Use these six SEL lessons from The Jed Foundation to discuss critical social and emotional health themes with your class
CommonLit is thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with The Jed Foundation (JED) to create social and emotional learning lessons based on their Set to Go resource, which helps students learn about and build important SEL and life skills.
Research shows that SEL lessons and interventions in school curricula positively affect youth development (Taylor, Oberle, Durlak, & Weissberg 2017). That’s why CommonLit and JED are working together to provide more SEL content in our digital library.
JED is a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults. Their other high-profile programs also include Half of Us, Seize the Awkward, and Love is Louder.
In addition to working with CommonLit on the following texts, JED is collecting pre- and post-lesson surveys to understand the effectiveness of their lessons. To help them in this effort, you can assign surveys to your students before and after teaching a Set to Go lesson. You can find the links to these surveys below.
Head over to CommonLit.org today and check out these six Set to Go lessons:
“Characteristics of Resilient People” by Set to Go
In this informational text, the author discusses resilience and how a person can become more resilient by creating a strong support system, giving back to others, not giving up during difficult times, having a flexible attitude and optimistic perspective, and by employing humor to relieve stress.
Use this text as an opportunity for your students to discuss and reflect on times when they endured a challenge, and have them point out why their experiences helped them to build resilience.
Access the pre-lesson survey here.
Access the post-lesson survey here.
“How to Identify and Manage Emotions” by Set to Go
What do you do when you get angry or upset? How do you handle your emotions? These are a couple of introspective questions students may ask themselves as they read this informational text about how to effectively identify and manage emotions.
For this lesson, consider showing your students the Related Media video “Welcome Inside My Head” by Zak Sandler, a JED Storyteller. In the video, Sandler describes some of his experiences dealing with his own emotions. Your students can watch the video and then talk about the changes Sandler went through in relation to the text.
Access the pre-lesson survey here.
Access the post-lesson survey here.
“How You See Yourself” by Set to Go
In this reading passage, the author explains how a stable self-image helps a person develop positive decision-making skills and maintain good relationships.
Assign this lesson to your students, and pair it with the lesson “Self-Concept,” which discusses various psychology concepts and how people think of themselves. Ask your students how “Self-Concept” supports the idea of a stable self-image from “How You See Yourself.”
Access the pre-lesson survey here.
Access the post-lesson survey here.
“Help-Giving” by Set to Go
Considering how challenging school can be for some teenagers, it’s important to teach students how they can be a helpful resource and caring listener for their peers. This informational text reviews different ways that teens can identify signs of someone who is struggling, listen attentively to what they’re going through, and take action to help.
Take this lesson as an opportunity to ask your students if they know who to turn to if a friend needs more help than they can provide. Continue the discussion by reviewing helpful points of contact and resources for teens to consult.
Access the pre-lesson survey here.
Access the post-lesson survey here.
“Life Skills” by Set to Go
How do people successfully face the challenges of everyday life? This lesson addresses this question and explores what is needed to contribute to emotional well-being.
To go along with this lesson, have your students watch the Related Media video “Time Management” with Dr. Mahlet Endale. Discuss the importance of time management and ask your students how they think they can better manage their time.
Access the pre-lesson survey here.
Access the post-lesson survey here.
“Self-Care” by Set to Go
Taking care of ourselves is part of becoming independent. This informational text explores some important self-care strategies and the benefits of practicing them.
When assigning this lesson, pair it with “Evening Screen Time Can Sabotage Sleep” by Ashley Yeager. Ask students to discuss whether they have personal experience with screens interfering with sleep. Have them consider the information in both texts and propose why screen time may be interfering with self-care.
Access the pre-lesson survey here.
Access the post-lesson survey here.
Next Steps
Looking for more great texts to share with your students? Check out our CommonLit library!
If you’re interested in learning all about CommonLit’s free digital literacy program, join one of our upcoming webinars!
