Illinois Learning Standards

Stage C - Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Goals, Standards and Descriptors


1A —
 Identify and manage one's emotions and behavior.
  1. Identify a range of emotions you have experienced.
  2. Describe situations that trigger various emotions (e.g., listening to music, talking to a friend, taking a test, being scolded).
  3. Recognize mood changes and factors that contribute to them.
  4. Depict a range of emotions (e.g., make a poster, draw a picture, participate in a role play).
  5. Distinguish among intensity levels of an emotion.
  6. Demonstrate ways to deal with upsetting emotions (e.g., sadness, anger, disappointment).
  7. Practice deep breathing to calm yourself.
1B —
Recognize personal qualities and external supports.
  1. Identify community members that can be of support when needed (e.g., religious leader, extended family member, and neighbor).
  2. Describe the personal qualities that successful learners demonstrate (e.g., perseverance, responsibility, attention to task, etc.).
  3. Explain how practice improves your performance of a skill.
  4. Analyze the positive qualities of role models.
  5. Analyze what it is about school that is challenging for you.
  6. Draw a picture of an activity your family likes to do together.
  7. Demonstrate ways to ask for help when needed.
1C —
Demonstrate skills related to achieving personal and academic goals.
  1. Recognize how distractions may interfere with achievement of a goal.
  2. Recognize that present goals build on the achievement of past goals.
  3. Describe the steps you have made toward achieving a goal.
  4. Differentiate between short and long term goals.
  5. Monitor your progress toward achieving a personal or academic goal.


2A  —
Recognize the feelings and perspectives of others.
  1. Distinguish between nonverbal and verbal cues and messages.
  2. Analyze alignment and non-alignment of verbal and non-verbal cues.
  3. Role-play the perspectives and feelings of characters from a story.
  4. Paraphrase what someone has said.
  5. Demonstrate a capacity to care about the feelings of others.
  6. Demonstrate an interest in the perspective of others.
2B —
Recognize individual and group similarities and differences.
  1. Describe human differences depicted in stories.
  2. Describe how interactions with individuals from different cultures enrich one's life.
  3. Recognize that people from different cultural and social groups share many things in common.
  4. Analyze how people of different groups can help one another and enjoy each other's company.
  5. Analyze the impact of differing responses to human diversity on literary characters.
  6. Participate in an activity or simulation that allows you to experience life from the perspective of another group.
  7. Use literature to analyze various responses to human diversity (e.g., learning from, being tolerant of, aware of stereotyping).
2C —
Use communication and social skills to interact effectively with others.
  1. Recognize when it is appropriate to give a compliment.
  2. Practice introducing everyone in your class.
  3. Demonstrate how to give a compliment.
  4. Demonstrate appropriate responses to receiving a compliment.
  5. Use 'I-statements" to express how you feel when someone has hurt you emotionally.
  6. Demonstrate expressing appreciation to someone who has helped you.
2D —
  1. Identify bullying behavior and how it affects people.
  2. Explain what happens when a conflict is not resolved.
  3. Describe ways to stop rumors.
  4. Analyze how an inability to manage one's anger might cause a conflict to get worse.
  5. Interpret whether the actions of literary characters were accidental or intentional.
  6. Examine how one's favorite literary character handles conflict.


3A —
Consider ethical, safety, and societal factors in making decisions.
  1. Identify examples of ethical behavior by characters in stories (e.g., fairness, honesty, respect, compassion).
  2. Identify physical sensations and emotions that indicate a threat or danger.
  3. Describe the consequences of breaking classroom or school rules.
  4. Analyze the consequences of lying.
  5. Depict ways to help others (e.g., list, draw, cartoons).
  6. Evaluate various approaches to responding to provocation.
  7. Decide what is fair in responding to situations that arise in the classroom (e.g., how to share a new piece of equipment).
3B —
  1. Describe ways to promote the safety of oneself and others.
  2. Describe the steps of a decision-making model.
  3. Brainstorm alternative solutions to completing an assignment on time.
  4. Practice progressive relaxation.
  5. Demonstrate wise choices in selecting friends.
  6. Demonstrate group decision-making.
  7. Plan healthy meals.
3C —
Contribute to the well-being of one's school and community.
  1. Describe what you learned about your school or community from your participation in a recent service project
  2. Describe what you learned about yourself from participation in this project.
  3. Analyze the impact on the need addressed of a recent service project in which you participated.
  4. Analyze what you would do differently next time.
  5. Communicate the results of a school or community service project to a parent or community group.
  6. Write a letter to a newspaper editor on a community problem such as homelessness.

Return to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Performance Descriptors