Caring for the Whole Child

Social Emotional Learning in Elementary, Middle & High School

Inspiring the Heart

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is described as the process of developing social and emotional competencies – the knowledge, skills, attitude, and behaviors that individuals need to make successful choices. In order to fulfill our mission of educating the mind, inspiring the heart and preparing Kauaʻi’s youth to lead lives of significance, Island School students must be able to make successful choices and understand their roles within their community. Island School takes a whole school approach to SEL that involves administration, teachers, staff, parents and students. Since incorporating SEL into everyday life, teachers and staff have noticed a positive impact on not only students’ relationships, but also their academic success. Island School’s elementary division has implemented SEL into their every day schedules in many ways, including morning meetings. Morning meetings are done as a way to practice empathy and understanding between classmates. Every morning, each grade participates in a greeting and an activity. During the greeting, each student introduces themself and shares one thing that is important to them that day - this could be one thing they are looking forward to or a goal they have for themselves. The class greeting is followed by an activity that allows students to have fun and spend time with the classmates outside of their usual friend groups. By facilitating interactions between students who might not otherwise get to know each other, Elementary School Division Director Cristy Peeren has noticed these meetings have resulted in behavior improvements and has helped to circumvent misunderstandings between classmates. Elementary school students are able to more fully understand their classmates, see issues or disagreements from other points of view, and communicate more effectively thanks to the SEL work they do each morning. Middle school continues to incorporate SEL into everyday life through the advisory program, which has been implemented for the past four years. An advisory group is made up of ten students and one advisor – a staff or faculty member on campus, and meets twice a week in order for students to bond, connect with peers they might not otherwise connect with, and communicate their feelings with one another.

Two special parts of the middle school advisory program are the integration of Hawaiian values and the Character Nomination Program. Each quarter, different Hawaiian values are integrated into advisory lessons, beginning with respect & reliability, responsibility, responsiveness, and concluding with reflectiveness & resilience. At the end of each quarter, students discuss and create character award criteria based on that quarter’s Hawaiian values and nominate their peers to be recognized for exhibiting these characteristics. Students are responsible for nominating their peers based on the strengths and actions of their peers observed throughout daily life at Island School. Several students from each grade are nominated, and a written log of their recognition is sent in an email to the students’ parents and teachers. The Character Nomination Program works to intrinsically motivate students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, and allows them to understand how their actions have the power to impact, positively or negatively, their peers. Advisories continue throughout high school, and are led through Project Wayfinder. Project Wayfinder was born at the Stanford Institute of Design after asking the question, “how can we reimagine adolescent education to develop a student’s sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging?” Project Wayfinder offers activities and exercises to help students cultivate their sense of belonging and purpose within their community.

The high school advisory program was created in 2018, after a particularly enlightening all-faculty meeting in which each high school student’s name was put up onto a white board, and each teacher put a checkmark near the students they felt they had connections with. Some students, High School Division Director Nathaniel Evslin recalls, had many check marks while others had very little. The advisory programs were born, in part, as a way to ensure that every student feels connected with, heard and cared for by at least one adult on campus. Many studies show that if students feel a sense of belonging at school, if they feel welcome and respected at school, they will do better academically. If a student feels connected to their peers and to the adults on campus, they want to succeed in school, do a good job in their classes, and make their teachers proud. Our teachers have put the time and energy necessary for our SEL curriculum to succeed throughout all divisions. Teachers are able to use everyday moments in the classroom to reinforce SEL strategies, and are invested in the process as much as the results. Stephanie Achuara, Middle School Division Director and former math teacher, has said that SEL can be learned and taught, just like math can be learned and taught, but that it cannot be taught in a silo. Our teachers and students have put the time and energy into the SEL curriculum in order to reap the benefits. The lessons that all of our students are learning through their SEL curriculum will help them succeed in living lives of significance as they grow within and beyond Island School.