Abstract
The purpose of this research was to identify K-8 teachers' thoughts about social and emotional learning (SEL) in their classrooms, perceptions regarding any district-provided social and emotional learning resources and practices, and their voices about professional development needs for SEL. Principal findings include a) teachers have students who need SEL support, but they lack resources and curriculum to address the needs, b) teachers most commonly use regulation strategies like brain breaks and deep breathing exercises in their classrooms, c) only about one in five teachers report that they have an existing SEL curriculum which meets their needs or the needs of their students, and d) teachers express a need for more SEL support. This support includes time to implement SEL and professional development focusing on high-quality resources and strategies. The results lead the authors to conclude that teachers can be best served when having a voice in a school’s/district’s SEL curriculum to improve the fidelity of implementation. Furthermore, teachers express that professional development should include the modeling of SEL strategies. They should have an opportunity for professional development using peer teachers/mentors. Since many schools have SEL resources in their school, a building-level mentoring/coaching model is a viable option.
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