MSLA 2017 Conference

Session Description (maximum of 300 words) This session will give an overview of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in education and generate ideas of how librarians can demonstrate to school administrations and funding decision-makers that library programing supports SEL goals. The Every Student Succeeds Act has opened the door to assessing measures outside of the traditional academic areas. National and MA state education legislation has formalized SEL standards and even this past summer’s MA superintendent’s conference theme was “Meeting the Social-Emotional Needs of Today’s Diverse Learners.” All signs point to SEL being here to stay and this could be great news for libraries. As librarians, understanding the bigger SEL picture, and how libraries fit into it, could be especially important in times when budgets are shrinking and more and more library positions are ending up on the chopping block. In effect, SEL initiatives could act as a lifeline for school libraries. In this session, after learning some of the basics principles of, and research supporting, current SEL instructional models, we will transition to small group workshops where participants, grouped by grade level, will brainstorm and share new ideas as well as identify programming that already fits within SEL objectives. A sample SEL library action plan template will be provided so as librarians work together, discussing and sharing ideas, they can begin to draft plans to submit to administration. In short, this session provides useful tools to demonstrate to our administrations how librarians can be leaders in SEL educational reform.