
Social emotional learning saves the day!
January 28, 2025
By Anassa Stewart, program coordinator with Reading Partners San Francisco Bay Area
Two days before winter break, my school was preparing for their holiday celebration. The event was scheduled for 4 pm, so I canceled all tutoring sessions after 3 pm. But, I decided to squeeze in one final session at 2:15 pm with a student who loves to come to Reading Partners.Â
Despite having the option to participate in free play time, Lily* chooses to meet with her tutor and enjoy a snack while her tutor reads to her.Â
On this day, I picked her up from the cafeteria and told her how excited I was to watch her dance performance at the holiday celebration. She and her second-grade classmates were going to dance to NSYNC’s song, “Bye, Bye, Bye.”Â
She looked up at me and shared that she didn’t want to perform because she was going to mess up. I told her that if she messed up, she could just keep going and that it would be ok. She looked at me with disbelief in her eyes and insisted she didn’t want to perform at all. At that moment, I remembered one of our Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons and I told her that I had the perfect book to read to her.Â
When we arrived in the classroom, I grabbed The Happiest Tree from the SEL bin and showed it to Lily. I explained that this book was about a girl who thought she was too clumsy to play the role of a tree in her school’s play. Lily looked at me with a bit of curious excitement as I began to read the story. She remained very engaged and I asked comprehension questions to ensure she knew how much this story related to what she was feeling. By the end of the story, the girl had overcome her fear and did her best, despite the mistakes she had made.Â
I asked Lily if she felt any better about her upcoming performance and she told me she felt a little better. Once our session was over, I asked Lily what she thought would happen if she messed up and she shrugged her shoulders.Â
I proceeded to ask, in a joking manner, “Do you think the building will fall down if you mess up, or perhaps everyone will turn green”? I said, “Maybe all of the lights will shut off or the floor will fall in.” She laughed at all of my silly questions and I told her to just do her best because no matter what happens, the show must go on.Â
I explained that this is her first of many performances and that sometimes messing up is what helps you get better. The important thing is to try hard and enjoy herself. I reiterated that the more she tries, the better she’ll get, and one day she might perform on television.Â
Lily’s eyes seemed to light up as I walked her to the gym, where her classmates were already practicing. She ran over to join them and I headed to my classroom to prepare for the winter break, before making my way back to the gym.
The show began promptly at 4 pm and although all of the students did an amazing job, I was anxiously awaiting the final act, when Lily would take the stage. Words can barely describe how proud and impressed I was by all of my students, especially Lily’s performance. She put all of her energy into her performance and her tremendous effort masked any steps she may have missed.
Immediately after the performance, I ran over to Lily, gave her a big hug and a high five, and told her that she aced it! SEL helped save the performance!