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RATIONALE
RATIONALE
There is a great need to thoughtfully integrate students into in-person school after over a year of disrupted and virtual learning. Critically, throughout the past school year many young students were less likely to have experienced "optimal learning environments for developing social emotional learning (SEL)" (Meyer, 2021). Now with students physically re-entering school (or entering for it the first time), SEL must be prioritized to support their successful transition given the diversity of learning opportunities during the pandemic. Fully supporting students in this way requires directly acknowledging and naming the experiences and trauma of the past year and tending to the social and emotional needs of children before focusing on the academics.
"SEL is the foundation, the heartbeat of the classroom...It's about connecting everybody and making them feel safe and secure before you get to the academics."
Wendy Turner (2nd Grade Teacher)
Learn more about Ms. Turner's approach and the importance of SEL in this article.
CONCRETE STRATEGIES
CONCRETE STRATEGIES
DISTRICT-LEVEL
RECOMMENDATION
1. Screen Students’ Social Skills to Inform Support
Screen all students after the first six weeks using the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) and then respond appropriately for students who need interventions.
Make sure that throughout the year when teachers are discussing academic issues they are also discussing the screener results and interventions used.
CAMPUS-LEVEL
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Help Prepare Students for the Transition (Back) to School
Distribute home toolkits with materials to support students in their transition to or back to school which includes:
Developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive books to prepare students for the first day of school.
Countdown materials (such as a calendar or construction for a paper chain) so that students can have a sense of reassurance that school is coming but that they will be prepared.
Classroom book that shows pictures of the classroom/center and teachers.
2. Create a Strong Foundation for Instruction
Focus on establishing routines and procedures (with both children and families) during the first six weeks of the year in order to create a strong classroom community, which will allow for more effective instruction for the remainder of the year.
Build in practice time, specifically for developing skills such as asking for help or asking others to play.
TEACHER-LEVEL
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Adjust Expectations for Incoming Students and Scaffold Accordingly
Expect students' social emotional learning skills to be lagging and adjust expectations and actions accordingly.
Consider shortening the amounts of time that students are expected to sit in one spot.
Use more explicit directions in the classroom.
Incorporate easy movement games for brain breaks like Simon Says, or Freeze.
Learn more about physical activity its impact on healthy child development and academic success here.
2. Support Students in Processing the Pandemic
Give the space to help children make sense of COVID-19 in order for them to develop a coherent narrative around the experience. There is a multitude of ways that this could be embedded in lessons, for instance, consider activities such as:
Having students write or draw about their experience.
Asking students what they know about COVID-19.
Making a compare and contrast chart about experiences before and during the pandemic.
Exploring and expressing how the pandemic made students feel.
RESOURCES
RESOURCES
Watch TEA's video from the Texas Project Restore on Understanding Your Students' Experiences and Developing a Positive Classroom Culture
Read Education Week's Special Reports:
Recommended books to distribute in the home toolkit before the start of school include Llama Llama Misses Mama, The Kissing Hand, Lola Goes to School, First Day Jitters, and The Day You Begin
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University: has an expansive library of relevant resources. See for instance the Guide to COVID-19 and Early Childhood Development
Explore resources from The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) including:
Read the National Association for Educators of Young Children’s articles:
Read Spotlight on Young Children: Social and Emotional Development, edited by Rossella Procopio & Holly Bohart
Teach children strategies for self-regulation with help from these posters that can be put up in the classroom or throughout the school
Explore the Momentous Institute’s curriculum, Changemakers, which utilizes free-standing lessons and teaching practices to promote SEL in students
The SEL Provider's Council has collected a database of Free SEL Resources that can be supportive during the pandemic
Research shows the impact on student and teacher outcomes of the RULER Approach out of Yale, a systematic evidence-based approach to SEL
Learn in this report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation about Applying an Equity Lens to Social, Emotional, and Academic Development
Read in this article about an interview with LEE member Dena Simmons, who describes the vitality of the intersection between SEL and equity
Read in this article about how SEL should not only change to better fit the post-pandemic context, but also must be prioritized in the transition back to school
Offer the following videos from CASEL as a resource for parents to learn about the importance of SEL
Share The Momentous Institute's Resource: How To Help Kids Re-Enter The World After Covid with parents and family members
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