Schoolwide Collaboration for Transformative Social Emotional Learning by Kristy Hill, Abbie Harriman, and Amy Grosso

Schoolwide Collaboration for Transformative Social Emotional Learning defines transformative social emotional learning and discusses its impact on students and schools, hoping to bring answers to today's mental health crisis in our schools. SEL are three little letters that have the ability to transform the climate of an entire school. Social emotional learning is not a quick fix and is not something that can be implemented after one book study. Instead SEL is a mindset that requires ongoing learning and buy-in from an entire campus. For the benefits of SEL to be fully realized, the commitment cannot be short-term. Instead, SEL needs to be a decision for the foreseeable future, with the understanding that through ongoing evaluation, new opportunities for learning and ongoing adjustments will be needed.

The authors of Schoolwide Collaboration for Transformative Social Emotional Learning have put this study guide together to help you break down the various sections of each chapter of the book into smaller units of consideration and will allow school staff to critically analyze what the campus is already doing really well, and identify opportunities for improvement. If using this guide in small groups, the authors recommend having an administrator, a classroom teacher, and a special area support staff member in each small group in order to include as many perspectives in discussion as possible.

The activities and questions in this guide will help facilitate discussion and identify priorities as your campus plans the best practices for schoolwide implementation for your unique set of students and staff members. We hope that as you progress through the book you will understand that there are many things your campus is already doing to implement transformative social emotional learning. As you develop your plan for schoolwide implementation you will be able to create a common language to be used throughout your building and will identify how each staff member contributes to the goal of transforming your campus.