Socio-Emotional learning focuses on a set of social, emotional, behavioral, and character skills that support success in schools, workplaces, relationships, and communities. These skills affect academic learning, they are often considered as ‘soft skills’ or personal attributes rather than explicit targets of instructions. By incorporating social-emotional learning (SEL) into the school day fabric, educators may help students enhance their current skills and behaviors to help them excel in school and in the wider world. The development of social-emotional skills is influenced by the context, culture, and interaction of students with different environments. Therefore it is essential that SEL activities in the classroom concentrate on helping students understand, develop, and practice skills that they can also learn. SEL comprises a set of competencies which are further described as the ability to:

• Self-awareness – recognition of one’s own emotions, personal goals, and values
• Self-management – regulation of one’s own emotions and behaviors
• Social awareness – understanding of and compassion for others’ backgrounds or cultures
• Relationship skills – ability to establish and maintain healthy relationships
• Responsible decision-making – making positive choices involving one’s own behavior

To effectively incorporate SEL into the classrooms, educators can do the following:

Stay connected with them

Our students live in a world where they are electronically linked to online information and friends, but often lack of communication help build true relationships. Helping students ask questions to learn from each other and allowing students to take time to express their interests and ideas will make them feel part of a more connected classroom. By showing true interest in what's going on in student life, you will create emotional bonds with your learners. This builds confidence and lets them know that they can ask for assistance, or that they can make a mistake without fear. This setting, in turn, helps students to relate to the curriculum.

Incorporate SEL curriculum

When introducing new programs or projects, it is easy to remove the binder from the shelf and plan to spend a period of time per week focusing on the program. Social and emotional expectations and the program must be taught consistently and purposefully. However, they are most efficient when skills are incorporated into all facets of the classroom. The SEL curriculum can be blended into the main material lessons. For example, you may address team-building skills in math groups, or examine how characters in a plot could use "calming-down strategies" for character studies.

Help students to understand their feelings and manage emotions

We also presume that students reach our doors with a complete understanding of their thoughts and emotions. But we need to take time to explore and appreciate feelings and use strategies such as "calming-down strategies" and problem-solving skills so that students can control their emotions and concentrate on their core academic content. There are so many demands on the classroom environment. Pro-active arrangements help students solve issues, develop appropriate school and classroom behaviors, and reduce the need for classroom elimination. SEL techniques can be a valuable element and method for creating efficient, collaborative learning environments.

Educators require mindfulness and self-care practices

Teaching can be really stressful. Finding ways to be conscious of our own SEL strengths and areas of development will allow educators to enter the classroom in the right frame of mind. By using relaxation strategies or breathing exercises, educators can implement those energies on meaningful experiences in the classroom. To model SEL management skills, teachers will greatly benefit from discovering opportunities to grow their own personal SEL stress management strategies.

SEL goes beyond the classroom

Although a lot of time is spent in schools developing academic knowledge, there are other important skills required in the workforce that need to be practiced in the classroom. Skills such as how to work with a team, how to make responsible choices, how to handle time and plan, and how to solve problems will extend far beyond a student's academic career and into his or her future job and life as a citizen. If we want students to be productive members of the community, these skills need to be given high priority in schools and in the wider community. Partnerships with parents and community members are also required to achieve these goals for all students.