Workshops | SEL Learning Community

To request a workshop

Every organization in the Learning Community can have one training delivered directly to your team. You are also welcome to join trainings at other organizations (if other organizations have space). To request a training at your site, fill out this request form.

About the Workshops

The SEL PQA system is not just an assessment system. There are also workshops which align with the assessment tool.

The SEL PQA builds off the original 10 Youth Work Method Workshops (see below for more info). Additionally, the SEL PQA comes with a new set of 10 workshops called the SEL Methods. Each workshop is a 3-hours participatory workshop with lots of activities that follow an experiential learning format. Before you dive in and take a workshop, it is helpful to know that the information builds upon itself. The Weikart Center recommends that all staff start with the three Foundation trainings: the Cognitive FASA, Social FASA, and Emotional FASA.

The 10 original Youth Work Method workshops are 2-hour, participatory workshops that lay the groundwork of good youth development practice. This flyer has descriptions of 10 original workshops.

Both the Youth Work Method workshops and the SEL Method workshops were designed for youth worker (front line staff). The workshops are highly interactive, and based on research and best practice. All workshops focus heavily on building knowledge and skills with youth workers. This handout compares all workshops and the assessment tool.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS:

Focusing on the Philosophy

(YWM) Introduction to the Active Participatory Approach: This method introduces the “active-participatory approach” which is the foundational philosophy for all our other youth work methods workshops. In an active participatory approach, adults engage young people socially, emotionally, cognitively and physically as active participants in their own learning and development. Positive Youth Development means young people can thrive when they feel safe and supported to learn and lead.

(SEL) Methods Essentials: This workshop provides an overview of what is involved in incorporating SEL practices into existing youth programs. The 8 essential elements for readying and deepening a program’s efforts to foster social, emotional and cognitive development are explained, examining how SEL competencies, staff practices, and program design interact to support positive student outcomes regardless of program curriculum or content.

Prerequisite Workshops for SEL Methods

(SEL) Foundations and Self-Awareness of Emotional Development (aka Emotional FASA): As adults, our ability to support young people in identifying and managing their emotions starts with our ability to do the same. In this experiential workshop, participants will deepen their understanding of how people interpret and feel emotions; how they personally experience hot buttons and emotional activation; and explore self-regulation.

(SEL) Foundations and Self-Awareness of Cognitive Development (aka Cognitive FASA): In this workshop, youth workers will take time to identify their own attitudes, strengths, needs, interests, and constraints related to learning and cognitive development. Additionally, participants will explore how their background, experiences, privilege, bias, and/or discrimination have affected their attitudes toward learning and their expectations about other’s learning.

(SEL) Foundations and Self-Awareness of Social Development (aka Social FASA): This workshop provides youth workers with an introspective look at their own social development so they can be prepared to support social development in young people. Participants will explore their personal identity, strengths, and values in social and professional settings, and how that influences their approach to communication, teamwork, responsibility, and leadership.

Focusing on Program Design

(YWM) Active Learning: The Active Learning method provides practical strategies for actively engaging young people in their own learning process by providing meaningful, challenging content with strong adult support.

(YWM) Planning and Reflection: The Planning and Reflection Method provides practical and fun tools for engaging young people in the Plan-Do-Reflect learning process. It focused on establishing clear, comprehensive plans at the beginning of an activity and reflecting on the results and process after the activity has been completed.

(YWM) Youth Voice: This workshop guides youth workers to support young people by providing opportunities for voice and choice. With proper support and scaffolding over time, youth grow in responsible decision-making and leadership.

Focusing on Specific Skills

(YWM) Ask-Listen-Encourage: Ask-Listen-Encourage is a method for carrying out positive, purposeful interactions with young people. The method includes practices that can both foster positive relationships with youth and support young people in learning new skills.

(YWM) Building Community: This method supports staff in creating a safe space in which youth feel a sense of belonging. Young people and adults can get to know each other better and build relationships through the icebreakers, games, team-building exercises and concepts engaged with in this method.

(YWM) Cooperative Learning: This workshop gives strategies for successfully incorporating interactive, interdependent, goal-oriented group work into youth programs. Working in pairs or groups supports young people in being active, self-directing and expressive.

(SEL) Fostering Teamwork: With time, support, and facilitation youth workers can help young people have both strong team building skills and a sense of trust and group identity. Participants in this workshop will learn and apply norm building and facilitation techniques. Time will be spent applying and scaffolding techniques to support youth in managing their communication styles and applying conflict resolution skills. (*Prerequisite Foundations and Self-Awareness of Social Development)

(YWM) Homework Help: This course focuses on making homework help time effective by helping youth get organized, by providing an atmosphere that helps youth focus on their work, and by building a supportive relationship with youth. This is done through communication, productive settings, and supportive interaction.

(YWM) Reframing Conflict: This method provides a six -step youth-centered, non-threatening way of resolving conflicts that inevitably occur in youth settings. It is a problem solving approach that seeks to turn conflicts into learning opportunities.

(SEL) Facilitating Problem Solving: This workshop gives youth workers practical tools to build problem solving opportunities into programs and support young people with in-the-moment problem solving. Participants will learn the basics of how our brain solves problems and will practice a model for helping young people define and explore problems, preparing them to take action and learn from them. (*Prerequisite Foundations and Self-Awareness of Cognitive Development)

(YWM) Structure and Clear Limits: This workshops helps youth workers establish appropriate structure with routines and rituals. Clear limits (norms, behavior guidelines) foster emotional and physical safety, a feeling of fairness and predictability that supports young people to explore and express themselves in a conducive learning environment.

(SEL) Engaging Youth in Supportive Struggle: Optimal growth and learning occur when trusted and encouraging adults provide young people with enough challenge, with enough support. This workshop helps youth workers learn practical ways to normalize struggle and foster growth mindset in a balanced and nuanced way that acknowledges social inequities while encouraging perseverance, high expectations, and hope. (*Prerequisite Foundations and Self-Awareness of Cognitive Development)

(SEL) Promoting Responsibility and Leadership: In this workshop participants will explore how responsibility and leadership fit within a broader SEL framework and develop practical skills to model roles and responsibilities and support youth in leveraging their strengths, interests, and leadership style as part of groups and relationships. Participants will practice applying techniques learned to their programs with an eye toward facilitating youth ownership.(*Prerequisite Foundations and Self-Awareness of Social Development)

(SEL) Cultivating Empathy: As adults, our ability to support young people in identifying and managing their emotions starts with our ability to do the same. In this experiential workshop, participants will deepen their understanding of how people interpret and feel emotions; how they personally experience hot buttons and emotional activation; and explore self-regulation. (*Prerequisite Foundations and Self-Awareness of Emotional Development)

(SEL) Emotion Coaching: Emotion Coaching is an approach to young people’s emotions that accepts and validates the emotions, while still providing guidance and tools, when needed, to support young people’s emotion management skills. Participants are given a step-by step guide to emotion coaching and given opportunities to practice their emotion coaching skills. (*Prerequisite Foundations and Self-Awareness of Emotional Development)