Google G Suite contains apps that will help in the efforts of reaching out to students to ascertain and address their social/emotional needs. Resources from this section came from Unit 4 in Google virtual learning course: Distance Learning for Teacher.

Virtual learners may have emotional needs brought on by the situation that removed them from their conventional learning setting. What if educators can use technology to help learners process their emotions and creatively express themselves?

G Suite and other apps enable educators to honor learners’ social emotional needs during times of distance learning. Check in on learners’ moods with Google Forms. Have learners journal about their emotions with Blogger. Use the Chromebook App Hub to spark ideas for social emotional learning in distance learning settings. Educators can also empower learners to creatively express their emotions with third-party apps.

Learners who are away from a school community need to know their teacher cares about both their academic and social-emotional health. If learners are away from school because of a crisis, they can internalize the worry of the adults around them.

Help learners process these emotions with Google Forms mood check-ins.

• Create a Google form to check in on learners’ well being.

• Ask learners to complete the form on a daily basis to share their emotional state, goal for the day, what they are proud or, and what they are struggling with.

• Use the form to allow learners to request a 1:1 check-in with Google Meet (see image below).

Create mood check in Google Forms by:

• Navigating to forms.google.com or typing "forms.new" in your Chrome browser.

• Using a short answer question to collect learner names.

• Using a checkboxes question so learners can pick more than one set of emotions.

• Using paragraph questions so learners can explain their mood and set a goal.

• Using a multiple choice question so learners can request a 1:1 meeting.

• Using “Get email notifications for new responses” to get email notifications when learners complete the form.

What are some prompts you could have learners respond to on [a form]? Here are some possible examples:

• Explain one of your goals. What is it? Why is it important? How will you accomplish it?

• What did you enjoy learning about this week and why?

• What is one of your biggest challenges? How do you plan to overcome it?

• What is one book, song, television show, YouTube channel, or podcast that brings you joy right now? Why?