casel.org/federal-policy-and
     legislation/. Accessed 20 Dec. 2016.
"Conference Flyer: Ready to Learn: Meeting the Social-Emotional Needs of Today's Diverse Learners." MassSupt.org,
     Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, July 2016,
     www.massupt.org/files/_SGFJy_/7612e8f95bbabf393745a49013852ec4/MASS_2016_Booklet_Final1.pdf. Accessed
     20 Dec. 2016.
"Guidelines on Implementing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Curricula." doe.mass.edu, Massachusetts
     Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Jan. 2008, www.doe.mass.edu/bullying/SELguide.pdf.
     Accessed 20 Dec. 2016.
Khorsandi, Yasamand. "The Movement of Meditation Replacing Detention in Schools." Newsweek.com, Newsweek, 30
​     Sept. 2016.