After what we know has been an incredibly challenging year for students, families and educators, the time has finally arrived! SEAL is excited to offer this Welcoming & Affirming Community (WAC) Toolkit as you begin to welcome students back to in-person learning.

All research and policy guidelines for returning to school emphasize the importance of prioritizing the nurturing of students’ and educators’ social emotional well-being to support academic progress. It is always important to enter a new school year with a focus and commitment to attending to relationships, first and foremost. Feeling seen, developing a sense of belonging, and connecting with each other are all essential elements of a vibrant learning environment, this year more so than ever. To that end, we have revisited our previously shared “Return To School Virtual Toolkits” with the goal of centering relationships and providing engaging and relevant content, while continuing to centralize the needs of Multilingual learners.

We recognize the thought and care you have already invested into the start of this school year, and we are so very glad to support your site with purposeful, rich and meaningful units, resources, and guides. We have similarly worked to provide you with timely, useful, and relevant materials, meant primarily for in-person instruction, although we have included some virtual considerations. In particular, the strategies provided within the units support and scaffold the learning of English Learners, as it is clear that despite best efforts, equity gaps exist in distance learning practices. As always, we encourage you to adapt the units and resources to your needs and contexts.

It’s important to underscore that these Toolkits (and instructional units) are meant to set the tone for welcoming, affirming and inclusive schools and classrooms, where students’ socio-emotional needs are prioritized and their unique identities are valued and respected. The units are based on the Learning for Justice Standards, the History/Social Science Standards & Frameworks, the ELA/ELD Standards & Frameworks, the Health & Education Standards, as well as the ISTE (Tech) Standards. In addition, this work is aimed toward achieving the SEAL Mission: To prepare all English Learners in California to learn, thrive and lead.