The Effects of Social-Emotional Learning Strategies on Promoting Positive Behavior on Elementary Students

The focus of this action research project was to implement social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons to help promote positive behaviors in the classroom. Participants in the six week study included 16 first graders and 21 fourth graders, in two different classrooms, in Central Minnesota. During the intervention both classrooms participated in daily morning meetings, constructed classroom norms, weekly journals and SEL lessons. Data sources included daily behavior frequency tally charts, behavior office referrals, pre/post feedback forms, student journals and a teacher lesson log. After analyzing the data collected during this research project, the researchers concluded that weekly social-emotional teaching had a positive effect on students in elementary schools. Further research could study the impact of a school-wide scale on promoting positive behaviors from social emotional teaching