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SEL Considerations and Community Rebuilding for Reopening Schools
SEL Considerations and Community Rebuilding for Reopening Schools
Screencast walkthrough of a presentation describing considerations and classroom activities to help establish a positive school or classroom community after extended school closure.
Community Rebuilding for Reopening Schools Presentation Deck - Force Copy (All Slides Below)
Community Rebuilding for Reopening Schools Presentation Deck - Force Copy (All Slides Below)
Presentation deck including teacher considerations and classroom activities to help establish a positive school or classroom community after extended school closure.
Modular Version of Teacher Considerations and Classroom Activities to Help Establish a Positive School or Classroom
Modular Version of Teacher Considerations and Classroom Activities to Help Establish a Positive School or Classroom
Click here for a force copy: LINK
The First Days of Instruction
The First Days of Instruction
Balance the focus on “academics” or instruction.
Provide opportunity for simple, uncomplicated human connection.
Utilize restorative circles to build community.
Provide opportunities for play and fun.
Teach safety basics.
Provide a way for your students to ask questions or share their concerns anonymously.
Establish a Sense of Safety
Establish a Sense of Safety
Remember that your students have very different understandings of safety depending on their cognitive and developmental stages
Welcome questions and dialogue about the changes your school community is navigating
Be honest in all the information you share
Normalize that it is okay to feel scared
Offer Choice for a Sense of Control
Offer Choice for a Sense of Control
Be sure to create opportunities
Think about offering choices
Honor choices
Offer Empowerment
Offer Empowerment
Prioritize opportunities for student leadership
Acknowledge that there will inevitably be challenges you face on day one
Encourage teachers to set realistic goals with their students for this year
Create opportunities for students and staff alike to reflect and share about their strengths
Respond to Behaviors in a Supportive Way
Respond to Behaviors in a Supportive Way
Understand that students who have experienced trauma or toxic stress may act out with disruptive behaviors, and that recognizing these behaviors as symptoms of trauma and stress is critical to building a positive school culture.
Building a Positive School and Classroom Community
Building a Positive School and Classroom Community
Community Rebuilding Activities
Community Rebuilding Activities
Daily Check-Ins
Daily Check-Ins
Making sure a caring adult connects with every student every day is an effective way to build strong student-staff relationships and a positive school environment.
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Weekly Check-Out
Weekly Check-Out
Have everyone in the class (including you!) briefly answer the following question: What’s one challenge you encountered and one success you experienced this week?
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Community Building Lessons
Community Building Lessons
Returning to School
Returning to School
What challenges do students face returning after extended school closures? Students’ sense of belonging at school is critical to their success as they re-enter the classroom after this extended closure. Many, if not most, students are anxious about the challenges they might encounter. This lesson serves to counter those fears, reassure them their concerns are normal, and create a positive mindset that will increase their sense of belonging.
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My Values
My Values
Giving students a chance to discuss their own personal values can help them cope with stress and anxiety and build community by helping them recognize values they share. This lesson addresses values by exploring how recent crises may have changed or affirmed what they most value.
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Value of Friendship
Value of Friendship
During the past several months, students have navigated unexpected challenges to their personal relationships. This lesson invites students to reflect on the work that goes into maintaining a strong friendship and encourages them to practice gratitude to further strengthen relationships.
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Community Values
Community Values
Adolescents have great power to shape the nature of their social world. This lesson taps into that power by having students identify the values they’d like to see reflected in their school community. Building on the previous lessons, students will explore what they’d like school to be and think of ways they can help make it happen.
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Making our School Community Better
Making our School Community Better
There are many issues students face at school. Some are related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and others are ongoing. Students can often feel powerless in the face of these challenges, and times of crisis often make those feelings more intense. However, when students feel like they can make a difference, it can be very empowering. This lesson is designed to engage students in identifying issues at school and the ways they can help solve them. This sense of agency can help them manage the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, and can also encourage them to take ownership of their school community.
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Understanding Anxiety SEL Lesson
Understanding Anxiety SEL Lesson
SEL Resources
SEL Resources
The CASEL SEL Roadmap was designed to support school leaders and leadership teams in planning for the transition back to schools.
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