What Is Social Emotional Learning
Social-emotional learning also referred to as SEL, is an ever-growing need of every child’s education. It’s always a good idea for students to reflect on their social-emotional learning journey and develop their SEL skills.
You don’t need to be in school and take SEL lessons when you can practice developing these skills and be more aware of your social-emotional learning needs on your own.
Now the question, what is SEL, and why should I even write about my social-emotional learning? Well, it is a structure that allows you to develop critical life-long skills that come in handy in their everyday lives. For example, self-awareness skills aid students in becoming well aware of their strengths, weaknesses, character traits, and how well they function in their daily lives.
Similarly, activities that promote self-management skills help you be more aware of how you manage yourself, your emotions and allow you to think about how better you can manage yourself.
Social awareness, relationship, and decision-making skills are no different. They all improve and help you become more aware, confident, productive, and responsible individuals.
You can easily use the writing prompts I am sharing with you to reflect upon your SEL skills and ways you can use this information to make more informed decisions in your daily life.
You can download my free journal printable paper HERE.
Self Awareness And Self Management
- Am I a responsible person? How do I think I have displayed responsibility in my everyday life? If not, is there any way I can be more responsible towards my duties as a student, child, or sibling?
- Am I an open-minded person? Do I welcome other people and their views, values, traditions, and cultures? Has there been an instance where I have not been open-minded? If not, what could I do to be more open-minded?
- What is my strength? Can I list down my strong character traits as adjectives? How do I use my strengths for my benefit and others’ benefits?
- How do I tackle difficult situations? Do I remain determined through those difficult situations? Do I easily get upset? Is it difficult for others to make me feel upset? Is it easy for others to drive my actions as per their wishes? How can I be more determined?
- When I feel down, what do I do? How do I prepare myself for yet another day? Can I think of a time when I felt ‘knocked down’? How did I manage to pick myself back up again? Is there something better I could do to manage my emotions in that situation?
- How do I perceive myself? Do I have a positive image of myself or a negative one? Why so? How can I be more positive about my self-image?
- Am I inspired by someone? Who and why? Have they done something extraordinary that I want to do?
- Do I always give voice to the voice in my head? Why or why not? How can I be more expressive?
- Do I have a weakness? Which one and why?
- Am I able to establish boundaries to keep others from intruding in my personal space? Or am I too strict about my boundaries?
- How do I perceive myself?
- How do I manage my school, friends, and family time? Am I missing out on important things/ tasks?
- What triggers my anger? How do I manage my anger? Is there something I can try out to be better at anger-management?
- When was the last time I felt confident? What was the reason behind it?
- What makes me happy? What is my definition of happiness? When was the last time I felt the happiest and over the moon? What was so special about it?
- What makes me ME? What makes me unique and likable?
- How would my best friend describe me? Why?
- Who inspires me the most? Why?
- What am I good at that no one else can be?
- Today I should be grateful for…
- The time I managed stress well was when…
- I am proud of…
- I am valued at home because…
- Once I needed help and…
- I am valued at school because…
- If I have a problem, I know I have people who have my back…
- I set goals and I use certain strategies to achieve them…
- I have a dream and to make it come true, I must…
- That one time I achieved my biggest goal was…
- When I felt giving up on…
- This year I hope to achieve these goals…
Social Awareness, Relationship Skills & Positive Decision Making
- When I tend to disagree with someone, I usually…
- The last time I disagreed with my friend, I handled it by…
- I am aware of others’ perspectives on various topics. I can be better at understanding others’ perspectives by…
- It is important to accept others’ opinions and views because…
- I can be a good listener by…
- I expect others to listen to my points of view, but I also know that I need to listen to others and understand their points of view as well. I can be better at it by…
- Did I ever impose my points of view on others? When and why?
- I know my friends and I are different from one another. To be more respectful towards our differences, I think I can…
- I know my siblings and I are different from one another. To be more friendly towards our differences, I can…
- I like to / don’t like to work in groups. One way I can improve my experiences of working in groups is…
- What sets me apart from others is my ability to…
- When I meet new people, I usually…
- The last time I found myself in a conflict was…
- When making a decision, I usually consider…
- It was tough to decide between right and wrong. But I am glad I chose right, and the consequences were…
- When I decide about my course of action, I usually seek _____’s guidance because…
- I have a positive/negative perception of relationships. It is because…
- I extend a helping hand when someone needs my help because…
- I have made some good choices in life and they make me feel good because…
- I have been kind to _______
- I should accept others as who they are. Not everyone can be whom we want them to be…
- Do my decisions define me?
- Do I have to be perfect to be accepted by society? Why or why not?
- I was afraid of _____, but then I overcame my fear because…
- I am strong because…
- When I score good grades I feel…
- I would like to try something new this time. It would be…
- The bravest thing I have ever done is…
- To make good choices, I should…
- One piece of advice I would give to my younger self would be…
I hope this list would make a way into your digital/ printable journal. Again, don’t forget to get this SELF REFLECTION JOURNAL with 30 prompts here. If you do use the SEL journal writing prompts with your students or kids, I’d love to hear from you.