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Social and Emotional Learning

Purpose

The Bridges SEL program is comprehensive with elements embedded in the fabric of our social environments and in formal and informal classroom instruction. We have found that most of our 2e students reject highly formalized social skills instruction and require more authentic experiences and fuller, more sophisticated explanations of the understandings and skills they seek to master.  ​

Goals

We seek to assist students in becoming stronger community members, developing flexibility, resilience, and perseverance. Through the development of self-management, reflective decision making, and social awareness, they are better able to navigate a variety of environments and interpersonal dynamics. Our program cultivates the ability to apply general expectations and norms in various environments, in order to thrive in classrooms and other workspaces. Students also learn to navigate complies social environments, building friendships and other close relationships amongst the complexity of social environments.

Learning in Context

Social, emotional, academic and creative development do not occur in isolation, but rather within a dynamic and complex synergistic set of relationships, guided by knowledgeable and caring adults. Human interaction is at the core of social emotional development.  We believe that modeling prosocial behavior, communication, and decision-making is central to the development of social and emotional understandings and skill.

​Moreover, students benefit from opportunities to observe, reflect, and process authentic human interactions in their day-to-day, real world context. Among other important variables, schools need to be safe, accepting, compassionate environments, where interactions with adults and other students  encourage the development of trust and connection

Classroom as Context

Many school routines — including classroom activities, advisory meetings, group lunches, clubs, etc. —present rich opportunities for social emotional learning. The choice of group work, novels, topics, role-plays, sportsmanship and more all contribute to the authentic learning in the classroom. To bolster and enhance these experiences, our teachers seize in-the-moment opportunities to facilitate more direct instruction on critical social-emotional topics, as well as open up situations for additional exploration. 

Responsive and Restorative

2e students experience intense emotions and exhibit a variety of behaviors. Inappropriate, exaggerated, or overly intense behaviors may be rooted in neurology, psychology, medications and/or regular adolescent development.

​Counseling and interventions are designed to ensure the emotional and physical safety of all students, mitigate trouble behavior, and enter into a process of  reflection and natural consequences. The process is designed to develop understanding, resolve triggering issues, and restore relationships.

​Our program employs a highly collaborative approach between and amongst teachers, counselors, and administrators.

Outcomes

As 2e students head to college, adulthood, and successful careers, they learn to evaluate various environments in which they will find themselves, adapt to those environments, shape the environment to work for them, and make informed decisions about their fit.  SEL builds 2e students’ capacity to maximize their potential for contributions to culture and economy as they become the architects of their own future and build meaningful lives.