090: How Small, Intentional SEL Moves Create Big Instructional Shifts with Brittany Christiansen

Small, steady moves can transform a classroom. We sit down with Pennsylvania educator Brittany Christensen to unpack how 5–10 minute SEL warmups grew into a living practice woven through literacy, nonfiction analysis, and daily routines. Teaching English and ESOL in a large urban district, she shows how high expectations can coexist with care by building a shared language around growth mindset, self-discipline, and self-motivation, then returning to those skills in texts, discussions, and assessments.

You’ll hear how she starts with clear, student-owned definitions, scaffolds from spotting competencies in literature to reflecting on real life, and uses quick exit tickets to make progress visible. We dig into concrete strategies for integrating SEL into reading and writing: narrowing focus to a few skills per unit, inviting groups to justify choices with textual evidence and author context, and connecting skills to figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Brittany’s ESOL lens shines through with explicit vocabulary, gradual release, and co-teaching habits that support multilingual learners. 

Beyond the classroom, Brittany models accountability as care by closing loops with families when students ask for it, and sharing how restorative practices and humility fuel collaborative growth. She offers practical planning tips to get started tomorrow: put SEL on the calendar, use early-finish moments or pre-break days, and keep routines short and consistent. If you want a humane, high-expectation classroom where students can name the skills they’re practicing and transfer them to life, this conversation delivers tools you can use right away.

EPISODE RESOURCES:

• Connect with Brittany via email at BCHRISTIANSEN@basdschools.org

Transcript

Season Five Kickoff & Guest Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to season five of SEL in EDU. This is a space for educators who believe social-emotional learning isn't an add-on. It's part of how we teach, lead, and show up every day. I'm Dr. Krista Lay, and in each episode, we'll explore real stories, practical strategies, and the human side of learning that helps schools grow with intention.

Being “Voluntold” And Choosing Buy-In

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Today I'm joined by Brittany Christensen, a Pennsylvania-based educator with over a decade of experience teaching English and English as a second language in large urban districts. In this conversation, Britney shares what it looks like to hold high expectations while honoring the realities students bring with them, especially when language, identity, and belonging are at the center of learning. We talk about the quiet, often invisible SEL moves that sustain classrooms, how she stays grounded in the work, and what helps her show up for students day after day. If you're navigating complexity with care and heart, this episode will resonate. Welcome, Brittany. Thank you so much for sharing your time and experiences with SEL in EDU. How are you doing today? I'm great. I'm doing very well. How are you? I'm good, thank you. We've been working together for a year and a half through your school district. And I'm curious about your first reaction to being voluntoled that you were part of an SEL cohort.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

I was excited the year before I heard of this SEL cohort. A personal goal of mine was already to get more SEL into the classroom. When I saw that I was in the cohort, I was like, okay, good. Thank you. Who do I need to get in touch with to get involved? I know that's not the case for everybody. Not everyone was excited to be volunt, but I happen to be very excited to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

And so those of you who are listening, I didn't know what this response was going to be. I know that when I was teaching, they would send out, like, you're invited to be part of this cohort. And teachers would write back, thank you, but I'm going to decline the invitation. They didn't really mean invite, they meant you were being told. What were your expectations coming in and how did that evolve over time?

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Well, I had no idea what to expect. I knew what SEL was and that we would get some strategies, but I was like, what's this going to look like? What kind of time are we going to be given? Because as all of us teachers know, time is the biggest hurdle for pretty much anything. So I told myself, go in with an open mind. I had already worked with SEL coaches in the districts and asked them to come into the classroom and help me out. So I was feeling like here's an opportunity to take something else and learn how to integrate more SEL.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

What did that time journey look like for you? Where did you start off with your classes, or where did you see there was a need among your students?

From Standalone SEL To Integration

SPEAKER_00 3:04

I saw it probably the year before I had your cohort. So I guess that's your first year in the district. The SEL coaches were more in the classroom than they ever had been before. We actually had one that was right here in our building all the time. She offered to go into classrooms. I asked her to come in and show me, teach a lesson. Let's do something and get SEL into this classroom explicitly. So it was not integrated into the curriculum. It was a completely separate lesson that I participated in. I was more a student in that lesson. I did the lesson with the students and she ran the show. But I was able to take that as my first step. And moving forward, that became part of my getting to know you activities. And then I told myself, start small. If you see something that lends to a competency, here, great. No pressure. So I gave myself the expectation of when you see an opportunity, try it. I went into the residence end sessions with the open mind of take what you can take and integrate what you can integrate and move forward from there. And then sometimes I stole a little bit of time from you. And I would get an idea when I was in a session and be like, I gotta put that in now. I would create a link or go in a spreadsheet and put it on there for my future reference. Okay, if I can do something right now, great. If I start integrating this next semester or at the beginning of next year, that is what I will do. And I was able to take a slow roll of adding more and more.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

I'm picking up two really important pieces, giving yourself some grace, saying, Where do I see this natural connection? And also your mindset, what can I learn? Like opening up your classroom, because that's not easy for people to do. I'm working on a separate set of podcasts with an SEL mentor of mine, and we're talking about this idea of perspective, and that when somebody is like, hey, here's some other ideas, you didn't do this well enough, but it's just another toolkit. I'm curious, what do you think has contributed to your open mindset around come on in, let's work together and see how we can make something happen that's different.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

My open-mindedness with incorporating SEL started years ago when I was volunteer to go to restorative practices. And I had no idea what restorative practices was. And then I was supposed to incorporate circles into the classroom. I love it. I still use all of these as my toolkit, and I would say that was my stepping stone. I did have to get comfortable with a facilitator coming in and showing us how to do that. That was at the district I worked at before my current position. I brought it with me as much as I could. I think it comes from the confidence in I do my job. I don't have to be worried about somebody coming into the classroom because I know that what I'm doing is what I'm supposed to be doing. And I'm asking coaches to come in to help me get better. I think it's also that comfort. I've been in this position for a few years now. I'm comfortable with what I teach and the people that I work with. This wasn't a complete stranger who walked into the classroom. I talked to her multiple times beforehand about the students' needs. She asked me what I think the students need and making sure you're comfortable with the person who's coming in. It has a huge impact.

Restorative Circles As A Stepping Stone

SPEAKER_02 6:30

It reminds me of when I was in the classroom, I was told that I was going to have a co-teacher from the special ed department, and I was freaking out. What if she's going to judge me? What if she doesn't like how I do things? How are we going to work together? It ended up being the best partnership. I've I loved it. It took us a whole quarter to figure out what this looked. And we really owned it for all of the kids. It ended up being this amazing three-year partnership. You came in on our first session this year, and you're like, here's what I've already been doing. And my next part is, how do I connect all these things? And I'm like, oh my God. This is phenomenal. What was your approach this year with the different skills that you decided to address and infuse?

Selecting Core Competencies To Teach

SPEAKER_00 7:20

I think it started with a lot of conversations among staff last year. What skills do our students need most? Having a growth mindset, exhibiting self-discipline, self-motivation. And a lot of it came from you too, Krista, because we asked in a session, we would love some resources, something that's already made that we can pass out and say, here's what this skill is. What do you think it looks like? And you delivered. And so it was really helpful. It made it so much easier for me to say, okay, here are all of the skills that I have. And now I have a resource that I can implement. I told myself, you're going to start small, you're going to start somewhere. I started with having a growth mindset and I used those resources as a warm-up. And then those warmups integrated into what we were reading. Now we've done our warmups on having a growth mindset. How are we seeing that in our text that we're currently reading? Or how are we seeing that in the author who wrote this text and their motivations behind what they wrote? It was exhibiting self-motivation, exhibiting self-discipline. And once I got through a few competencies, then I started to infuse them more. Some authors say, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's very easy to say, okay, where are we seeing self-discipline? Where are we seeing initiative? And there are so many. I can pick anyone and we can talk about how Dr. King exhibits those skills familiar from our warmups. And then I could take it into the curriculum. Once I was able to get everybody familiar with a few competencies, because it's not going to be all of them, right? Especially when we look at all 40 some. But pick a few. I picked a few and I said we'll start there. And then we really honed in by the end of the semester. We had done our warm-up work in our packets and they still have them. We were just pulling out resources for the finally. I was like, oh, look, you still have it. They're still going back to it. Laying the groundwork and then letting it organically grow after those very intentional five-minute warmups, maybe 10 minutes when we had the time. Two, maybe three days a week was enough to lay the groundwork for later analysis and integrating into the curriculum, which was my goal this year.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

I did help create some of those foundational documents, but you got to use them however you wanted and adapt them. So, what were some of those warmups? What did that look like for you and your students?

Warmups That Build Shared Language

SPEAKER_00 9:46

I always started with defining the skill. I would ask students to read what this skill is and why this skill is important on their own. I'd give them a highlighter, highlight maybe two or three key phrases or terms that really stand out in regards to this skill. Then I would read it aloud to them afterward and we would put together, I would have a few students share what did you highlight, what did you underline? And that would typically be day one. We have defined and pulled our key phrases that stand out as important or exemplary with this skill. The next time we came back to it, it would be those highlights first. Johnny, what did you highlight? I just called a few students to share what their highlights were. I would have the students put together their own definition and ways that I could support them. It was always a huge piece for me. This is how I can help you exhibit this skill in the classroom. And we would grow from there. Sometimes we had time to move into what it looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like. Other times we needed to stop there and what it looks like and what it feels like would be the next day. I always made sure I took them home after that point. And I would go through what I could do as a teacher to help them in the classroom. When I gave them back for our next warm-up, I'd be like, okay, this is what I heard, I would say to them, what I heard from you. And I would use my notes of keep holding me accountable, calling home if I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do. Students would say, check in. I'm afraid to ask questions. So if you could come check in with me. So it's also a way for them. I never asked them to share that part. That's why I took it home. I would always offer that way for them to tell me how I specifically could help them in the classroom. And then we would move on to identifying in our next text. Here's a quick warm-up, or maybe an exit ticket. Where did you see exhibiting self-motivation in our text today or in our lesson today? Or how did you see exhibiting self-motivation on a Friday? It's nice. If we've been working through the week, just a quick where did you see it anywhere in life? Where did you see our current skill anywhere in life or in our classroom? So they had more of a chance to open up. And I would have students write about at work or in the cafeteria. And that's great.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

And that's showing the transfer of that skill into other contexts for them. I do want to highlight the fact that having them look at their text before applying it to their own lives is definitely a scaffold. The truth is, we're not always proficient at all of those skills, even as adults. If you hit me on a certain day where I'm really sucking at this skill, I don't necessarily want to talk about it. But if I can see it in something else, and then when I'm ready emotionally to accept responsibility and accountability for that, I can own it. You gave them that safe space using the literature and using these pieces that are already such a critical part of the curriculum to help build those mini steps for them. As you work through the semester, did you see evidence of growth either from student interactions, engagement, or responses to you or to classmates?

Evidence Of Growth And Accountability

SPEAKER_00 13:04

I saw some students wear an A sword. They were very interested in the skills I was teaching and they hit the ground running each time and were ready to go. These are also the students who still have those packets in their binders. They didn't get rid of them after I said, We're starting with final exams. Here's what you need, here's what you don't need. They're still there because they see a need. The fact that they're still there is huge. I would say for some students, every time my teacher asks me what she can do to help me exhibit this skill, they're writing the same thing. Check in on me, hold me accountable. If I'm not doing something, call me out on it. Like the things that we do as teachers that sometimes students are like, why do you keep bugging me? Why are you get off of my back? Except I am doing what I know will help you with so many of these skills. I'm not trying to bother you. I care and I want to help you grow in one way or another. For some of them, it was that realization of like, wow, I keep telling her the same thing. I had one student who every time said, Tell me you're gonna call my mom. And I was like, okay, back to calling home. I don't use that as a threat, but if you're telling me, I'm like, do we need to have a conversation?

SPEAKER_02 14:19

That's the student being honest with you and they're still developing. I used to say too, I shouldn't have to call home. You and I should have a conversation and be able to work through this. But ultimately, their developmental level is not there yet. They are still accountable to their parents. And so while that's not necessarily a first response, that is a viable response. If the student is saying, This is what works for me, that's amazing that they felt they could be open and honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

I think too knowing that you care enough to take a moment to call home. We're building a relationship, we're building these skills too, but we're building a relationship of I do care. I want to know how I can help you. I do care enough to call home. Is it my first step? Absolutely not. We are gonna have conversations first, but it is sometimes necessary, and parents do want to know. I think it builds that relationship too. Teaching the skills, I could see our relationship grow because then we would start sharing more. I shared about myself in moments when I'm not having a growth mindset. These are human being skills, not classroom skills specifically. Then they would start sharing times when they realized, okay, that was a time when I wasn't exhibiting self-discipline the way that I need to. And it helped us build our relationship too, which is another piece of evidence to your original question, where I see that growth happen in the classroom happened in many different ways.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Well, going back to the conversation with the parent or caregiver, I think it's important that you're saying, I care about your child. I asked them, and they were honest and they told me this. And so you're showing the trust that the child put in you to make that call home and close that circle. It can be like, they're not in trouble, but this is what they told me. And I'd like to close that loop so we're all working together. We have humility as adults to be like, yeah, I probably wasn't my best self in this particular instance. And this is what happened. And I think it also allows us to give each other grace as human beings. That, you know what, we're not perfect. I'm not up here saying this is what the skill is going to be, but like, let's work on this together. In the co-creation part that you had, were there any instances of students having a very different context or definition of some of those skills than you were expecting?

Defining Empathy, Perspective, Compassion

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Not that comes to the top of my head. There were some examples that I was like, oh, this is a fantastic example. I'm seeing the connection that you're making. They took a lot of the wording from the original excerpts themselves to a point where I said to myself, let's define some of these words, others' perspectives. I kept seeing the words empathy and compassion. And I realized, let's define some of these words. So I think it was me realizing a teachable moment where we can grow even more.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yeah. I have to smile with the empathy and compassion because those are two of the skills I've waited to do that last. Um, there are two different types of empathy, cognitive empathy defined as perspective taking, and emotional empathy, where you're taking it on. And then there's empathy and action, which is compassion. It depends what research you're using. So it really is hard to define. I love that the students needed that extra step and that you were grappling with that, with them. When you were taking the skills into the lessons, were students seeming to make those connections right away? Or how were they working with each other to grow their skill set?

Group Work And Scaffolds In Nonfiction

SPEAKER_00 18:08

I did have students work in groups when we got to the point of connecting the skills to our authors or to our text or to both in most cases to both. It lent really nicely to my nonfiction unit, especially. My nonfiction unit came later in the semester. So we had covered more skills. The students had more time together, and we started doing collaborative work. I started by giving multiple choice options. It wasn't here are all 40, but let's focus on these three or four. I was narrowing their focus to begin with, and then I started growing from there. I would say, here are the three or four competencies that I want you to focus on, and they are absolutely in here. Then here are three or four more that you can find, depending on your perspective and how you're reading this text and the conversations you have with it. So I was able to help them gradually grow to the point where most of the groups did fill in one, if not all of those boxes with more that they saw and a piece of evidence from the text or from the author's background or from their research that connected nicely to it. One of the things that I really stressed to the students was the human being aspect of these skills. I'm going to do my best to take your perspective and see where you could make those connections that perhaps my mind wouldn't have made. But that's the point in explaining our evidence, right? We come back into our skills in the curriculum in a real life way and something that they're owning because they see it and connect to it.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

I couldn't help but reflect on the fact that the scaffolding and the direction you just took is master teacher, master skill work. You have an ESOL background as well. How has that played into your Development as a teacher and being able to integrate the KTL, SEL, and all of these different pieces that we're asked to do as teachers while keeping in mind the developmental level of students.

ESOL Roots And Co-Teaching Lessons

SPEAKER_00 20:19

I was hired and had my first full-time position. You are the English teacher with the ESOL groups. And I was co-teaching, loved co-teaching with an ESOL teacher. After years of that, I was able to develop, and of course, I'm observing everything in co-teaching and co-planning with this person to grow my skill set and eventually get my master's degree. I remember maybe one to two months into this job, going to my boss and saying, I don't believe I'm qualified for what I'm assigned to do. I'm really feeling like I'm not properly serving my students. He was like, The fact that you're here saying that, give yourself grace. You are trying your best. We are all figuring this out together. We did more co-teaching and more co-planning and professional development on co-teaching. And these are still some of my good friends to this day. We don't work together anymore, but we're still very close. It was one of those things where it was like in that moment when he said, give yourself grace, I realized so long as I'm trying to do the best by my students and learning things when I realize I don't know it, that's okay. And that really helped me grow into the point where I can take these skills with me. I'll get my master's degree, I'll become the ESOL teacher. And it just came from that need to give myself grace and keep learning things as the opportunity came.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

That was perfect. I have such a deep admiration for you and your approach. As soon as you said, I don't think I'm the right person, that makes you the right person. The fact that you cared so much that you're like, I don't know if I'm doing it well enough indicates that yes. And that's part of our learning curve and our learning journey that we get to a point where we're like, I don't know anything. As long as we're open to taking in new things, that's what keeps us moving on that journey. It doesn't need to be perfect, but our willingness to keep moving forward, even through the ups and downs. I try to remind myself that too, because I come in with new ideas and I'm like, I don't know if this is gonna work. I could totally tank. And then I'm looking at a group of people who are like, we paid you to come in here and do this. But that's part of that journey. You're a mom of five. How is SEL and what you've learned through working with students influenced your interactions with your own kids?

Grace, Mastery, And Continuous Learning

SPEAKER_00 22:49

You know, sometimes I go home and it's easier as a teacher than as a mom to exhibit some of these skills. I'll say to myself, that was not very SEL of me. I need to go back and exemplify owning my mistake, exemplify apologizing. But the more that I explicitly teach and then integrate some of these skills, and as my kids get older, my oldest is 11. We're really getting to a point of resolving conflicts, communicating effectively. I just this weekend was explaining how if she doesn't like something her brother does and explains that calmly, she might find that she gets a very different reaction from her brother. And perhaps the behavior will stop instead of worsening. I find there are times when it's useful and I can apply it, and then there are times when I reflect and I say, You need to go exhibit some skills yourself, apologize and try again.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Now my boys joke, they're like, You're SELing me, aren't you? Like, yes, and it's different when they get older because you need to let them go on their own a little bit. You're about to enter that territory of, yeah, I'm here to help you.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Right. Here's a skill I think you could use right now. Let me explain it to you a little bit, but you're on your own, you gotta go apply and live.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yes, yeah. And then I'm here when things don't work out to walk you through it or to sit next to you, but I'm also here to celebrate when it does go well for you. What would be a piece of advice that you would give a teacher who is just starting to integrate social emotional learning into their instructional practices and their curriculum?

Parenting With SEL At Home

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Pick yourself a starting point, put it on the calendar. I know for me, I'll forget. I want to do this, it sounds great. And I forgot. There are so many things to remember. On your planner, start mapping out the bones of the next couple of weeks. Pick a day, pick a skill, give it five, 30, 10 minutes, whatever you believe you can give it, and then keep intentionally plugging it in. Is it on Monday? Is it on Friday? Keep it in mind when you're wondering, hey, if we finish early, what should we do? Those are my two starting points. When I had it written down to intentionally do, and I had it as my little star at the bottom with extra time we can, it helped me slowly integrate more and more. And it became part of my regular planning once I put it in ink.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

You remind me of certain days like before holiday breaks or before extended breaks, because do we have to learn today? And I'm like, we learn every day in this room, right? And so, but some days it could be, you know, we're gonna focus specifically on an SEL skill. It doesn't necessarily have to be integrated right away. That's what you want to aspire to, which is what you're showing as an example. I love that. Where are those times where there is some extra time that you can start introducing some of these pieces? So, Brittany, one last question for you. As people are listening, if they have any questions and want to get a hold of you, is it possible that they could reach out to you through email if they wanted to follow up?

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Email would be absolutely fine. I'm open to that. I'm happy to connect with other educators and absolutely any time, share any way that I can, help any way that I can, or just answer a question or words of advice 100%.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

I know you need to head off to your next class, but thank you so much. You shared so many amazing gems for people. And I know that they're going to be able to take these pieces that you've shared with them and think about how they can incorporate into their own classroom. I appreciate you and your time. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Thank you for being part of the SEL in EDU family. As you move into the rest of your day, I invite you to notice one small way social emotional learning showed up in your thinking, your relationships, or your work. Until next time, take care of yourself and keep making space for meaningful connected learning.