Building Critical Social and Emotional Skills Using Literature

(Grades K-12) / Flex Course

PDI Course Number: 114T02 / UCSD Course Number: EDUC40261

Course Description

Do you wish you had an appropriate and engaging way to address social and emotional issues? Do you like to use authentic literature in your classroom teaching? SEL is a process for learning essential life skills such as decision making, problem solving, effective communication, empathy, perseverance, and coping, just to name a few. Teachers are searching for the most effective ways to introduce and teach appropriate social and emotional skills in the classroom as they relate to sensitive issues, many of which are beyond their control. This course provides the perfect approach by using high-quality literature to deal with sensitive issues from tattling and appropriately developing friendships, to depression, stress and anxiety, bullying, substance abuse, and others. Teachers will be provided with thorough background information on each topic as well as the implications for the classroom environment and teaching. Then, a minimum of two books are shared for each topic along with three-to-five lesson plans for each title. The course introduces lesson plans for over twenty chapter books and thirteen picture books. An additional list of picture books and novels are shared for every single social and emotional topic presented in the course. By the end of this course, teachers will be well prepared to teach critical SEL skills through the reading of quality literature. This course is worth 3 ⅓ semester units/5 quarter units (50 hours of training) from University of California San Diego (UCSD) Division of Extended Studies. For detailed information on university credit, click here.

"My goal of taking this course was to walk away with resources I can turn around and use right away, rather than abstract ideas. I feel like that was achieved, especially with the lesson plans and book suggestions. I actually have a few of the titles in my library already, so now I feel like I can start using them in a new and purposeful way." - Emily Ornelaz