Republic of the Philippines

ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE

www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

Module 7: Social & Emotional Literacy for Educators

Welcome to Module 7!

Good day, class. In this, we are shifting our focus inward to one of the most profoundly
important literacies for any educator: Social and Emotional Literacy (SEL).

Before we can manage a classroom, we must be able to manage ourselves. Before

we can build a community of learners, we must understand how to build positive
relationships. SEL is the foundation upon which effective teaching and a positive classroom
climate are built. In this module, we will explore the core competencies of SEL, not just for
our future students, but for ourselves as lifelong learners and educators.

All materials and submission links for this module are in our Google Classroom. Our
Messenger Group Chat is always open for quick questions and clarifications. Let's begin this
important journey.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

By the end of this module, I expect you to be able to:

• Define social and emotional literacy (SEL) and articulate its importance for educators
and students.

• Identify and understand your own emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and values.

• Develop empathy, perspective-taking, and active listening skills.

• Facilitate classroom discussions and activities that promote SEL in students.

• Create a positive and inclusive classroom climate that fosters social-emotional

learning.

Our Weekly Checklist & Deadlines (Week of July 8-11, 2025)

To succeed in this module, please complete the following tasks by their deadlines:

• By Wednesday, July 8:

o Carefully read the Part 1: Core Learning Content & Lecture Notes.

o Complete the Part 2.1: Guided Mindfulness Exercise.

• By Friday, July 8:

o [ ] Complete the Part 2.2: Active Listening Scenario Analysis.

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 1 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

o [ ] Post your initial response to the "Module 7 Discussion Question" on Google

Classroom.

• By Sunday, July 27 (11:59 PM, Philippine Standard Time):

o [ ] Reply to at least one of your classmates' posts in our Google Classroom

discussion.

o [ ] Complete the "Module 7 Quiz" which I will link in our Google Classroom.

o [ ] Submit your major assessment from Part 3 to the "SEL Integration Project
Assignment" on Google Classroom.

PART 1: CORE LEARNING CONTENT & LECTURE NOTES

Instructions: In this section, I have prepared a more exhaustive set of notes for our module.
It is essential that you read this material carefully and thoroughly, as all our activities and
assessments are based on it.

I. Foundations of Social and Emotional Literacy (SEL)

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which all young people
and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy
identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show
empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible
and caring decisions.

The most widely recognized framework for SEL comes from the Collaborative for
Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), which identifies five core,
interconnected competencies. As educators, our goal is to foster these competencies in
our students and, just as importantly, in ourselves.

II. The CASEL 5: A Framework for SEL Competencies

1. Self-Awareness: Understanding Your Inner World

This is the ability to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how
they influence behavior across contexts.

Key Skills: Identifying your emotions, recognizing your personal strengths and
limitations, developing a "growth mindset," and possessing a well-grounded sense of
self-efficacy and purpose.

For Teachers: Self-awareness is crucial. When you can recognize that you are feeling
stressed or frustrated, you are less likely to react impulsively to a misbehaving student.
Understanding your own cultural biases is the first step toward creating a truly
inclusive classroom.

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 2 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

2. Self-Management: Regulating Your Actions.

This is the ability to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in
different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations.

Key Skills: Managing stress, controlling impulses, demonstrating discipline and

motivation, and setting and working toward personal and collective goals.

For Teachers: Self-management is what allows you to remain calm and composed
during a chaotic classroom moment. It's the skill that helps you plan your lessons
effectively, manage your time, and persevere through the challenges of the school
year.

3. Social Awareness: Understanding Others' Perspectives

This is the ability to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others,
including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.

Key Skills: Taking others' perspectives, demonstrating empathy and compassion,

understanding social and ethical norms for behavior, and recognizing family, school,
and community resources and supports.

For Teachers: Social awareness allows you to notice when a student is struggling,
even if they don't say anything. It helps you understand the different home
environments your students come from and allows you to build a classroom
community based on mutual respect and understanding.

4. Relationship Skills: Building and Maintaining Healthy Connections

This is the ability to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and
to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.

Key Skills: Communicating clearly, practicing active listening, cooperating with

others, resolving conflicts constructively, and offering and asking for help when
needed.

For Teachers: Your entire career is built on relationships—with students, parents,

colleagues, and administrators. Strong relationship skills are essential for effective
classroom management, parent-teacher conferences, and professional
collaboration.

5. Responsible Decision-Making: Making Caring and Constructive Choices

This is the ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior
and social interactions across diverse situations.

Key Skills: Demonstrating curiosity and open-mindedness, identifying problems,

analyzing situations, and evaluating the consequences of one's actions for the well-
being of oneself and others.

For Teachers: We model responsible decision-making for our students every day in
how we handle classroom conflicts, how we design fair assessments, and how we

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 3 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

create a safe and ethical learning environment.

III. Creating a Positive and Inclusive Classroom Climate

A classroom that fosters SEL is one where students feel safe, valued, and respected.
This doesn't happen by accident; it is designed. We can create this climate by:

1. Building Strong Teacher-Student Relationships: Greet students at the door, learn their
interests, and show them you care about them as individuals.

2. Explicitly Teaching SEL Skills: Use morning meetings, advisory periods, or integrated
activities to teach skills like identifying emotions or practicing empathy.

3. Using Positive Discipline: Focus on teaching appropriate behavior rather than simply
punishing misbehavior. Use restorative practices to resolve conflicts.

4. Fostering a Growth Mindset: Praise effort and persistence, not just intelligence. Help
students see mistakes as learning opportunities.

PART 2: INTERACT & APPLY

2.1 Guided Mindfulness Exercise

• Instructions: A key part of Self-Awareness and Self-Management is the ability to pause

and center yourself. Please find a quiet space where you won't be disturbed for 5
minutes. Play the guided mindfulness audio linked below and follow the instructions.
This is for your personal practice.

• https://youtu.be/inpok4MKVLM

2.2 Offline Activity: Active Listening Scenario Analysis

• Task: To reflect on the components of active listening in a common teacher-parent

scenario.

• Instructions:

1. Read the following scenario:

A parent comes to you after class, looking upset. They say, "My daughter says
you are too strict and that your class is too hard. She cries every night about
her homework. I don't think you're being fair to her."

2. On a piece of paper, I want you to write down how you would respond to this
parent using active listening skills. Do not focus on solving the problem yet.
Focus only on your initial response.

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 4 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

3. Your response should demonstrate that you are:

▪ Listening to understand, not to reply.

▪ Acknowledging the parent's feelings. (e.g., "It sounds like you are very
concerned...")

▪ Paraphrasing to check for understanding. (e.g., "So what I'm hearing is,
you're worried about the difficulty of the homework and its emotional
impact on your daughter. Is that correct?")

4. Take a clear photo of your written response. You will upload this in our Google
Classroom discussion.

2.3 Sharing and Discussion in Google Classroom

• Task: Share your active listening response and discuss its importance.

• Instructions:

1. Go to our Google Classroom and find the post I created titled "Module 7
Discussion: The Art of Active Listening."

2. In the section for your answer, you must do two things:

▪ Attach the photo of your written response to the scenario.

▪ Write your answer to the following prompt (minimum 150 words):

Prompt: Why is using active listening as a first response in this scenario more
effective than immediately defending your teaching methods? How does this
approach help build a positive relationship with the parent?

3. By Friday, please post your analysis and initial response.

PART 3: APPLY & CREATE (MAJOR ASSESSMENT TASK)

Major Assessment: The SEL Integration Project

• Description: Your task is to create a project that demonstrates your

understanding of SEL both for yourself and for your future classroom. This project
has two parts.

• Instructions:

1. Part A: Create a Personal SEL Plan.

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 5 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

▪ On a single page, create a simple chart with two columns: SEL

Competency and My Growth Strategy.

▪ For at least three of the five CASEL competencies, identify one

specific, actionable strategy you will use to strengthen that skill in
your own life.

▪ Example: For "Self-Management," your strategy might be, "When I

feel stressed during class preparation, I will practice the 5-minute
mindfulness breathing exercise before continuing."

2. Part B: Design an SEL Classroom Activity.

▪ On a second page, design a single, detailed classroom activity to

teach one SEL competency to a grade level of your choice.

▪ Use the provided template to outline your activity's objective,

materials, and step-by-step procedure.

• Template: I will post a Google Doc template for this project in our Google
Classroom.

• Submission:

o Combine your two parts into a single PDF document and submit it to the "SEL
Integration Project Assignment" on Google Classroom.

PART 4: REFLECT & FINALIZE (WRAP-UP)

4.1 Module 7 Quiz

• Instructions: To check your understanding of the five SEL competencies, please

complete the short quiz. It will be posted as a Google Form in our Google Classroom.
You will have 15 minutes to complete 10 questions.

Need Help?

• For quick questions or clarifications, please send me a message in our Messenger

Group Chat.

• For more detailed questions about your assignments, please use the "Private
Comments" feature on the specific assignment in Google Classroom.

References

CASEL. (2020). CASEL’s SEL framework. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional
Learning. https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 6 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The
impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-
based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432.

Template: SEL Classroom Activity Design

Instructions

This template is for Part B of the Major Assessment: The SEL Integration Project. Your task is to
design a single, detailed classroom activity that you could use to explicitly teach one Social
and Emotional Learning (SEL) competency to a grade level of your choice. Please fill out
each section completely.

I. Basic Information

• Your Name:

• Grade Level: (e.g., Grade 2, Grade 8)

• SEL Competency Focus: (Choose ONE from the CASEL 5: Self-Awareness, Self-
Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, or Responsible Decision-Making)

II. Activity Details

• Activity Title: (Give your activity a creative and descriptive name. e.g., "The Emotion
Thermometer," "Walking in Someone Else's Shoes," "The Ripple Effect Decision-Maker")

• Learning Objective:

At the end of this activity, students will be able to... (Describe a specific, observable skill.
e.g., "...identify at least three different feelings and one physical cue associated with each,"
or "...propose two potential positive outcomes of helping a classmate in need.")

• Materials Needed:

o (List all materials needed, such as paper, markers, worksheets, a specific

storybook, etc.)

III. Step-by-Step Procedure

(Provide clear, step-by-step instructions for how you would facilitate this activity in a
classroom. Imagine you are writing this for another teacher to follow.)

• 1. Introduction / "The Hook" (How will you introduce the activity and get students
interested?): *

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 7 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

• 2. Main Activity (What are the core steps students will follow?):

o Step A:

o Step B:

o Step C:

• 3. Discussion / Debrief (What questions will you ask to help students process the
experience and connect it to their lives?): * * *

--- SAMPLE FILLED-OUT TEMPLATE ---

I. Basic Information

• Your Name: Maria Reyes

• Grade Level: Grade 4

• SEL Competency Focus: Social Awareness (Specifically, developing empathy)

II. Activity Details

• Activity Title: "Walking in Someone Else's Shoes"

• Learning Objective:

At the end of this activity, students will be able to describe a situation from a classmate's
perspective and identify one feeling that classmate might have experienced.

• Materials Needed:

o Small strips of paper

o Pencils or pens

o A small box or bowl

o Whiteboard or Manila paper and markers

III. Step-by-Step Procedure

• 1. Introduction / "The Hook":

o "Good morning, class. Today, we're going to become detectives of feelings.

Have you ever wondered what it's really like to be someone else for a day?
We're going to practice that today with an activity called 'Walking in Someone
Else's Shoes.'"

• 2. Main Activity:

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 8 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
www.ispsc.edu.ph | [email protected]

o Step A: "I am going to give each of you a small strip of paper. On this paper, I
want you to write down a short, simple description of a time you felt a strong
emotion. It could be happy, sad, frustrated, or excited. You do not need to
write your name on it. For example: 'The time my pet dog got lost,' or 'The day
I won the spelling bee.'"

o Step B: "Once you are done, please fold your paper and put it into our 'Feelings
Box' at the front of the room. I will mix them all up."

o Step C: "Now, I will ask each of you to come up, pick one paper from the box
(not your own!), and return to your seat. I want you to silently read the situation
on the paper."

• 3. Discussion / Debrief:

o "We will now go around the room. When it's your turn, I want you to read the
situation on the paper you picked. Then, I want you to try and 'walk in that
person's shoes' by answering these two questions for the class:"

1. "If this happened to me, how would I feel?"

2. "What is one thing someone could do or say that might help me feel
better in that situation?"

o "As we listen to each other, our only job is to listen with respect and try to
understand. After everyone has shared, we will talk about what we learned
about our classmates and ourselves today."

Educ 102: Building and Enhancing New Literacies Across Curriculum Page 9 of 9
Prepare by: Severo B. Talipo