What skills and mindsets are required to effectively lead social-emotional learning initiatives in today’s world?
During the last few months of 2021, I decided to pause my writing and take some time to reflect on this question, the past three years of running Inside SEL, the future of social-emotional learning, and what this work means to me.
Our field has grown quite drastically over the past few years. We are at a point where curated articles on social-emotional learning are far more accessible, with organizations such as CASEL and the SEL Center at WestEd paving the way in terms of sharing the latest SEL research and trends in practice.
We are also at a point where the expert leadership of SEL initiatives – in classrooms, schools, districts, non-profits, after school and out of school time programs, and the policy world – is arguably more needed than ever before. As we continue to navigate a volatile world in which student needs are becoming increasingly more widespread, pronounced, and complex, we will be called upon to lead SEL efforts in ways that are systemic, equity-centered, trauma-informed, and genuinely collaborative.
Given this reality, we are excited to announce that This Month in SEL will be evolving into SEL in 5, a monthly newsletter that delivers the most wisdom per word of any social-emotional learning publication on the web.
Every month, the latest issue is sent to our community of 35,000+ subscribers. Each edition includes:
- 3 short thoughts on leading SEL efforts;
- 2 quotes from researchers or practitioners in the field, and;
- 1 question for you to consider.
Our goal is for SEL in 5 to grow into the #1 resources for SEL professionals who want to level-up their leadership.
As we shift away from content curation and into thought leadership, our intent is to still share updates within SEL in 5 about significant new research or upcoming events. We are also updating the contents of our premium membership (SEL in 5➕) to include a new set of exclusive content, including a monthly deep-dive on a specific challenge related to leading SEL and subscriber-only interviews with SEL researchers and practitioners. Half of the proceeds from paid subscribers will still be donated to non-profit organizations that are advancing social-emotional learning through advocacy, with the other 50% going towards paying graduate students and freelancers who donate their time and expertise to contribute to Inside SEL as guest authors.
(Similar to This Month in SEL, the SEL in 5 newsletter will always be a free publication, and existing subscribers will continue receiving our monthly email.)
Thank you, as always, for reading. We would love to hear from you with any feedback, questions, or ideas.
–Nick Woolf, Founder
Social emotional learning - Inside SEL 