How to Build a School SEL Program as a Team
Do you ever feel like you’re the only one holding your school’s SEL program together?
When you’re the person leading the work, it’s easy for more and more of it to land on your plate. You start out trying to keep SEL moving forward, but before long, you’re also the person reminding staff about it and figuring out what needs to happen next.
That’s a lot for one person to carry, and it can also make it difficult for SEL to become something the whole school takes ownership of.
Start With a Few People
You don’t need every staff member equally involved from the beginning. Finding even a couple of people who are interested in the work can take some of the pressure off.
They don’t need to be SEL experts or take on a major new responsibility. Look for someone who already connects well with students or has shown an interest in bringing more SEL into their classroom. Give them something small to take ownership of and see where it goes.
As they become more comfortable, they can start sharing what they’re doing with other staff. Sometimes hearing about something that worked in the classroom from another teacher is far more useful than another reminder that everyone should be “doing more SEL.”
Make SEL Part of the Conversation
Staff meetings are a natural place to keep SEL from becoming something that only one person talks about.
Instead of always giving the update yourself, invite someone else to share something they tried with their students. If you’re running into a problem with your school SEL program, bring that to the group as well. Someone else may have dealt with the same issue or have an idea you haven’t considered.
This also gives staff a chance to influence how SEL works in their own school. When people have some ownership over the approach, it becomes less dependent on one person continually pushing it forward.
Share the Responsibility
Being the person who introduced an SEL program doesn’t mean you have to be responsible for every part of it.
In fact, if the program can only keep going when you’re there to organize it, remind everyone about it, and lead the activities, it’s going to be difficult to sustain.
Think about which parts other people could reasonably take on. You may still lead the overall direction, but that doesn’t mean you need to do all of the day-to-day work yourself.
A school SEL program works best when it actually belongs to the school. Start by giving a few other people room to be part of it, and over time, you may find you’re carrying a lot less of it on your own.
