SEL Unit Planner

Plan a Social and Emotional Learning unit that develops CASEL competencies through structured reflection, community-building activities, and skill practice, integrated into your classroom culture rather than added on top of it.

SELAdvisoryElementary (K–5)Middle School (6–8)High School (9–12)

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When to use this template

  • Building a dedicated SEL unit around specific CASEL competencies
  • When students need explicit instruction in emotional regulation, conflict resolution, or empathy
  • At the beginning of the year to build classroom community and establish norms
  • In response to specific social challenges in the classroom community
  • When integrating SEL into academic instruction at a unit level

Template sections

Identify the focus competency and write the learning goals.

Primary CASEL competency (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making):

Secondary competencies:

Unit duration:

Learning goals (what skills will students develop?):

Connection to academic learning:

Plan activities that build trust, safety, and a positive relational climate: the foundation for authentic SEL work.

Icebreakers and relationship-building activities:

Class norms co-construction plan:

Circle or community-meeting protocol:

Routines for belonging and inclusion:

Plan lessons where you directly teach the target skill with examples, modeling, and guided practice.

Skill 1 (name, definition, examples, non-examples):

Lesson plan for explicit instruction:

Modeling and think-aloud plan:

Guided practice activity:

Independent practice:

Plan structured opportunities for students to reflect on and practice the skill in real or simulated situations.

Reflection routines (journal, circle, partner discussion):

Role-play or simulation activities:

Real situations to apply the skill (classroom, peer conflict, academic challenge):

Reflection prompts:

Plan how you will assess SEL skill development through observation, reflection, and student self-assessment.

Formative observation plan:

Student self-assessment tool:

Evidence of skill development (what you will look for):

Summative reflection or portfolio task:

Plan how the skill will be reinforced and practiced throughout academic learning, not just in standalone SEL time.

Integration into academic subjects (what subjects, how):

Routines that reinforce the skill daily:

Connections to school culture or community:

Parent and family communication:

The Flip Perspective

SEL units work when they build skills students can actually use, not just talk about, and when the skills are practiced in the real context of classroom and school life. This planner helps you design a unit that teaches CASEL competencies explicitly while building the community and trust that make practice meaningful.

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Adapting this Template

For SEL

Apply SEL Unit by adapting the phase timings and prompts to fit SEL's unique content demands.

For Advisory

Apply SEL Unit by adapting the phase timings and prompts to fit Advisory's unique content demands.

About the SEL Unit framework

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is most effective when it is not a separate curriculum but a way of doing school, built into routines, relationships, and culture. A well-designed SEL unit creates time for explicit skill development while also modeling and practicing those skills in the way the class operates.

The five CASEL competencies: Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. These competencies interact and reinforce each other. An SEL unit typically focuses on one or two competencies but touches others throughout.

SEL is skills, not feelings: Common misconceptions about SEL portray it as "feelings time," where students talk about emotions in a circle. Genuine SEL is skill development: students learn specific, transferable skills (identifying emotional triggers, regulating responses, perspective-taking, resolving conflicts) and practice them in real situations.

Integration and explicit instruction: SEL works best when it combines explicit instruction (teaching the skill directly with examples and practice) with integration (applying and practicing the skill in academic and social contexts throughout the day or week). A standalone SEL lesson that is not connected to classroom life rarely changes behavior.

Trauma-informed approach: SEL units should be designed with awareness that some students are navigating difficult circumstances. Activities should be voluntary when they require personal disclosure, normalize a range of emotional experiences, and emphasize strengths and agency.

Building from relationships: The most important predictor of SEL effectiveness is the quality of teacher-student and student-student relationships. An SEL unit that builds community and trust while developing skills is far more effective than one that delivers content in isolation from the relational climate of the classroom.

Thematic Unit

Organize a multi-week unit around a central theme or essential question that cuts across topics, texts, and disciplines, helping students see connections and build deeper understanding.

Backward Design Unit

Plan your unit from the end backward: identify the desired results first, then design assessments, and finally plan learning experiences that build toward them. Clear goals, coherent instruction.

Elementary Unit

Plan multi-week units for K–5 classrooms with age-appropriate pacing, read-aloud integration, hands-on exploration, and the predictable routines that young learners need to engage deeply.

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Frequently asked questions

An SEL unit provides dedicated time for explicit skill instruction: teaching the skill directly with examples, modeling, and practice. SEL integration means reinforcing those skills in academic contexts throughout the year. Both are necessary; a unit is most effective when followed by sustained integration.
Assess skill development through observation and reflection, not through personal disclosure. Students can self-assess their own skill use (I used a calm-down strategy today: yes/no) without sharing personal details. Keep assessment focused on observable skill development.
Resistance is often a sign of insufficient safety or a mismatch between the activity and what students actually need. Reduce the personal stakes of activities (make them more hypothetical), increase student choice, and check whether the relational climate in the class is ready for the level of vulnerability the activity requires.
Have a plan before you start. Know which topics are likely to arise, have a protocol for serious disclosures (when to stop and follow mandatory reporting procedures), and be ready to say "that's an important topic and I want to give it the attention it deserves. Can we talk after class?" rather than handling it unexpectedly in front of the group.
Almost every academic challenge has an SEL dimension. Persistence through frustration (self-management), group project communication (relationship skills), and perspective-taking in historical events (social awareness) all provide natural integration points. Plan for these connections explicitly rather than hoping they emerge organically.
Active learning and SEL reinforce each other naturally. When students collaborate on a debate, negotiate roles in a simulation, or give each other feedback during an investigation, they practice relationship skills and self-management in real contexts, not hypothetical ones. Flip missions are structured collaborative activities that require communication, perspective-taking, and group decision-making by design. Teachers find that running Flip lessons within an SEL unit gives students authentic practice opportunities for the very competencies the unit teaches.
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