Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom: Teach SEL and Life Habits with PBL
Assess Different Tools
Morning meetings aren't enough for social emotional learning in the classroom
We know that kids need to grow life skills. Whether we call them life habits, social-emotional learning (SEL), or career-ready skills, one thing is clear, building these skills requires space and time for practice.
Too often, life skills are treated as a box to check—isolated from academic learning or real-life application. While valuable, morning meetings can fall short when embedding these habits meaningfully into the school day. Skills like collaboration, empathy, and perseverance can’t just be discussed; they must be lived and practiced organically, woven into the fabric of how kids learn and engage with the world. CASEL provides value and information on SEL in the classroom. Read here.
But here’s the challenge: How do we go beyond surface-level approaches to create opportunities for students to authentically develop and practice these critical life habits?
It starts with integration
For kids to build life habits, they need to see the connection between these skills and their daily lives. Discussing empathy in a circle might open the door to understanding, but it’s in working through a tough group project or navigating a peer conflict where real growth happens. Life habits flourish when practiced in context—whether that’s negotiating roles in a team, adapting to new challenges, or reflecting on how their choices impact others. This type of social emotional learning in the classroom can make a real impact that lasts.
By embedding life skills into real-world projects and classroom experiences, we allow kids to practice them meaningfully. They become less about abstract concepts and more about concrete actions that help students succeed in and out of school.
Social emotional learning in the classroom takes practice
Imagine if we treated life skills the way we treat academic skills. We don’t expect kids to master fractions after a single lesson; we build understanding over time through practice, feedback, and reflection. Life skills deserve the same intentionality. They need to be practiced regularly and with purpose.
Morning meetings can play a role, but they shouldn’t carry the entire burden. Instead, we can integrate opportunities for collaboration, problem-solving, and self-regulation into every aspect of the school day. Download Rock by Rock’s Feelings Audit below for a simple starting place. ⬇️
For example:
- During group projects, focus on how teams navigate disagreements and encourage students to reflect on their process.
- Use real-world challenges as opportunities for kids to practice adaptability and creative thinking.
- Build time for reflection into daily routines, helping students recognize their growth in skills like patience or resilience.
Create space for growth with social emotional learning in the classroom!
Building life habits takes time, and it takes intentional design. It cannot be achieved in a single meeting or a standalone SEL lesson. By giving kids authentic opportunities to practice these skills—within their learning and beyond—we prepare them not just for academic success, but for life. Check out this article for more tips from Edutopia.
Life skills are not an “add-on” to education; they are central to growing as a person. Let’s move beyond the morning meeting and commit to embedding these habits into the heart of teaching, learning, and growing.
You must be logged in to post a comment.