What They Are

Social Emotional Learning lessons explore personal identity with character traits. Character traits are a set of values that enables people to demonstrate empathy, respect, and responsibility (CASEL, 2020). 

Social Emotional Character Traits include:

• empathy (experiencing emotions others’ feel and putting oneself in another’s shoes),
• social awareness (being openminded to others’ perspectives and celebrating diversity),
• collaboration (working together as a team),
• conflict resolution (working together to problem solve in an efficient manner),
• communication and active listening (talking to, listening, validating, and understanding what oneself and others are saying verbally and non-verbally),
• accountability (taking ownership and responsibility for one’s actions),  
• motivation (inspiring self and others to achieve goals)

How to Use Them

Research has shown that using nouns to identify your strengths encourages you to be more flexible in your thinking. (I am a helper, artist, musician, etc.)

Research has also shown that when you identify your strengths, you are less likely to develop long-term anxiety issues.

When you know your strengths, you are better able to manage your anxiety. 

You have to be aware of what your strengths are (because if you have anxiety, you're probably aware of your weaknesses) and grow them. 


Recent studies have suggested that there is a direct relationship between overuse and underuse of character strengths and Social Anxiety.  

​According to the research, we overuse empathy, social intelligence (to jump to conclusions) and humility (not being assertive), and underuse communication, curiosity, humor, joy, risk-taking, and emotional regulation. 

Sound familiar? It's pretty much all of us. 

Click on the box of character traits (adjectives and nouns!) to download a free character traits worksheet. 

Start with what you know about yourself. Circle the sentences that sound the most like you.

Remember there is a difference between what others think of you and what you think about yourself.

​Knowing your traits with help you feel more confident in your ability to manage anxiety and help you determine which strengths you need to use more. They are your superpowers in your Plan. 

Here is a free resource to find your strengths.

​Character education is the component of social and emotional learning that promotes virtues, moral sensitivity, moral commitment, ethical reasoning, and personal growth.

• Moral sensitivity is the ability to identify moral problems. Moral sensitivity depends on the development of virtues such as fairness, compassion, and responsibility. 
• Moral commitment is the perception of moral values as an integral part of one’s identity. It includes moral courage – the willingness to put ethics into action despite one’s fears like principled, caring, open-minded, risk-takers. 
• Ethical reasoning requires a careful analysis of the problem and the anticipated consequences of various actions like problem solver, critical thinker, and creative thinker. 
• Personal growth happens when children and adolescents develop virtues such as perseverance, prudence, integrity, purposefulness, resourcefulness, and courage.

Character education gives students the tools they need to self-reflect on their personal goals and effectively express themselves when talking with peers and adults about accomplishing their goals.

Try them on. 

The best way to use this skill is to try them out. Try one a week. Recently, we noticed our 3rd grader came home with a list of characters they were going to identify with throughout the school year like 

• Inquirers
• Knowledgeable
• Thinkers
• Communicators
• Principled
• Open-minded
• Caring
• Risk-takers
• Balanced
• Reflective

What a GREAT IDEA! Exploring different traits helps us decide what fits best.

It helps us dress up and act out different characters like we're in a play. This way, we learn what types of people we want to be and what we value. 

Growth Mindset​

Growth Mindset is super important to anxiety because it's a skill that helps you remember everything is a work in progress. Having a growth mindset means you are willing to learn and grow, rather than give up. It's a good skill to have regardless of anxiety. Learn more by clicking on the Growth Mindset Box. 

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Ways to Discover YOU when you're changing

No one expects that you will be exactly the same person you were in first grade when you are in eighth grade. It's not healthy to stay the same. Change means you're growing, even when it's scary.

Sometimes these changes may be confusing. You might not like the same games anymore and don't know what to play. You may have felt really happy when you played soccer and now it just isn't fun and you get anxious when you have to go practice (that happened to us!). 

How do you figure out what to do? And what do you do if that thing (soccer or games) is part of your identity? 

Lucky for us, this little thing called art is really helpful in navigating change. Not just coloring or painting, either. Music, visual art, or anything that you create can help you express who you are. It can help you find a focus or think through a problem like, what do I want to do next?? Click on the Creativity box to explore using art as a way to deal with change. 

You can also use Reading and Learning to explore the wide world of things to do. Reading and Learning can buy you time until you're ready to think about big changes, find your next adventure, or learn about what other people have done when they feel unsure about what to do. 

Speaking of Adventure, getting outside or finding an activity that gives you a new perspective can help you navigate uncertainty. Click on the Adventure box below to see how nature and physical activity are important.