9+ Meaningful SEL Activities for High School

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High school students often juggle more than just homework and exams; they carry a myriad of thoughts and emotions that can significantly impact their mental health. It’s crucial for educators to facilitate an understanding of these emotions, as many teens may not know how to manage or even recognize them.

By teaching essential social-emotional skills, we can equip students with the tools they need to navigate their feelings, establish healthy relationships, and succeed well beyond their high school years. The following SEL activities are tailored for high school settings and can be adapted across various subjects, offering practical implementation strategies, high-quality resources, and meaningful lessons that can truly influence students’ lives.

1. Build Relationships with Team-Building Escape Rooms

High schoolers frequently engage in social interactions, from casual hallway conversations to weekend plans. Enhance their interpersonal skills through engaging escape room challenges that promote teamwork, creativity, and camaraderie!

• Divide the class into teams and provide them with an escape room scenario that aligns with your curriculum, such as “Solve the Mystery” in a science class or “Navigate The Odyssey” in an English class.
• Incorporate clues that necessitate subject-specific knowledge and collaborative elements, like “What is your teammate’s favorite hobby?” or “What unique skill does your partner bring to the team?”
• Reduce the stress of competition by eliminating strict time limits or rewards for the first team to finish. Instead, encourage teams to assist each other, fostering a sense of community.

Through working together and engaging in lighthearted questions, students can break down barriers and establish new friendships while solving challenges in the escape room.

Practice Navigating Common Social Situations

Alleviate the anxiety surrounding social interactions with in-class lessons that target these often-overlooked moments in students’ lives. Activities that emphasize perspective-taking and social inference can greatly improve teens’ understanding of appropriate behavior in everyday situations.

Social Skills Lessons for Empathy and Perspective-Taking – SEL Activities
By Pathway 2 Success
Grades: 5th-10th
Standards: CCSS CCRA.L.1; CCRA.L.3

This resource aligns with CCSS for College and Career Readiness and highlights the importance of understanding different perspectives. Through engaging activities, students learn to appreciate how others might feel in various situations.

Social Inference Skills for Teens – Scenario Activities Worksheets SEL
By Miss Dee’s Homeroom
Grades: 7th-10th

This high school SEL resource is designed to help all students, including those who are neurodivergent, learn to read social situations accurately, recognize expected behaviors, and choose appropriate responses.

2. Infuse Emotion Vocabulary into Your Curriculum

Many teens feel apprehensive about discussing their emotions. Creating a classroom culture where emotions are openly acknowledged can significantly ease these conversations.

• Integrate emotional vocabulary into your curriculum across subjects. In ELA, for instance, include emotional words in vocabulary lists and explore characters’ feelings in literature assignments, or discuss historical figures’ emotions in social studies.
• Showcase emotion words in your math and science displays, encouraging students to reflect on their feelings during exams, group projects, or challenging assignments.
• Model conversations about emotions through brief SEL check-ins at the start of class. Utilize a feelings wheel to share how current events or personal experiences impact your emotions.

Use Nonverbal Cues to Teach About Emotions

Understanding emotions isn’t just about recognizing one’s own feelings; it’s also crucial to comprehend how others feel. Educate students on nonverbal cues through SEL activities designed to enhance their awareness of body language and facial expressions.

Body Language & Emotions Speech Therapy Social Skills Worksheets + Boom™ Cards
By Stacy Crouse
Grades: 4th-12th

Utilize this specialized resource to help students identify emotions through facial expressions and body language, integrating social context into their understanding of feelings.

3. Have Students Keep a Stress Journal

When asked how they feel, many teens cite “stress” as their primary emotion. But how well do they truly understand their own stressors? Do they know how to mitigate stress or manage it when it arises?

Demystify stress management through journals that track their habits and significant life events. By recording their daily stress levels alongside factors such as hydration, sleep, and nutrition, students will begin to see the connections and brainstorm potential stress relief strategies—be it preventive measures like hydration or practicing mindfulness techniques.

Guide High Schoolers Through Stress Management Strategies

How can high school students effectively manage stress? Implement SEL activities to teach practical stress management techniques, providing them with tools to articulate their feelings without escalating anxiety.

Stress Management Activities for Teens | SEL Coping Skills & PowerPoint
By Teachers Resource Force
Grades: 5th-11th

Stress is a common aspect of the teenage experience, yet teaching students how to cope with it effectively can be challenging. This comprehensive 23-slide resource focuses on social-emotional coping skills and stress management strategies, guiding students to identify, reflect on, and manage stressors in their lives.

4. Use Narrative Writing to Practice Self-Awareness

ELA isn’t the only subject where narrative writing can thrive! Incorporate narrative writing prompts into various classes to help students recognize their emotions, interests, and talents, fostering self-awareness.

Narrative writing also offers a platform for students to reflect on their academic journey, discussing their grades and potential improvements, while envisioning their future aspirations leading up to graduation and beyond.

Focus on Self-Awareness with Reflection Activities

Encourage deep self-reflection through high school SEL activities that prompt students to explore their strengths, weaknesses, and personal growth since the start of the school year.

Self-Awareness Activity Worksheets | Self-Awareness Activities | All About Me
By Queen’s Educational Resources
Grades: 7th-12th

These 20 self-awareness activity worksheets empower students to interpret their emotions, respond appropriately, and reflect on their experiences for future growth.

5. Leave Assignments Open-Ended to Teach Decision-Making

Teens often prefer autonomy over prescribed instructions. Shift from a teacher-centered approach to a student-led environment using life skills activities that encourage responsible decision-making based on individual needs.

Incorporate activities such as “Would You Rather?” questions into daily warm-ups or allow students the freedom to select their research paper topics. For those who struggle with decision-making, start with guided choices before progressing to more open-ended options.

6. Encourage Self-Management in Long-Term Projects

While effective classroom management is important, promoting self-management skills among high schoolers can greatly benefit everyone involved. This skill allows students to feel more in control of their learning while developing critical study habits, including time management and organization.

When assigning long-term projects, support students in creating their own study schedules, helping them decide how much work to do in class versus at home based on their personal comfort and pace. Consider incorporating self-management success into the project grading, allowing students to reflect on their learning journey.

7. Set Goals to Foster a Growth Mindset

The concept of a “growth mindset” is widely discussed in professional development and classroom settings, but what does it truly entail? Cultivating a growth mindset within your curriculum can help students develop a goal-oriented perspective on their learning.

• Collaborate with students at the beginning of the year to establish achievable goals, such as “Complete homework consistently” or “Achieve over 90% on assessments.”
• Encourage them to track their progress toward these goals throughout the term, reflecting on their growth since the start of the year.
• Additionally, have them monitor goals across other classes or aspects of their lives, such as sports, friendships, family dynamics, or health.

8. Practice Friendly Arguments with Class Debate Topics

Teens often face conflicts in their daily lives, and they may struggle with resolving these interactions effectively. Foster conflict resolution skills through structured debates on engaging topics that promote healthy discourse.

Begin the school year by discussing the norms of constructive arguments and debates, starting with less contentious issues before advancing to topics that students may feel passionately about. Consider implementing Socratic seminars to enhance active listening and participation.

It’s a common misconception that high school students lack interests or concerns. In reality, they are passionate about many issues, and channeling this enthusiasm can significantly boost their sense of self-efficacy and academic success—hence the idea of high school passion projects!

Allow students to select the topics they wish to explore for their passion projects, whether it involves community service or research presentations on subjects they care about. They can determine their project’s format and assess whether they’ve achieved their personal objectives. This sense of ownership can profoundly impact how students view themselves and their educational journey, helping them navigate future challenges.

Quick SEL Activities for High School

Research indicates that social-emotional programs can enhance student skills across multiple domains, including academic performance, cognitive abilities, and interpersonal relationships. If time or resources are limited for implementing a comprehensive SEL program, consider these quick activities to ensure students develop essential skills.

• Welcome students at the door and take note of those who seem particularly quiet or down before class begins.
• Incorporate brain breaks during challenging lessons or test periods—who says you can’t practice yoga during calculus?
• Integrate emotion-focused journal prompts into weekly assignments, inviting students to share their reflections.
• Facilitate opportunities for social interaction within the framework of your curriculum, whether through brief partner work or longer group projects.
• Establish a “Caught Being Kind” program, encouraging students to document acts of kindness they witness among peers.
• Display positive affirmations on the board daily, concluding class with a collective recitation; for some students, it may be the most uplifting remark they hear all week.

Strong Social-Emotional Learning Leads to Resilient Adults

Amid the curriculum demands and standards, social-emotional learning can sometimes feel like an additional obligation. However, integrating SEL activities in high school may prove to be the most impactful lessons you impart to your students, equipping them for the toughest challenges they may face in life.

Explore more high school SEL activities that can be adapted across any subject or language level. Discover innovative ways to establish classroom expectations, introduce new concepts in a stress-free environment, and strengthen relationships among students, creating an enjoyable learning atmosphere for all.