A suggested lesson plan template could make it easier to intentionally blend social-emotional learning with literacy instruction.
Explicit instruction is a proven teaching pedagogy whether literacy, mathematics, or SEL. It must be an essential component in any lesson plan. It is seldom linear, but may be more zigzag. When the teacher is guiding students with practice, they may find it necessary to return to modeling. After modeling, students may be able to be successful independently. Once student may need more modeling whereas another may need more guided practice. See the video for additional information about the importance of explicit instruction when teaching SEL.
Literacy is grounded in the Common Core in many states. Likewise, SEL is grounded in Competencies. (Read more about the competencies from a previous blog.) Some states have gone further and identified learning targets within each competency, which is even more helpful. Any lesson plan template would need to be grounded in both Literacy Common Core Standards and SEL Competencies.
Lastly, a lesson plan that blends literacy with SEL will need to have closure. This is an opportunity for the students to give the teacher brief feedback on the day’s learning.
Additionally, students need to know how the day’s learning connects with the ‘Big Picture’ of a unit, coarse, or a set of lessons. This provides context and helps students retain essential and important content.
In the coming months, the template will be used to create sample lessons blending SEL with effective literacy practices.
The suggested lesson plan template is downloadable now.
Dr. Rich McGrath 