Social Emotional Learning for a College Classroom

Abstract

Students learn in conjunction with others, and effective teaching and learning incorporates academic, social, and emotional components. Strategies, such as self-compassion training and gratitude training, can be implemented in a college classroom to promote mental health and academic flourishing. Self-compassion involves treating yourself with the same compassion that you would a best friend or loved one going through a difficult situation. Gratitude involves bringing mindful attention to the positive aspects in one’s life. Self-compassionate letter writing and a classroom gratitude box are effective strategies to improve social emotional learning, academic learning, and create an empathetic classroom environment. These techniques do not require much effort, time, or resources, but can lead to a multitude of student-level and classroom-level benefits if implemented consistently.