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Classroom Practice/Program

Program Review: “Girl Power!”

by Heathre Palige

As a staff member in a public school, I have the opportunity to lead an after-school enrichment club for
students every year in the fall and spring. These clubs are presented to families as a chance for students
to celebrate the joy of learning beyond the school day in a variety of areas. For example, a few of the
clubs offered by teachers include cup stacking, choir, gymnastics, Crazy 8s, and trading cards club.
For our 5-week “Girl Power!” club, my colleague and I invited up to 10 girls in Grades 4 and 5. The club
met for 65 minutes once a week from October 2024 to November 2024. It was described to families in
the catalog as “a small group of girls in 4th and 5th grades who will build positive relationships, practice
communication skills, identify personal strengths, and learn practical ways to increase self-confidence. We
will collaborate through games, activities, and conversations and practice active listening skills.”
At the conclusion of this club, each of the eight participants completed an anonymous Google form with
an end-of-session survey. In this article, I discuss the structure of each meeting, facilitators’ observations,
focuses, goals, survey results, and next steps. My hope is that readers will find something valuable from
our “Girl Power!” group, understand how young girls deal with their challenges today, share the program
with another educator, or even use a resource or two themselves!

Facilitators’ Qualifications

As a social-emotional learning specialist (SELS) in a K–5 public elementary school, I work closely
with students in those grades, administrators, school psychologists, parents/guardians, and teachers. I
was a classroom teacher in K–6 for more than 20 years and directed and coordinated a 21st Century
Community Learning Center for a large Title I school for 4 years. In 2022, I found the SELS position
and could not believe my luck! Always a proponent of social-emotional learning, I utilize an SEL lens
when collaborating with staff, administration, and students, as well as when communicating with parents.
My state of Colorado requires the teaching of SEL standards, and research has found that the public
encourages schools to teach SEL competence (Palige, 2023). My dissertation in 2023 focused on SEL
lessons in high school. The teachers reported that students in high school struggle to identify their own
emotions because many do not have a vocabulary of “feeling” words.
To ensure the best outcomes for this club, I teamed up with our school’s instructional coach. With more
than 20 years as a kindergarten teacher and educator, she knew all the students in the group by name; many
were her former students. Currently, she is completing her principal licensure with a goal of becoming an
assistant principal within 2 years. Recognizing her as an amazing listener with the keen sense to ask
reflective and clarifying questions and appreciating her positive relationships with these students, I
knew teaming up with her would be a strong match for leadership of this club.
I even consider SEL and emotional regulation in my home life with family and on daily adventures.
Every day at school I get to walk through classrooms filled with eager students and passionate
educators. My bucket is continuously filled by hugs, big smiles, and meaningful conversations . . .
and truly there is no better place I’d like to be than walking through the halls and classrooms of an
elementary school every day.
In my SELS role, I have three main responsibilities:
1. Content Specialist:
• facilitate implementation of schoolwide SEL curriculum;
• serve as an active specialist in areas of social-emotional learning;
• remain available and focused on educator resilience.

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