SEAL Foundations
SEAL is the hottest idea in social-emotional learning…
and it’s only for brave, bold, and big-hearted teachers
who refuse to let a single student slip through the cracks.
As seen in
Fact: Kids don’t always come to school ready to learn…
…and some days, that means you have to sail some rough seas.
It’s not that your students don’t want to learn.
It’s that if your students are stressed out, triggered, or coping with trauma…
they can’t learn.
Or prepare for state testing.
Or “behave” when your admin is in your room for an observation.
Or simply focus on their classwork!
Except…
you’re a teacher
not a therapist.
So when your students’ stress, triggers, or trauma turn into a 50 foot tidal wave in your classroom….
You find yourself:
Flying by the seat of your pants with every outburst.
Winging it when a student stonewalls or shuts down
And trying desperately to continue teaching the rest of the class at the same time!
Been there?
Here’s the thing:
For you, teaching is more than just a job.
You. Truly. Care.
Teaching is your calling.
You really want to see all your students succeed in school.
But these days, you struggle to find the patience to take on a new day.
You’re not sure if you’re making a difference at all.
Sometimes you even feel like a “bad” teacher.
And you’re just not sure if you can do this for another 5, 10, or 15+ years!
Schools have started investing in social-emotional learning curriculum…
but there’s just one problem:
Many programs only skim the surface of what K-12 students need.
You know your students need SEL. Kids need help building resilience so they can cultivate the calm and focus necessary to learn.
And if your school is using a SEL curriculum, you’ve probably made an unfortunate discovery.
So much of it comes up pretty short!
Or you’re supposed to press play on a VHS tape (! yes really !) and watch kids with bad fashion sense role play about empathy…but nobody ever developed empathy by watching a video about empathy. (Who woulda thunk.)
But more importantly,
none of these neatly packaged strategies provide real help for students who are struggling.
Flashcards, long scripts, and YouTube videos simply won’t cut it in the face of emotional problems.
If you really want to create a caring community of
empathetic learners in your classroom…
you don’t need SEL.
YOU NEED SEAL.
The arts are the magic ingredient for making social-emotional learning effective in any classroom.
Why? Because they give your students meaningful experiences and opportunities
to explore their feelings, express themselves, and connect with others.
When you bring it all together, you can watch this happen:
EVERYBODY BELONGS
Relationships within a classroom matter. Belonging matters.
If students feel like nobody at school cares about them, they’ll be at significant disadvantage.
But if there’s a spirit of community in the classroom, everything changes.
Students will love coming to school, and they’ll thrive there!
CREATIVITY ABOUNDS
All human beings are naturally creative—including you and your students!
When you integrate the arts into your classroom, you allow everyone to be accepted and acknowledged for their unique talents and individuality.
Students can use these artistic opportunities to learn more about themselves, their classmates, and the world around them.
THE ARTS PLAY A PART
Arts-integrated learning is engaging—
and students who are engaged are students who are learning.
They’ll eagerly soak up all of the content you give them—
all while developing their social-emotional skills!
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL NEEDS ARE MET
Combining the arts with explicit teaching and practice of social-emotional competencies allows students to develop these skills in meaningful ways!
It can be hard to grasp ideas like “being part of a community” or “empathizing with a classmate” on their own—
but artistic creation, appreciation, and expression can lead to deep understanding of these important concepts.
All you need is a roadmap for how to implement this in your classroom!
And if you’ll let me, I’d love to be your mentor and show you how to “teach SEAL” and get results like these.
Presenting
SEAL FOUNDATIONS:
(A $200 Value)
A 10-hour professional development program designed specifically for
brave, bold, and big-hearted teachers
who want to strengthen their
students’ social-emotional skills in creative ways—
that actually work.
SEAL Foundations pulls together everything I’ve learned in my 20+ years of arts integration experience as a teacher, author, and consultant into a proven system that’s simple, powerful, and successful.
SEAL is not a prescriptive set of lessons and there are no scripts to read to your class (yay!) because those don’t really work anyway! Instead, you’ll learn all the essentials of SEAL so that you can apply them to any and all aspects of your daily classroom. This means you won’t add to your busy teacher day. You’ll understand how to integrate all of it.
You’ll learn a proactive approach to explicitly teach social emotional skills through the arts.
SEAL emphasizes building relationships and community in your classroom. Your students will stop melting down and start communicating about their feelings…all of which increases their readiness for learning.
A Day in Your Life When You Teach SEAL
Start your day with positivity and promise—because you have the tools and strategies you need to handle your day. You feel in control of your classroom. Let the day begin!
You greet your students with a smile. Your SEAL sonar easily detects which students need a little extra TLC, and your SEAL skills help you address their individual needs.
You teach your lessons with unshakeable confidence. Using your creative SEAL strategies, you’re able to help your students self-manage and check-in with their learning—all while building self-awareness and community.
When you see a student get frustrated, you know what to do. You can help them by pulling from the SEAL strategies you’ve learned so that you handle the situation with care, compassion, and calm.
When it’s time for your students to leave, they feel cared for and appreciated for their uniqueness. The relationships you’ve built through SEAL practices, activities, and lessons have created a sense of community like no other.
And the best part? You leave work knowing you’ve made a difference today.
“Kids need an outlet for expressing themselves and their emotions, and the arts are the most effective way to do that. I knew I wanted to integrate the arts into my classroom and that led me to find Elizabeth in 2011 when I attended one of her Retreats. When she developed SEAL, I knew I needed jump on it. SEAL gave me a framework that’s flexible to use with all K-12 students. Even my non-verbal autistic students participate in SEAL activities and enjoy it.
The impact of SEAL on my students’ success each year has been huge. My students and I connect on a deeper level because of the artistic learning we do. They also connect with each other, which really does create that ‘caring community of empathetic learners’ that Elizabeth talks about.
If building social-emotional competencies is a priority for your district, you won’t find a more effective way to do it than SEAL.”
How SEAL fits into the CASEL 5
SEAL combines the emotionally charged power of the arts
+ the high need of developing social-emotional competencies
CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) created the leading SEL framework. According to CASEL, there are 5 competencies for humans to master:
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Social Awareness
- Relationship Skills
- Responsible Decision Making
These 5 competencies are naturally addressed and practiced within SEAL’s artistic learning!
Artistic learning is inherently differentiating, highly engaging, and emotionally charged.
What better way for your students to learn, practice, and develop their emotional competencies?
Grab your scuba gear—you’re about to take a deep dive into SEAL and how to use it in your classroom! You’ll be swimming like a SEAL in no time.
Module 1: Plan Your Dive (Introduction + Program Orientation)
Self-reflection is a critical component of social-emotional learning—not just for your students, but for you as well. So you’ll start by taking stock of where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re headed. You’ll also get a tour of the course platform and how to use it. Congratulations, you’re ready to learn!
Module 2: Put on Your Diving Suit (A Close Look Into SEAL)
Get ready to explore what makes SEAL a successful method for social-emotional learning! In this module, you’ll learn the 4 principles of SEAL and how the arts connect naturally with all 5 of CASEL’s competencies.
You’ll discover how SEAL fits into what you’re already doing in your classroom—there are no scripts, flashcards, or videos to tack onto your busy day. Instead, you’ll “swim” away with lots of ideas for how to integrate SEAL easily into your existing curriculum.
Module 3: Check Your Oxygen (Wave One: SEAL Teacher Mindset)
YOU are the most important part of the SEAL equation. Not your students, not their parents, and not your admin. YOU!
Wave One of the SEAL Framework is based on the radical idea that teachers need to take care of themselves before they can take care of their students. You’ll look at the famous starfish story from another perspective, learn a daily practice for starting your day in a positive and affirming way, and explore how to let go of things you can’t control.
Module 4: Take the Dive! (Wave Two: SEAL Teacher Methods)
It’s time to start using SEAL in your classroom with consistency! In this module, you’ll learn the 4 strategies for embedding SEAL into your daily classroom routine. These 4 strategies will help you keep your students motivated and engaged in learning, and allow you to check in with them at any point during the school day.
To help your students cement their social-emotional-artistic skills, you’ll also learn 2 practices to implement once a week, once a month or even once a quarter depending on your unique schedule! These will keep your students building relationships—which creates the caring community of empathetic learners you’ve been looking for!
Module 5: Explore the Depths (Wave Three: SEAL Integrations)
The first 4 modules of SEAL Foundations will help you embed and build a consistent practice with SEAL. But what if you want to go deeper? What if your students need more?
In this module, you’ll look at activities and lessons you can pull out to address specific needs. Have a class in need of some socialization? There’s a lesson for that—in music, visual art, dance, and drama—take your pick! This module is your go-to resource of 20 done-for-you lessons. You’ll also learn how to transform any existing lesson into a SEAL lesson. The opportunities will feel as exciting and endless as the ocean itself! Happy SEAL-ing!
This is what you get when you enroll today
16 training videos
12 months of access to the course
A 10-hour professional development certificate
The SEAL Foundations Workbook that covers the course material
The Simple SEAL Integrations Resource that’s full of lessons and activities for all arts and all 5 CASEL competency combinations
You also get these swanky bonuses!
(...and by swanky I mean, practical and useful!)
Course Completion Plans ($40)
SEAL Foundations is self-paced, which means you can take the course however you like during your 12 months of access. However, sometimes that open-endedness can lead to procrastination and inaction! (I may or may not have first-hand experience with this…)
The Course Completion Plan is a guide containing 3 different timeframe suggestions for taking the course. It takes into account the length of each module and breaks them up into manageable pieces.
12 months of access to the SEAL Teacher Facebook Community and Q&A Sessions ($350)
Building relationships and community is essential for your learning as well. That's why you'll have the support you need inside the private SEAL Teacher community. Inside you'll engage with other teachers who are committed to the same goals as you!
And each month we have Q&A sessions for the questions and unique situations that can pop up as you’re teaching SEAL. (We’ve heard them all!) You’ll be able to get clarity from Elizabeth (that’s me!) and fine-tune your SEAL practice as a result. These are like mini-workshops to deepen your understanding and practice of SEAL.
20 Done-for-You Lessons Bundle ($80)
This amazing resource is full of lessons and activities that you can use right away with minimal prep! Each lesson combines one art form with one social-emotional competency, leaving you with 20 lessons you can choose from so that you can target the needs of the students right in front of you!
FREE ticket to the annual BTS with SEAL Masterclass ($47)
This Back to School with SEAL Masterclass is mega-exclusive: only for those enrolled in a SEAL course! You’ll leave feeling psyched for the school year, equipped with the best ways to start a new year with SEAL!
Access to the Vault of Unlisted Playlists ($40)
You'll be able to effectively soundtrack your classroom with these carefully curated Spotify playlists! These collections will help motivate students, encourage kindness and community, and build resilience. Use them during class time...or just play them on your commute home after a tough day. (It happens!)
All together, the course + the bonuses add up to a value of $550
But instead, if you enroll today, you’ll get everything for only…
Just one payment of
“We know how important social-emotional learning is for our students. But it’s important for teachers, too. I think we forget to take care of ourselves in this way and over time that can really burn teachers out.
Self-care (for the teacher) is an important part of SEAL. At first I felt a little weird putting the emphasis on me. Usually when I attend PD, it’s to learn how to teach something. Instead, Elizabeth wants you to experience SEAL as a student before you go on to teach it. I had to step out of my comfort zone and engage in arts activities where I didn’t always feel the most confident. That was really powerful for me. You can see how your students must feel when they don’t fit into the molds of expectedness in your classroom.
What I love about SEAL is how it gives students multiple opportunities to have different sorts of experiences—and how teaching SEAL always feels empowering, motivating, and energizing.”
How do I take SEAL Foundations?
Take the course online.
Watch the videos on your phone, tablet, or laptop.
Go through the course at your own pace.
Confidently teach SEAL!
Meet Your Instructor, Elizabeth Peterson
Hi, I’m Elizabeth!
the creator of SEAL, arts integration specialist, author, veteran teacher of 23 years (and counting!)…and I was once in your shoes.
You could say my desire to integrate the arts began at age 7, when I was teaching my stuffed animals the lyrics to “Shout”. (They all earned an A+ of course.) As I would discover later, teaching kids is much more rewarding…but not quite as easy!
Helping students and teachers increase their emotional resilience is close to my heart. 
Why?
Because I’ve been there.
How SEAL came to be: A play in 3 acts
Years ago, I noticed an uptick in behavioral problems with my students. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was playing whack-a-mole—just dealing with them one at a time. And I definitely didn’t realize the toll it was taking on my own mental health. More often than not, I was leaving work feeling exhausted and drained…and not even my favorite heavy metal songs could restore me on the drive home.
Then one day I was sitting in the auditorium, listening to the assistant superintendent explain how we’d be implementing “social-emotional learning.” With every competency she mentioned…all I could think was: “The arts could address that competency.” Self-awareness? Let’s paint a watercolor of emotions. Self-management? Let’s have some movement and dance. Social awareness? A drum circle would be perfect!
But everything changed the day my son’s 2nd grade teacher called me to tell me he’d been acting up in class, which was out of character for him. What struck me was how much she cared about my son— and a switch flipped for me. I realized two things:
-
- My children’s teachers play such an important role in their emotional well-being.
- I can have that same impact on my own students!
That was the day I started creating SEAL.
Fast forward to today, where I’ve built SEAL into a robust framework for social-emotional learning that’s helping thousands of students every year become resilient learners—and counting.
This is why SEAL works:
It puts the teacher in the driver’s seat.
You are the most important part of your classroom. And you know your students. With SEAL, you decide what strategies are going to work for your schedule, your content, your personality and, of course, your students.
You’re not reading a script that some person in an office wrote (who, let’s face it, probably hasn’t been in a classroom in years.) Instead, you are getting the training in effective strategies that will work in YOUR classroom.
Not to mention, inside SEAL we genuinely CARE for you, the teacher. So, we focus on how you can take care of yourself so that you can be the best for your students! Adult SEL isn’t an afterthough in SEAL, it’s at the core.
SEAL will help you say goodbye to teacher burnout and anxiety. Why? Because when caring, creative teachers feel empowered, they’re happier and more effective in the classroom.
And that means happier, more successful students too.
“I have never felt comfortable with my artistic ability. I would avoid creating art. During this course I thought that I would have to fake it until I could make it. I was continually surprised at how I felt as I was completing each activity. Memories would resurface, both good and bad with the music activity.
The meditation and then painting activity brought forth feelings surrounding my cancer that I didn’t realize I was harboring, etc. These experiences allowed me to realize how powerful art experiences would be to my young students. Especially integrated with social emotional learning.
I feel so lucky to have taken this course. You’re an amazing teacher, Elizabeth!”
“SEAL is an excellent way to incorporate social emotional learning into your classroom without adding another ‘curriculum.’ It adapts to your students and your classroom environment.”
“I love that this course is teacher-focused! This course gave me so many resources and ideas that I knew I could start implementing immediately.”
“This course has inspired me as a teacher and an everyday person. The teacher-centered aspect, positive atmosphere, open communication, and ready to use strategies have made me feel more hopeful about teaching in this ever changing and challenging world.”
“Signing up for the SEAL course was a first step…in taking a moment to strengthen myself as a teacher but also as a learner. There were moments of feeling awkward and others that felt empowering as I began to partake in activities that helped me become more aware of myself and my own “being.”
Taking the time to focus on my own well-being, putting myself in the shoes of my students and truly working to make connections, be available “in the moment” for my students and strengthen my understanding of social emotional learning has absolutely changed me and my classroom for the better.
Taking this SEAL class and focusing on PD for me – which also helps my students – has been a gift.”
“This course has led me back to my true self and has given my teaching a much needed boost.”
Do I have to be an artist in order to Teach SEAL? I’m not sure if I’m qualified.
My school already has an SEL curriculum. Can I still use SEAL? ...and is it worth it to do both?
Yes! You can teach SEAL alongside any other SEL curriculum. (And it can stand alone as well.) The amazing thing about SEAL is that it’s about transforming how things go in your classroom. You see, we believe that quality SEL instruction happens with the experiences you have in the classroom.
I don’t have much time in my day for “extra” stuff. Or, I’m not a classroom teacher and I only see students for short periods of time.
There’s no such thing as a teacher who has lots of time on their hands! 😆 I get it. That’s why I designed SEAL Foundations to not require extra time in your busy day.
As a branch of arts integration, SEAL is meant to integrate into your day—so there’s no need to “add” anything. SEAL is more about transforming your teaching rather than handing you a set of lessons to get through, or piling on extra stuff.
The truth is, you don’t need a lot of time to inspire and connect with your students. When you teach SEAL, you can make a difference without draining yourself dry.
How do I take the course? Is it taught live, is there homework? Give me the details please!
The course is taught completely online. All of the modules have been pre-recorded, so you can watch them whenever you want! The course is self-paced, so you can take it on your own time—and because it’s online (and nobody can see you), you don’t have to dress up for it!
As you’re taking the course, questions will inevitably pop up. That’s when you should pop into the SEAL Teacher Community on Facebook. You’ll find the support and encouragement you need. And remember, every month I’ll do a live Q&A there too.
Don’t forget, you’ll have 12 months of access to the course and the community once you purchase.
Do you accept POs?
YES! School districts may pay with a purchase order. Simply contact our support department at support@theinspiredclassroom.com and we’ll help you arrange for that.
What if I enroll, but I can’t start or finish the course right away?
Things happen, problems arise, sometimes you just need to go on a surprise vacation. It’s all good. We believe in no unnecessary stress. That’s why you have 12 months of access, go at your own pace. We are here for you!
Will I receive Professional Development credit for taking this course?
Yes! Once you complete all the course work, you will be awarded a certificate for 10 PD hours. Please check with your school administrator to see if this certificate will be accepted.
I’m interested in bringing SEAL to my entire school! Is that possible?
Absolutely! SEAL is powerful inside one classroom…imagine if the whole school was on board. All of the students and staff having creative and caring experiences, thanks to SEAL? Imagine what that would do for morale and community-building!
(I’m trying to imagine it right now and I just keep smiling!😁)
If you’re interested in bringing SEAL Foundations to your school or district, contact our support department at support@theinspiredclassroom.com and I (Elizabeth) will get in touch with you directly.
I need help talking to my principal about this!
Maybe it’s for reimbursement. Maybe it’s so you can get SEAL into your school. No matter what the reason, sometimes it’s helpful to tell your administrator about the ground-breaking work you are doing!
So, I went ahead and wrote this up for you! Feel free to copy, paste and send to your principal or whomever is in charge of your PD.
Dear _____,
I’ve learned about an online course that I am sure will help my students with their social-emotional learning. It’s called SEAL Foundations. It’s a 10 hour professional development program that’s designed to help teachers implement creative SEL strategies through the arts.
This sounds like a great opportunity! With all the work we are doing in SEL, I know learning this method of bringing in creative and artistic experiences to my students will really make a difference in my classroom.
Here’s some more information about the course:
- SEAL stands for Social-Emotional Artistic Learning and the SEAL Foundations course will teach me the essentials to bringing this ground-breaking work into my classroom.
- Everything inside the course can work with what we are already doing for SEL as a school.
- The course teaches how to embed the strategies so that I’m not taking time away from other content. Instead, these SEAL strategies will help our students be focused and ready for learning.
- There is a focus on creatively building relationships throughout the school year.
- All the content of the course aligns with CASEL’s 5 competencies. There are even ready-made lessons that integrate each competency with all the arts.
- There are no special materials needed to implement the activities aside from what I already have in my classroom.
- Teachers can earn 10 professional development hours once the course is completed.
- There’s a great community that’s included with the enrollment and every month, I can submit questions and get support as I continue to implement all the great ideas.
- There’s even a component to the program that focuses on the well-being of the teacher! I’ll learn more about what SEL is and what my role as the teacher should be when it comes to social-emotional learning.
As you can see, this is a great opportunity! I really want to help my students develop their social-emotional skills and I know that the hands-on, artistic experiences they will have as a result of me taking this course will be great!
You can read more about the SEAL Foundations course and register here: theinspiredclassroom.com/admin
If you have any questions, you can also email Elizabeth, who teaches the course, by emailing her here: elizabeth@theinspiredclassroom.com They do accept purchase orders as well as credit cards.
Thanks so much for considering this!
[Your Name]
Who this is/isn’t for
SEAL Foundations IS for you if
✓ You give a darn about your students, and you want to do what it takes to help them be ready to learn.
✓ You believe you need to play a part in your students’ social-emotional learning.
✓ You’re creative, and you love promoting your students’ creativity….
✓ ….Or, you don’t know if you’d consider yourself “creative” but you’re willing to give it a shot! Anything for your students.
✓ You love being on the cutting edge of learning, and are excited about arts integration.
✓ You care about your own well-being and want to feel empowered in your job…
✓ …Or, you’re on the verge of burnout and need a major boost to your teaching.
✓ You’ve never shied away from taking the bull by the horns and doing what’s right for your students.
SEAL Foundations is NOT for you if
✘ You’ve cultivated a class of students who are well-behaved, calm and focused on learning.
✘ You believe that students don’t learn as much from creating, appreciating, or performing in the arts.
✘ You aren’t interested in innovative, creative ways to help students with their social-emotional learning.
✘ You don’t consider yourself creative, and you’re not willing to try.
✘ You feel the SEL program your school provides is working well for your students and you’re happy with its success.
✘ Your own well-being and job satisfaction are A+ already.
✘ You think SEL is just another edu-fad that will fizzle like last year’s grammar curriculum planning.
✘ You’ve already taken SEAL Teacher Training or SEAL Teacher Training VIP.
Risk-free guarantee
So, here’s the deal. I’m going to give you a “No Barnacles” Risk Free Guarantee. (No one likes those pesky crustaceans.)
Get inside the course and check it out for 7 days. Look at what you’ll learn, validate its use in your classroom and see all the key components to be able to teach SEAL.
If you don’t feel confident that these strategies are going to work for you and your students, simply reach out to me within the first 7 days of your purchase at support@theinspiredclassroom.com and I’ll refund you so you can put it toward a different SEL program.
By the end of the program, you will be able to:
Reach all of your students—no matter what their level of social-emotional needs may be. All of your kids will benefit from the SEAL approach!
Recognize when a 50’ tidal wave of emotional distress is brewing…and instead of throwing up your hands in frustration (or ducking for cover!) you feel confident you can face the storm.
Stop struggling with behavior issues…and use the time for teaching and learning instead!
Integrate the arts throughout the day so naturally, it feels like you were born doing it.
Feel good about your job again.
Leave work every day with the feeling that you’ve made a difference.
Transform a classroom of randomly-assembled individuals into a connected community that cares and collaborates with each other in creative ways.
There’s just one question left to answer:
How do you want your school year to go?
✘ Do you want to keep trying the same ol’, same ol’—and keep feeling overwhelmed by trying to help your students?
~ OR ~
✓ Do you want to feel energized, motivated, and empowered to go to work each day—confident you can reach all of your students in creative, meaningful ways?
This is what you get when you enroll today
16 training videos
12 months of access to the course
A 10-hour professional development certificate
The SEAL Foundations Workbook that covers the course material
The Simple SEAL Integrations Resource that’s full of lessons and activities for all arts and all 5 CASEL competency combinations
Plus all those swanky bonuses!
All together, the course + the bonuses add up to a value of $550
But instead, if you enroll today, you’ll get everything for only…
Just one payment of
HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR SEAL COURSES? CONTACT US ANYTIME! WE'RE HERE TO HELP.
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