Students are struggling, both in and out of the classroom. Even before the pandemic, student anxiety and depression were on the rise. These mental health conditions often affect student’s motivation or self-confidence to the point that their academic performance suffers.
Fortunately, various studies have found that school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs can successfully build motivation and confidence. Students acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals. When students are better able to cope, it’s they are likely to experience less anxiety, fewer feelings of defeat and more confidence in their ability to overcome.
When looking for an SEL program to help student motivation, look for the following features.
Plug-and-Play Implementation
Classroom teachers have more being asked of them than ever before. Finding the time to prepare or introduce another lesson can be a challenge. And a poorly taught lesson will not deliver lasting benefit to students. An SEL program that is simple for teachers to implement without increasing their workload is key.
Short Lessons
Providing students with daily, engaging lessons allows them to learn a new approach or skill step by step. These short lessons should be scaffolded, building one upon the next, to deepen understanding of core concepts. Daily short exercises and prompts for reflection help reinforce the learning and long-term retention.
MTSS Support
The greatest benefit to students and schools come from a SEL program that dovetails with student support teams and MTTS to support Tier 1 and Tier 2 students. In addition, a program that provides 1:1 highly-trained coaching helps students connect each lesson to their individual lives, including social-emotional and mental health challenges.
Data Driven
A sound SEL investment to increase student motivation, confidence and resiliency must include pre- and post-intervention data for each student and classroom.
For a program that’s able to fulfill all these requirements and has proven to increase student motivation, resiliency and self-confidence, EmpowerU is a proven partner to hundreds of schools across the U.S.
