Social Emotional Learning Resources for Returning and Rebuilding Community

2017 Delaware Teacher of the Year, Wendy Turner shares in NEA Today that SEL should be a priority during COVID-19.  “SEL is the foundation, the heartbeat of the classroom,” she says. “It’s about connecting everybody and making them feel safe and secure before you get to the academics.”  “This virus has stolen our kids’ school experience for the rest of the year potentially and we’re not sure what comes next,” says Turner. “They miss their friends and their teachers, the feeling of being together and connected.”  “So we have to work on relationship skills and how to talk to each other the right way.”  “It’s more important than ever, right now.”*

As we return to school, Humanware is recommending that all educators:

• Highlight the 3Rs; relationships, routines and resilience
• Identify daily lessons to include:
  • Self-care
  • Positive and affirming language
  • Clear behavioral expectations
    • Follow these expectations and guide the consequences (don’t adjust on the fly, renegotiate new expectations)
    • Developed as a group and should result in a written/group approved contract
    • Contain natural and logical consequences (Restorative Practices)

The daily routine should follow this general format:

• Greet every scholar each day in a positive, supportive fashion
• Start each day off with a circle/class meeting for a check-in (happens once for each student in their first class of the day)
• End each day with a circle/class meeting check-out (happens once for each student during their last class of the day)
• Use a deep breathing activity/check-ins (Box breathing and focus on a calm demeanor and on the subject at hand) to start each class or activity
• In K-8 schools, continue with the PATHS and Second Step curriculums
• In high schools, utilized the Facing History Teaching Strategies - https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies, particularly strategies emphasizing student voice
  • For example:
    • Contracting - https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/contracting
    • Concept Maps - https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/concept-maps-generate-sort-connect-elaborate
    • Fish Bowl - https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-
    • Save the Last Word for Me - https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-strategies/save-last-word-me
• Utilize the WAVE Guide showing weekly lessons as they apply

Other SEL practices to use are:

• Use the SEL Signature Practices - https://schoolguide.casel.org/uploads/2018/12/CASEL_SEL-3-Signature-Practices-Playbook-V3.pdf
• Adult SEL resources - https://go.panoramaed.com/adult-sel-social-emotional-learning-toolkit