Teaching With HEART: Educator’s Guide to SEL

What a gem! Dr. Martinez has put together a lovely collection of research and experience to guide the reader into understanding the importance of emotional health in helping students to thrive, as well as offering tools on how to incorporate the best SEL practices into the classroom (and life). As a clinical psychologist, I am thrilled to see that this information is all in such an accessible read, as bolstering kids emotional tool kits and supporting their mental health needs are truly key to them thriving in school and life. I plan to give a few copies to my daughter’s school and hope they will use this to increase their collective SEL understanding. I imagine that Teaching with the Heart in Mind will become a classic read for many teachers, administrators, parents, and therapists to come.

Every teacher needs to read this book, it will open their eyes. This book has a great model that’s easy to follow and the model is used throughout the whole book. Every teacher should incorporate social and emotional learning in their lesson plans.

TEACHING WITH THE HEART IN MIND is an easy read. It is inspirational and motivates you to rethink your practices. You learn what it takes to setup a teaching and learning environment that includes the necessary social emotional foundations to propel your students to personal and academic success. Throughout the book the author presents tools that help you develop your own social emotional capacity; noticing our emotions and electing our responses is key to creating a positive classroom environment for all students. I recommend this book to anyone who is an educator. SEL is the foundation that supports students and their growth and should be a major component of every learning environment.

I am loving this book!! It reminds me of books I found when my children were younger, and I was struggling to parent during difficult moments, figuring out how to remain aligned with my values of compassion and communication, while bombarded by society’s calls for naughty chairs and compliance. Those books felt like a big hug, reassuring me that supporting my children’s emotional growth is always the right path. Now I have found my book for my working life as a teacher. Lorea Martinez’ book resonates so deeply with me and aligns with my professional goals as a kindergarten and first grade teacher. She details research showing that classrooms must be infused with social and emotional learning in order to function really well. Rather than taking away precious time from academic instruction, SEL is a catalyst for enhancing learning in classrooms. Her book is refreshingly on-point, offering research, anecdotes, and insight into the myriad benefits of using SEL in the dynamic, exciting, and exhausting world of education.

The book opens with an anecdote that teachers should read every day before class. Sometimes our impact occurs outside of our view. We don’t get to see the benefit. So much of what feeds our souls in the dark times is what we can see, hear and touch in our own classroom. But there’s also the unknown impact, the child we thought we didn’t reach, the one who got away. In the anecdote, we are reminded that doing the work with our students is always the right thing, and this can make a difference in a child’s life even though we may never know it. This can sustain us. This can keep us going when we want to give up.

The heart of the book is Chapter Five: Teaching and Integrating the HEART in Mind Model. Ms Martinez defines each part of the HEART acronym (Honor Your Emotions, Elect Your Responses, Apply Empathy, Reignite Your Relationships, Transform with Purpose), and details the key concepts for each skill. Many concrete examples are offered, which is really refreshing, bringing the theoretical very much into the practical realm.

One section I know I will return to over and over are the Indicators of Mastery for grade level bands, which follow the definition and key concepts of each skill. It seems to me this would be very useful for institutions developing a whole-school approach to social and emotional learning. I was also struck by how manageable she makes it seem. The grade level indicators look more realistic and achievable when read against the framework she offers for infusing SEL into every aspect of education.

An important idea Ms Martinez frequently points to is the social and emotional competence of the adults involved in education, especially in these very challenging times. I am delighted to have a book that acknowledges and addresses this critical component. Teachers and staff working within education need to ‘nurture their own well-being and learn tools to navigate the unprecedented challenges of teaching during and after a pandemic’ and know that it’s ok for them to do so. One first step I can recommend is reading this amazing book.