The Daily SEL Leader: A Guided Journal

Everyone in your school community benefits when you invest in YOU. Social-emotional learning is one of the hottest education topics today. Most of the focus, however, has been at the student level. The truth is that school leaders can’t implement social-emotional learning effectively if they don’t deeply understand it for themselves. A deeper, renewed self-awareness and understanding of your own and others’ emotional needs is the key to promoting social-emotional learning across your school. Exploring and mastering core social and emotional competencies a little at a time with the help of this guide fits perfectly with the daily demands of being a school leader, team leader, or classroom leader. Using the core CASEL skills presented in six modules, this guided journal will help you: Become more self-aware of what each CASEL skill means for leadership Build stronger relationships throughout schools, classrooms, and communities Increase credibility and approachability Engage stakeholders confidently Because human growth and leadership go hand in hand, meeting students, teachers, and colleagues where they are at emotionally will begin a ripple effect and leave a lasting impact on your learning community.  To do that, however, you must first focus on developing your own SEL skills.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction Module 1: Self-Awareness Week 1.1: Developing Accurate Self-Perception Week 1.2: Strengths of Emotions Week 1.3: Developing Self-Confidence Week 1.4: Developing Self-Efficacy Module 2: Self-Management Week 2.1: Self-Motivation Week 2.2: Goal Setting and Productive Habits Week 2.3: Organizational Skills Week 2.4: Impulse Control Week 2.5: Stress Management Week 2.6: Self-Discipline Module 3: Social Awareness Week 3.1: Perspective Taking Week 3.2: Empathy Week 3.3: Appreciating Diversity Week 3.4: Respect for Others Module 4: Relationship Skills Week 4.1: Communication Week 4.2: Social Engagement Week 4.3: Relationship Building Week 4.4: Teamwork Module 5: Responsible Decision Making Week 5.1: Identifying Problems Week 5.2: Analyzing Situations Week 5.3: Solving Problems Week 5.4: Evaluating Week 5.5: Reflecting Week 5.6: Ethical Responsibility Module 6: Next Steps Appendix A Appendix B References

About the Author :
James Bailey is an experienced K-12 leader, having served as an elementary and high school principal, an assistant superintendent, superintendent, and turn-around leader in both the public and charter school spaces in Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas. He has also worked as a school improvement consultant and leadership coach opening his firm called the Leading Learners Institute in 2016 (llinst.org). Bailey started LLI to help make research more meaningful and actionable for educators through a specific focus on 1) leadership coaching 2) capacity building through design-based research and improvement science principles 3) social-emotional development of adults and students, and 4) future-oriented strategic planning [see www.llinst.org]. Throughout his professional career, Bailey has focused on the intersection of research, equity, learning, and organizational design for both adults and students. He has one self-published book called The Productive Principal and numerous blog posts and a few peer-reviewed articles (see publications section on the attached resume). He has presented multiple times at such conferences as the INACOL Conference, the Education Elements Personalized Learning Summit, the Wyoming School Boards Association Conference, the National Staff Development Council (Learning Forward)Annual Conference, and the American Educational Research Association.

Review :
This easy-to-use and well-researched journal will definitely guide leaders to grow their SEL skills. I am eager to begin using The Daily SEL Leader. Leaders who use it are going to be inspired to learn more about SEL, which will positively affect their relationships with students, staff,  the community and, most importantly, themselves. I can′t wait to see the impact! As the importance of everyday Social Emotional Learning is being understood by more educational stakeholders, we are finding that adults need the tools to practice social and emotional competencies in order to model them in their classrooms and with students. The authors have developed a wonderful resource for educators to use that provides them with real world examples and practices that will accelerate the adoption of these crucial skills. I highly recommend this book for educators who want to advance their practices of social and emotional competencies. Bailey and Weiner have gifted educators with a multi-tool guide in The Daily SEL Leader. Readers are supported through a theory of action, inserting SEL inputs within a continuous improvement cycle, provide daily actions for individuals and teams to practice and strengthen their own SEL competencies and a step-by-step instructional manual on exactly how to integrate social emotional learning competencies into everyday spaces with adults and students. This one is bound to be a repeat read by administrators and teachers alike! I have supported school leaders for over 20 years, and I have struggled to find a meaningful, ongoing, and frankly, efficient, way to both support principals in their own social emotional well-being and to develop their capacity to develop their teams’ social emotional well-being.  This is an invaluable tool for just that! With short manageable activities, it guides the school leader through a daily practice of reflection and goal setting that builds not only their personal growth but also their professional capacity for developing the social emotional growth of their team. The Daily SEL Leader is a comprehensive and practical resource that will guide educational leaders to understand, practice and model SEL skills. This book is written for educators, by educators. It is insightful, functional and will foster impactful leadership. Social and emotional learning isn’t just for kids. It’s for all. And in particular, it’s for school leaders, for whom a normal day requires confidently and cheerfully meeting the unexpected. Wise leaders know that we are truly only in charge of our own selves, and that we can achieve tremendous personal growth by fine-tuning our social and emotional skills. Bailey and Weiner’s Daily SEL Leader shows the way. As inspiring as it is practical, this is a must-have resource for anyone serious about being a respected, trusted, and cherished educator.    As a busy school principal, I love the accessibility of The Daily SEL Leader. Written in short, easy to digest modules, this book gives me a daily burst of inspiration, grounding me in the core SEL skills that I seek to deepen in my leadership. The focus on reflection and action is key, helping me cultivate these skills in my daily practice. I love that this is a book and reflection journal all in one! It is easy to follow and highlights the major SEL skills leaders need to move the work with a growth mindset.