GiveThx and Panorama Education Partner to Provide Resources for Building Student SEL Skills Using Gratitude Science

Each year, schools and districts work with GiveThx to strengthen student well-being and social-emotional skills using the science of gratitude. Students and staff use daily program practices to recognize and reinforce positive behaviors and relationships. This increases mental health, supports academic achievement, and creates a safe and inclusive learning community so all learners can thrive and reach their fullest potential.

Now, practitioners can explore a set of research-validated activities from GiveThx on Playbook, Panorama Education’s online professional learning library that equips practitioners and school leaders with strategies for creating a positive school climate and implementing SEL in K-12 classrooms. These new resources from GiveThx provide school leaders and educators with a framework through which to strengthen student well-being and social-emotional skills using gratitude science.

GiveThx is a nonprofit organization on a mission to ensure all students are recognized and appreciated for who they are. Built on values of inclusion and equity, GiveThx was created with and for educators and students from low-income, high-trauma urban communities in California. 

The activities from GiveThx on Playbook align directly with topics from the Panorama Social-Emotional Learning Survey, including:

• Sense of Belonging
• Social Awareness
• School and Classroom Climate
• Teacher-Student Relationships
• Growth Mindset
• Engagement
• Self-Efficacy
• Sense of Safety

Download the Panorama Social-Emotional Learning Survey.

For example, the activity “Gratitude Wave” provides educators with a framework for increasing belonging and wellbeing for an individual student in need of greater connection. 

For educators thinking about how to engage caregivers around social-emotional learning efforts, “Positive Home Contact'' is a protocol that reinforces prosocial behavior and student/parent relationships with educators using gratitude. 

Panorama’s Playbook connects teachers, counselors, and school leaders with easy-to-implement resources, activities, and research related to empathy, sense of belonging, teacher-student relationships, adult SEL, family engagement, and more. Teachers explore Panorama's Playbook when they are looking to take action on their Panorama student survey data on school climate and social-emotional learning.

As schools and districts across the country continue to support students’ social, emotional, cultural and cognitive competencies, we are thrilled to share innovative strategies from expert organizations such as GiveThx! Find them on Twitter at @GiveThxApp and share how you’re implementing these activities in your school or classroom with us @PanoramaEd!