Learning from Exceptional Teachers: Understanding the "How" of SEL

I recently came across this article about research identifying Utah's most exceptional fourth-grade teachers: those whose students achieved 90th percentile growth or above in both math and ELA over three years. What struck me most wasn't just what these teachers do but how the researchers went about learning from them. Rather than imposing a new program or framework, they identified teachers with demonstrated results and asked: What are you doing? What do you believe is contributing to student growth? Then they documented and shared those practices with others across the state.

This approach (learning from excellence already present in our schools) is exactly what we believe in at Sea Change Mentoring. And notably, the instructional practices these exceptional teachers use for academic growth are often the same practices that develop students' social-emotional competencies.

Former and current school partners: Joram Hutchins, Vice Principal of German European School Singapore; Priscilla Bade-White, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Saigon South International School; Ange Molony Upper School Vice Principal at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong, at Sea Change’s workshop on integrating SEL into academics at the EARCOS Leadership Conference, 2025.

Practices That Build Both Skills and Relationships

Several standout practices from these exceptional teachers reveal how effective academic instruction and SEL development work together:

Systematic small-group intervention using daily data - These teachers didn't just offer intervention; they carefully planned groups based on quiz scores and treated intervention as central to learning. This exemplifies Universal Design for Learning in practice: using formative assessment to provide multiple means of representation and engagement, adjusting complexity and scaffolding based on each student's current needs. This personalized approach also sends a powerful message to students: I see you, I know what you need, and I'm invested in your growth. This fosters belonging and demonstrates care through action.

Parent involvement in classroom instruction - Teachers invited parents to lead book clubs, participate in reading groups, and guide high-performing students. Beyond the academic support, this practice strengthens the web of relationships around each child (parent-teacher, parent-student) creating a sense of community and shared investment in learning.

(Side note: A comprehensive meta-analysis of SEL programs in China found that in collectivist cultural contexts, involving parents in SEL development had a particularly significant impact on students' social-emotional growth. The practice of bringing parents into the classroom may be tapping into something profound about how relationships and community support children's development.)

Teacher-student journaling - Perhaps most powerful for SEL, some teachers maintained weekly dialogue journals where students wrote about anything they chose, and teachers wrote back. The research notes that this "helped students feel more connected to their teacher, and vice versa, and seemed to elicit positive behavior in the classroom as a whole."

This practice particularly resonates because teacher-student journaling is a proven SEL strategy that fosters belonging and emotional regulation, woven directly into academic routines. As education writer Jennifer Gonzalez explains in her piece on dialogue journals, these exchanges shift the power differential, build writing fluency naturally, and most importantly, help students feel heard and seen. "I don't look at teaching the way many people do," notes one teacher Gonzalez interviewed. "They don't need me to learn. They need me to care."

Spiral review with pre-teaching - While this practice is primarily academic, it also reduces anxiety and builds confidence by giving students repeated, low-stakes exposure to concepts over time rather than high-pressure, one-time learning moments.

The Power of Documenting and Sharing Excellence

What makes the Utah research particularly valuable is its focus on learning from practice. As researcher Tye Campbell explained: "Teachers have so much expertise. It's good to go to teachers who have demonstrated exceptional growth and just learn from them."

This approach mirrors work happening at our school partner, the International School of Manila, where Middle School Curriculum Coordinator Jeff Phillips and his colleagues are systematically identifying impactful instructional strategies, filming teachers demonstrating them, and creating multiple channels to share these practices: through faculty meetings, PLCs, and weekly bulletins. Their model shows how schools can document, celebrate, and spread the "how" of effective teaching that builds both academic skills and SEL competencies.

International School of Manila’s Middle School Curriculum Coordinator Jeff Phillips and Assistant Superintendent Clarissa Sayson in a Sea Change Mentoring SEL Roadmap workshop.

At Sea Change Mentoring, we support school partners in doing exactly this kind of work. Once a school identifies the SEL skills and mindsets it wants to grow, we help educators focus on the instructional moves that bring those competencies to life, regardless of subject or unit.

We work with department and classroom leads to identify exceptional teachers, study their practice, and have them model those moves for peers. Together, we capture these strategies in playbooks and toolkits so they can be shared, adapted, and sustained. This isn't about importing external programs; it's about recognizing, naming, and spreading the excellence already present in your classrooms.

Intentional Integration Is Key

The most effective teachers aren't running separate "SEL programs." They're weaving relationship-building, belonging, and emotional regulation into academic routines. Dialogue journals don't take time away from literacy instruction; they are literacy instruction that simultaneously builds connection. Small-group intervention isn't just academic differentiation; it's a message of care and investment in each student.

Moving Forward

The Utah research reminds us that excellence in teaching is rarely about one silver bullet. It's about systematically creating conditions where students feel known, supported, and challenged. It's about bringing parents into the learning community. It's about using data to personalize while maintaining human connection.

Most importantly, it shows us that the teachers achieving remarkable academic growth are the same ones building strong relationships and fostering students' social-emotional development. These aren't competing priorities.

Schools have spent years defining what SEL is. The next step is understanding how effective teaching develops it: through connection, intention, and expertise already present in our classrooms.

*I used artificial intelligence to help me write this article. Specifically, I used Claude AI to provide me with feedback on clarity and to help organize the flow of the article. Why am I telling you this?