Moving from Trendy to Transformative Social-Emotional Learning (Demystifying Social Justice Education: Moving from Trendy to Transformative Equity and Justice Practices in Schools)

PreK-12 schools across the United States are adopting social and emotional learning (SEL) programs for both students and educators. However, most of these schools are adopting non-contextualized, trendy, and traditional SEL programs, in which students and educators are conditioned to apply certain knowledge and skills that speak to only a small subset of students rather than utilizing authentic, equity-driven SEL models. As such, SEL programming must be transformed and sustained to reflect new and shifting identities of both students and educators, like the expanding ability, cultural, gender, linguistic, race, religion, and socioeconomic formations and their intersections, as well as tensions within predominantly white institutions.

Moving from Trendy to Transformative Social-Emotional Learning presents a diverse collection of chapters that discuss authentic and contextualized equity and justice models that are focused on the possibilities of transformative SEL programming. The book’s primary focus is on innovative and creative methodologies and practices that aspiring and practicing educators can use right away. Because the editors and contributors are former or current PreK-12 practitioners and/or educational scholars, this book is written for a broad educational audience. Directed to both preservice and practicing teachers across PreK-12 grade levels, school types, and geographic regions looking to improve their practice, the text provides entry points for transforming the SEL landscape in favor of liberatory, justice-based, and equitable practices. Additionally, this book is ideal for teacher and administrator preparation programs, as well as PreK-12 professional development, because it guides readers through theoretical and empirical discussions, punctuated by hands-on applications that enable real-time application, and concludes with interactive features, including case studies, extension activities, and discussion prompts.

Specific topics include enacting culturally-relevant SEL; addressing youth mental health through cultivating authentic belonging and mindfulness in classrooms; equitable SEL curricular and pedagogical practices; developing adult SEL; culturally-grounded identity development, ensuring safe environments for building identity and relationships; and SEL in teacher education and mentorship.

Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Educating For Equity And Social Justice; Introduction to Cultivating Culturally Responsive Classrooms; Foundations of Classroom Management; Introduction to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Schools; Principles of Professional Collaboration In Education; Introduction To School Improvement, Introduction to Teacher Leadership And School Improvement; Introduction to Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment; Principles of Building Classroom Communities; Principles of Teaching Diverse Learners; Principles of Youth Voices in Education

Linsay DeMartino, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Division for Advancing Education Policy, Practice, and Leadership housed within Mary Lou Fulton College (MLFC) for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University (ASU). Dr. DeMartino considers herself a scholar-practitioner. As a former P-12 educational practitioner in Tucson Unified School District, Dr. DeMartino served as a special education teacher, inclusion specialist, special education department chair, and instructional data and intervention administrative coordinator. Her current research examines storytelling as praxis, transformative practices, and equitable community collaboration in schools. She is particularly interested in educational practices grounded in just schooling and contextual alternatives rather than “best practices” and educational trends. Dr. DeMartino is a co-founder and co-lead of the Storytelling Learning Futures Collaborative (LFC) at MLFC, and she resides in the shadow of Tonto National Forest with her perfectly imperfect pup, Lorca.

Lisa Fetman, Ph.D. (she/her) is an independent scholar with adjunct faculty appointments at Florida Southern College (Educational Leadership) and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (Teaching and Learning). Dr. Fetman formerly taught K-12 Spanish in Chicago, Illinois and Tucson, Arizona, working in diverse communities and sociocultural/sociopolitical contexts. Her research encompasses the enactment of education policy within culturally diverse schools, particularly related to the effects of neoliberalism on policy creation, implementation, and disruption. As a former language teacher, she deeply cares about the education of emergent multilinguals, and hence also focuses her scholarship on the intersection of policies and practices within linguistically diverse student populations. Dr. Fetman teaches coursework in diversity and inclusion, curriculum and instruction, culturally responsive leadership, and instructional leadership. She currently resides in Chicago, Illinois with her husband, daughter, and chihuahua. She continuously commits to transforming education policies and practices in her personal and professional life in the Windy City.