By Laura Driscoll | Group Counseling , Social Emotional Skills
When I asked school counselors and psychologists about what they include in their counseling sessions, a feelings check in was by far the most popular answer. This past year, a special education teacher posted a Mental Health Check In she did with her students and it went viral. We all know how important it is […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Social Emotional Skills
A great way to incorporate social emotional learning into your classroom is through children’s books. Read alouds are a regular routine in your classroom and so many books highlight social-emotional themes. One SEL standard focuses on a student recognizing their own personal qualities. The following seven children’s books on being yourself are the perfect way […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Behavior , Social Emotional Skills
To me, a calm classroom doesn’t have to mean a quiet one. It means a classroom where students are taught and practice being in charge of their feelings and behaviors. This can be through calm corners, guided breaks to reset, steps to resolve peer conflicts, flexible seating, or lessons to help students find their preferred […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Social Emotional Skills , Teacher Consultation
Learning often happens when we are focused on progress (over product) and we are willing to take risks. So often in our classrooms, students are nervous to make mistakes and are focused on being right. How do we intentionally create a classroom and school community that is supportive? The Center on Great Teachers and Leaders found […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Social Emotional Skills
Children’s picture books are the perfect way to introduce different social emotional skills. One of the first social emotional learning standards is teaching students to identify feelings. These four books are my favorite for showing students that we all have a range of feelings and all feelings are okay.There are affiliate links in this post. […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Group Counseling , Social Emotional Skills
I’m serious. For three years, I sent every student in my K-5 elementary school a group counseling permission slip. Hold your hats. I (and the school counselor) saw the 90% of students that returned a permission slip. You might be asking how we did this. You definitely might be asking why did we do this. You […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Group Counseling , Individual Counseling , Social Emotional Skills
Identifying feelings and understanding feelings is an essential social-emotional skill. This is always where I would start in counseling and where most social-emotional curriculums begin. If a student can’t identify how they feel, it’s awfully hard to manage those feelings. While we don’t have a shortage of feelings activities or books on feelings, I think In […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Group Counseling , Social Emotional Skills
This winter focus on giving and receiving compliments. Genuine compliments can be a great way to build a positive classroom culture. When students learn how to give and accept compliments, they are also building empathy. Teaching compliments is an easy way to build a positive community.Giving ComplimentsStart by defining what a compliment is.A compliment is […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Individual Counseling , Social Emotional Skills
Do you set goals with students in counseling? In individual counseling, I try to weave SMART goals into a student’s sessions. It helps them feel in charge of their progress and be partners in their progress. There are a number of ways that you can introduce and use goal setting. I find that the secret sauce […]
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By Laura Driscoll | Social Emotional Skills , Teacher Consultation
I don’t think mental illnesses should be used to describe our daily stresses. Someone’s serious challenge shouldn’t also describe how I feel about spilling coffee on my shirt. I’ve spent the last couple months reflecting on this, and I’m asking us all to do the same. I think it is important for the children we […]
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