8.4 SEL Concerns

8.4 SEL Concerns

Author: Shannon Betts and Mary Saghafi November 16, 2025 Duration: 42:52

Educator and author Erin Waters joins Shannon and Mary to discuss supporting the whole child through Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). Erin shares her teaching journey and highlights the crucial connection between SEL & literacy development—because our students aren’t just learning to read; they’re learning who they are. They explore what SEL looks like in real classrooms: morning meetings that build community, read-alouds that spark emotional awareness, and simple coping strategies that help students manage anxiety and stress. The discussion also acknowledges the lasting impact of the digital age and the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ social-emotional well-being, as more children than ever are navigating big feelings.Erin introduces her book Wally Is Worried as a relatable resource for helping children understand and express their emotions. Listeners will walk away with practical tools, recommended texts, and encouragement to make SEL an intentional part of everyday literacy instruction.

01:40 Special Guest: Erin Waters on SEL
03:06 Defining SEL and Its Importance
06:03 Real-World SEL Classroom Experiences
11:41 Impact of Digital Age on SEL
16:18 Post-COVID SEL Challenges
21:43 Coping Mechanisms and Solutions
39:16 Final Thoughts and Resources

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES RELEVANT TO THE EPISODE:

  1. Wally is Worried by Erin Waters  *Amazon affiliate link
  2. Our engagement episode
  3. Our technology episode
  4. Book list with SEL topics, curated by Love Grows Learning
  5. Big Little Feelings blog
  6. NEA (National Education Association):  SEL Resources
  7. Reading Rockets:  Classroom Strategies that Support SEL
  8. Reading with Relevance:   a CASEL-certified SEL supplemental program
  9. CASEL.org
  10. Centervention:   95 Social Emotional Learning Activities
  11. Integrating SEL Into Your Reading Block 
  12. Children's Institute:   SEL Resources and Tools
  13. Erin Waters' website
  14. Connect with Erin via IG

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In the Reading Teachers Lounge, hosts Shannon Betts and Mary Saghafi pull up a chair for a conversation that feels both deeply professional and warmly familiar. These two elementary reading teachers and Atlanta neighbors discovered a shared, fervent passion for literacy over a local dinner, realizing they were kindred spirits in their mission. That initial chat never really ended, and now it forms the heart of this podcast. Each episode invites you into their ongoing dialogue, where practical classroom strategies, reflections on what works, and thoughtful discussions about reaching every single learner are all on the table. It’s a space designed for fellow educators, dedicated parents, and anyone invested in how children learn to read, offering tangible ideas rather than abstract theory. The tone is collaborative and grounded in real classroom experiences, reflecting a joint belief that literacy is foundational. By tuning in, you gain access to their collective experience and earnest curiosity, all focused on the complex, rewarding world of teaching reading. This isn't about performance; it's about sharing a genuine professional conversation from their lounge to yours, making the Reading Teachers Lounge a unique podcast for those who live and breathe language education.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 129

Reading Teachers Lounge
Podcast Episodes
Speaking and Listening Standards [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Shannon and Mary read over and discuss the Speaking and Listening standards in Reading to develop a deeper understanding of how and why these standards exist and help the students grow in literacy. They show how the stan…
Building Reading Fluency [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Shannon chats with Stephanie Summers from Pride Reading Program about the topic of helping students build their reading fluency. They talk about what skills go into a student's reading fluency. They share ways to work on…
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Duration: 54:45
Shannon and Mary focus their conversation on how to build students' vocabularies. They share less effective methods used in the past and how they've evolved their vocabulary instruction to help students the most. In the…
Meaningful Learning Assessments [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:36
Often Shannon and Mary discuss different types of student assessments. Today we are going to dive a little deeper and discuss how we use data analysis to make meaningful adjustments and decisions to our teaching practice…
Decodable Texts with Emily Gibbons, the Literacy Nest [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:06
Shannon and Mary chat with Emily Gibbons from the Literacy Nest about decodable texts. This discussion provides information about how decodables are similar and different to trade books and leveled texts. In this episode…
Simple View of Reading and Beyond with Dr. Janet Mort [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:20
Shannon and Mary chat with Dr. Janet Mort, who has fifty years of experience in the field of education and reading. We discuss the Simple View of Reading and how that affected reading instruction in the 1980s and 1990s.…
Orthographic Mapping with Anna Geiger (The Measured Mom) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:12
Shannon and Mary chat with Ann Geiger from The Measured Mom about how readers orthographically stores words in their reading brains. This episode follows our overview of the reading brain, where we talked about the reade…
the Reading Brain with Dr. Marnie Ginsberg [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:40
Shannon and Mary chat with Dr. Marnie Ginsberg from Reading Simplified about what happens in the brain during reading. We talk about the reader's journey to whole word recognition and how reading teachers can help their…
Balancing It All as a Reading Teacher (with Guest Linda Rhyne) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:56
Shannon and Mary ask Linda Rhyne to join them for a live Reading Teachers discussion about how to find balance in our reading instruction. Teachers are asked to follow various curriculum programs, teach the grade level s…