Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Dominique Smith believe that we must nurture ourselves first before we can nurture students and the school: if we do not nurture ourselves, we will have compassion fatigue. Each section of this book supports self-care so that we are prepared to develop a plan for students. This mantra remains true in every chapter. The Social-Emotional Learning Playbook will certainly engage teachers while discussing the challenging and important work of improving social-emotional learning within the classroom and community.
Including the social and emotional component in schools is vital, and the relevance of the book is clear: it is designed to be incorporated into a school or district’s SEL initiative. The topic is so very important, especially now, after and continuing the recovery after the pandemic.
This book is an excellent professional development resource, filled with examples that are culturally relevant and grounded in real-world contexts to help readers understand how SEL can be applied or practiced. I work closely with faculty and students in teacher education and early childhood education programs, and I would recommend this book to them.