According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), good SEL skills can be developed in schools and classrooms in a number of ways, including through leadership opportunities. That comes at a time when leaders in education and the business community don’t think we are doing enough to teach kids leadership lessons.
Put them in charge. Involve students in leadership opportunities in the classroom—from heading the discussion of a lesson to handing out papers. Experts say such opportunities should become part of the classroom procedures each day. It benefits the student with the assignment and peers who must work with a peer leader. Activities involving student leadership in the classroom may help students most when teachers (or, even, in a respectful way, other students) positively assess their handling of the responsibility. So a teacher might congratulate a student on their introduction to a lesson, but suggest they speak slower. Or, they might write a quick note home to tell a parent how a student either followed through on an assigned leadership task successfully—or without prompting took one on.
Provide some good examples. Regularly mix in discussions about good leadership—whether it’s a more detailed critique of why a famous leader succeeded or a talk about the leadership that their principal must show—or their parents or a coach. Look for examples among their favorites music, movie, or sports stars when they are showing good (or not so good) leadership behavior. Assign a search for one. For example, a story of a sports star getting his team to help a good cause or a musician who can incite a crowd (positively or negatively) with one comment. Talk about the quality of leadership in figures who loom large in your subject area.
How do we teach "empathy"? It’s a fair question, followed up with, “How do we have the time to teach something like ‘empathy’ in our academically rigorous classes?” Often bundled up and pushed aside as non-compulsory “character education”, this sort of work can sometimes seem arbitrary and time-consuming. However, the science shows there is nothing further from the truth. In fact, an empathic school is a smarter school.

Multiple studies have now shown a strong correlation between student empathy and academic achievement. Vicki Zakrzewski, Education Director at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, notes, "Scientific research is starting to show that there is a very strong relationship between social-emotional learning and cognitive development and performance." In fact, "Children as young as 18 months exhibit compassion, empathy, altruism, so these characteristics are part of who we are. But, at the same time, these skills