(Dani Gaskell contributed to this article.)

“I’ve been punching above my weight my whole life—not because I wanted to prove anyone wrong, but because I refused to ever leave the ring.”

“Pomp and Circumstance” is in the air as talented young graduates prepare for the next phase in their journey. But not all kids will be celebrating. Some suffer the pain and agony of intense struggle. They are the disadvantaged, at-risk children, following a predictable doomed path of decline where others have opportunity….

In the 1960s, a study was conducted in which teachers were informed that some of their students were "intellectually gifted." These randomly selected students showed significantly higher gains in IQ scores compared to classmates. The rub? They weren’t gifted. The teachers were told a fable and increased their standards, which the kids rose to meet. This showed how positive expectations impact student performance, a phenomenon known as The Pygmalion Effect.

Similarly, a longitudinal study tracked the Kids of Kauai, during which multiple high-risk factors such as poverty and family instability lead to expectations of doom and failure. Yet, a large number–one-third!–demonstrated remarkable resilience, developing into competent and well-adjusted adults.

The stories are all around us. We see people who are supposed to fail, but time and again don’t. Why? What made the difference? Why are we not paying more attention to what works when it’s staring us in the face?

A Tale of Two Struggles

Let’s take a closer look at two people who certainly had good reasons to fail, and yet . . . .

The son of a single mother had been evaluated by the school psychologist, and was flagged for failure. Her report was uncompromising. Here is a summary:

His childhood was a constant uphill battle; below-average intelligence and depressed verbal scores made learning and communicating a struggle. Socially, he was lost, marked by significantly depressed social awareness and interactions, which often led to hostility and poor impulse control when frustration mounted…

Imagine being the parent receiving this news? Kicking a horse when it’s down?

Here is the story of another child who faced similar struggles in her academic years, in her own words:

I felt useless when I couldn’t succeed. Like, why even try? I felt blindsided by all that went wrong. People taught me to see the positives to succeed. There were cheer coaches who pushed me through. Mrs. Fleming taught me for 2 years and she helped me believe. I struggled in her class, didn’t want to try and felt it was pointless.

I have found this past year what she has taught me doesn’t just help me with school skills but teaches me life skills like never giving up on yourself, even when you’re at your breaking point. I learned if you push through, you won’t have any regrets.

I ask educators to make predictions of these children, and those predictions are stark. People think poorly of difficult children such as these, and how likely failure looms. We are quick to imagine these children will struggle into adulthood.

Over the years, however, my research and stories keep reinforcing the same theme: more children overcome failure than we expect, and we are always surprised. We shouldn’t be! What’s more, studying these children, and how and why they overcame, such as the Kids of Kauai, provides strategies to help countless others lost in a fog.

The ingredients to success?

1. 1. Non-parental mentors
2. A strong affiliation with a group purpose larger than themselves
3. Most of all, resilience

What makes resilience so empowering is that it can be learned–it doesn’t have to be instinctive.

Stacking Small Wins

You might be surprised to learn that one of the children from above was me. This gives me the opportunity to empower children. As a non-parental mentor, I see a light where one wasn’t present. Providing this kind of hope to at-risk students gives them a chance, and they start to find success, one small win after another.

Small wins are powerful, incremental, and time-tested. It works. Showing children this path is energizing, and seeing students step into it creates the inspiration to want to keep going.

The other child from above is my daughter. She called me one afternoon on FaceTime, when she was in fifth grade. It was one of the first times I saw the stark reality of her struggle. There had been other times, sure, but patient adults worked with us to manage her challenges. This time seemed different…

Dani had so many characteristics that matched mine. This is likely what made it more difficult for me to accept that she would face the same struggle, the torture, that I had endured. I wanted to cradle her in my arms and make it all better.

The next few years featured similar scenes. Calls from the school. Emails from teachers. Another day in 8th grade she got into a fight in the school cafeteria, which resulted in her removal from the cheerleading team. Then, one day the school called to report that she had been bullied by girls from the team, saying she no longer belonged in the group, since she was off the team. It was kicking a horse when she was down.

The surreal truth was hearing her say, every day, “I hate school,” from fifth through tenth grade. It was painful to hear because I knew how she felt. She tried out for a competitive cheer team, made the highest level, and was quickly demoted to a mediocre level. She would come out of practice, crying and anxious.

It’s hard to pinpoint the transformation. A high school teacher reached out to tell me she had more than she thought in her. As her grades surged, she was also showing incremental success at her new, more family-oriented cheer gym. My little girl made the highest level team and around the same time, I began to notice she wasn't saying the dreaded quote, “I hate school….”

One small win after another. That’s what fertilizes a slight edge, which becomes impressive gains. Captain of her cheer team, cum laude academics, and she got accepted to her reach-school.

Not every step is a success, it’s a jagged line, and she has a keener understanding about staying in the ring, rather than striking gold.

Helping One Struggling Child At A Time

I’m far from a perfect father, but I got to share my story with Dani, and then celebrate her successes when it seemed like too many failures impacted her well-being and belief in herself. She stopped saying, “I hate school,” and the struggling little girl became a resilient young woman.

What was happening around her was the belief she internalized, that she could build on her small wins until one day she was a proud graduate and made it to her dream school, Penn State.

A beacon of hope was all she needed. When she started to hear from those like her teacher and coaches about how to believe, her very own non-parental mentors penetrated the shell of doom in which so many drown. That barrier broke down, little by little, until she became a resilient young woman. Like her dad, far from perfect, but she is hopeful and unrelenting.

More kids should benefit from the challenges we’ve overcome. Let’s start teaching them, one struggling child at a time.

• Best Free Social-Emotional Learning Sites and Apps
• Lifelong Learning: Modeling for Students and Faculty

Social-emotional learning (SEL) has become an important tool for helping students with the so-called “soft skills” of life -- emotional regulation, social interactions, empathy, and decision-making.

We may use the term “soft,” but these skills are in fact essential for every child to master as part of maturing into a mentally healthy adult who can successfully navigate the world beyond the schoolyard.

The following free SEL resources will provide a solid foundation for educators to understand and implement SEL in their classrooms and schools.

Best Free Social-Emotional Learning Sites and Apps

Smiling Mind iOS Android
Smiling Mind is an Australian-based company that aims to create a positive transformation in users’ mental health and whose bold mission is lifelong mental fitness. The free Smiling Mind app is designed to guide children through simple steps to develop a healthful meditation routine, starting with an easy two-minute session. Featuring a useful offline option, the app is ad-free and can be used within the classroom or at home.

Mood Classroom
Aimed at students in grades 5-9, Mood Classroom offers nine free Google Slides lessons that demonstrate proven methods for managing disruptive emotions. Each brief lesson includes a musical video and discussion question. Although targeting grades 5-9, these lessons would be easily understood by kids in third and fourth grades as well. Bonus: No need to sign up; just start exploring the resources.

Mood Tools: Coping Skills
Dozens of coping skills explained in simple step-by-step colorful animated guides that speak to kids in their own language. While mindfulness is the basis of many of these tools, it’s not directly mentioned, nor are other terms that have entered the common parlance of adults. Instead, short musical animations illustrate difficult emotional states and how kids can easily manage them before they get out of control. No account required.

More Self-Regulation Games and Activities | Social Emotional Learning
Is self-regulation the same as self-control? Not quite, although these are closely tied. This engaging and informative video briefly discusses self-regulation, then explores self-regulation games and group activities that teachers can employ in the classroom setting. The video is well organized, offering easy navigation via divisions on the progress bar, a transcript, and links to free printables and research.

Harmony Academy
From National University, Harmony Academy is a complete, free social-emotional learning curriculum. Take a few minutes to sign up and answer some basic questions about your teaching activities. Then access and explore this comprehensive set of resources. Much is available here to investigate, from planning guides to printable resources to live Zoom demonstrations for teachers to learn how to implement the curriculum.

CloseGap
CloseGap is a flexible check-in tool designed for schools that asks kids developmentally appropriate questions to determine whether they’re quietly struggling to maintain good mental health. Students have the option to complete quick, self-guided SEL activities, such as Box Breathing, Gratitude List, and Power Pose. Hmm, maybe not just for kids! The free basic level provides generous features, including unlimited school and student accounts, check ins, daily summaries, analytics, and 24/7 support.

SEL in Digital Life Resource Center
From Common Sense Education, this excellent selection of lessons and activities is a guide for putting SEL into action in your classroom. Lessons and activities incorporate self-awareness, social awareness, decision-making, and other key SEL principles. Create a free account to access lessons.

What is SEL?
Still not sure what SEL is all about? Long-time educator Erik Ofgang goes beyond the acronym, exploring the concepts, history, research, and resources for understanding and effecting social-emotional learning.

Explaining SEL to Parents
This Tech & Learning article tackles the social media controversy of social-emotional learning, and explains how to talk with parents so they understand the benefits for their kids.

What Is the CASEL Framework?
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is a pioneering nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting SEL research and implementation. The CASEL Framework is designed to help educators use evidence-based SEL strategies according to their unique needs and priorities.

Social-Emotional Learning: The Magic of Circle Talk
How do talk circles help kids relax and open up to their peers and teachers? “The Magic of Circle Talk” answers this question and describes three types of circles to implement in your classroom.

Quandary
How would you handle the marauding Yashors on Braxos? A challenging fantasy game designed to build a student's ethical and critical thinking skills, Quandary includes a robust guide for educators. Teachers can track and monitor student progress and decide which ethical challenge to present.

myPeekaville
Enter the magical world of Peekaville and interact with its residents, animals and problems through a series of quests and activities. The research-based app contains a daily emotions check-in tool, and is CASEL-aligned and COPPA compliant.

• Peekapak: How to Use It to Teach SEL
• Educator Edtech Review: nXu
• How to Use Comics in Your Classroom, With MakeBeliefsComix Founder Bill Zimmerman

Peekapak is a website that offers a selection of dedicated resources to help teach social-emotional learning across a range of student ages.

Having won multiple awards, this is a well-respected system that works with ELA and CASEL to align with curriculum. All that means this is a reliable resource that can make the lives of teachers, students, and families easier.

Thanks to a smart home and school integration system, it shrinks the gap between classroom learning and continued education outside of school hours. Consequently, teachers and family can work as a team to help students get the most rounded SEL education possible.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Peekapak to see if this can work in your classroom.

What is Peekapak?

Peekapak is an online SEL toolkit that is packed with helpful curriculum-aligned resources for teachers and students from pre-K right through to 12th-grade level.

The website features resources for teachers to use with students so they can learn about topics such as empathy, gratitude, self-respect, self-regulation, teamwork, perseverance, and plenty more. Crucially, this is done in a way that allows teachers to work with the resources but also for students to work with the site directly, in class and at home.

While the website can be used independently, there are also resources for teachers and admins to monitor student progress. This can offer an at-a-glance overview of progress so as to ensure everyone receives the support they need.

How does Peekapak work?

Peekapak offers a selection of tools to teach, including video lessons, activities to be done in class, storybooks, and presentations for teachers, plus materials for tasks to be completed at home.

The site has a limited access option for free, initially, which allows teachers the chance to try before deciding if this works for them. It's then a case of signing up at the package level needed, and all the resources can be accessed and used, with students registering and signing into their own accounts.

Teachers can then monitor progress as well as have a school-to-home connection. This allows families to get involved as students work further on home-specific modules.

While there are lots of lessons and individual resources that can be used in conjunction and integrated as needed, there are also packages. The idea is to offer lesson projects that run across the schooling year, which should make it easy to teach these while adhering to ELA and CASEL guidelines.

What are the best Peekapak features?

Peekapak is really fun and features cute animal characters that appear throughout the material to give kids a consistent guide that they can relate to. This is ideal for younger children but may seem a little childish for older users. Thankfully, there are modules tailored to age and class ranges so these do adapt to suit their needs.

For Pre-K to fifth grade there are lots of fully planned lessons involving reading, writing, speaking, literacy, problem-solving, representing, and more, all aimed at working on empathy, self-regulation, and other skills. The game myPeekavile is aimed at this age range as a way to interact with the story world and these SEL concepts, with quests and activities that help kids learn in a more experiential way.

Jump to the level for grades 6-12 and the resources are CASEL-aligned, rich with reading and writing instructions. This includes real-world resources such as human interest stories as well as more age-relevant skill-building topics, including stress management, identity, and decision-making.

How much does Peekapak cost?

Peekapak offers a free trial but charges for its features.

The free option, called Basic, gets you one intro lesson on each SEL topic, one level of each unit story, and embedded teacher PD on SEL topics, plus 10 posters on each SEL topic.

Go for Peekapak Pro, at a $39 for individuals but more on enquiry at school level, and you get 15 SEL units, 10 original storybooks, more than 150 lesson plans per grade, and at-home class updates and activities for families, plus student access to myPeekaville games.

The Schools & Boards levels are charged at a bespoke price, which gets all the above plus virtual PD sessions, a dedicated "education success partner," customized packages, and discounted bulk rates.

Peekapak best tips and tricks

Take your time
While everything is laid out clearly and structured for you, be sure to listen to students' responses and work at their rate to ensure they not only understand but feel in control as you progress.

Work with home
Take advantage of the bespoke at-home link materials to get the most exposure to the SEL lessons in varying environments for the students. They may see something differently when learning at home.

Be age appropriate
Everything is tailored to the ages of students, so be aware of this before jumping ahead as this can be a process for many students and rushing may not help in the long-term.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

Alternative preschool options such as Kindergarten Prep use a variety of interactive and hands-on materials to prepare students academically and socially in a safe and controlled environment. This mode of learning is not only beneficial to the long-term development of students, it can add district enrollment and long-term retention earlier by appealing to parents seeking flexibility when choosing a path for their young learner.

“For many families, the challenges of learning in a brick-and-mortar environment vary widely,” says April Warren, Head of Schools at California Virtual Academies (CAVA). “The option to learn at-home in a supportive environment may be the most appropriate for their lifestyle, goals, and/or needs.”

Flexibility for Parents = Students for Districts

For many families, a preschool or pre-K program is the first outside influence to which their children will be exposed. Being able to participate in the program with their child can ease anxiety and offer a reassuring sense of confidence that the program will create a positive experience that aligns with their values.

“With pre-K and kindergarten being the first time students experience structured learning, it can be overwhelming,” says Ryder. “In the online format, teachers and parents ease the process by consistently meeting with students to help facilitate the foundation of friendships by recognizing and greeting classmates by name, as well as sharing and discussing common interests. This also includes providing a platform to safely and comfortably learn about others who share different interests and values.”

For some parents, this controlled environment relieves a great deal of stress or concern about potential bullying or other tricky and unfamiliar social situations young learners might not have the tools to negotiate. Some children who could benefit greatly from an online preschool program such as Kindergarten Prep might have developmental delays that could lead to inappropriate behaviors and a negative first school experience. Participating in a program with a parent or caretaker allows all students the ability to freely learn in a comfortable environment.

“When preschoolers hit, kick, scream, use harsh language, or refuse to follow adult instructions, their peers don’t feel safe. This is why school administrators, teachers and child-care professionals often resort to suspending or expelling a child who behaves in aggressive or harmful ways,” says P. Gail Williams, MD, who authored a recent report about the harm of early age expulsion 

Modern learning uses collaboration via built-in caregiver support. A high-value program engages young learners in an accessible way, creating an option for parents who want early childhood learning but need or want their child home (for medical, safety or other reasons).

“We believe students learn best through hands-on activities in a supportive environment that fosters learning,” says Warren. “For some students, families who can share in that learning at home is the preferred option, due to the safety, privacy, and comfort it provides. Some families need alternative solutions to help support their child in their learning journey.”

Offering online personalized options gives all parents the flexibility they need to choose the right path for their child without changing districts. By creating this type of comfortable environment, schools can earn parents’ trust. Building this trust through online and blended learning can encourage families to keep their learners enrolled to ensure younger siblings have access to that same successful outcome. In particular, Kindergarten Prep’s versatility is key, offering integration as a grade level to an existing full-time school, as a pre-K program to a custom online school or as a standalone product to a school district.

“The need for families in some districts to have access to free Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is urgent,” says Warren. “Many of our local parents are forced to spend thousands of dollars per month in childcare for their young children. In this case, our tuition-free program is a viable option for them. Last year, 88% of our TK graduates stayed in-district, re-enrolling in the kindergarten program.”

Online Pre-K is Social and Interactive

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is an important element of creating a well-rounded student. These interpersonal lessons start early and despite preconceptions, do not require a physical game of duck-duck-goose or shared box of crayons to impart. Many of the social skills practiced in a traditional classroom are just as present, if not more so, when a student is learning from the comfort of their own home.

“A big element of SEL is empathy,” says Cheryl Ryder, SEL Instructor and Elementary Director K-2 at Friendship Charter School Online. “Children using the online format learn valuable lessons about teamwork and cheering for others. Children learn patience as they wait for their turn to speak and share information. In the online platform, students are encouraged to express their feelings using appropriate vocabulary and are provided with useful tools to help regulate their emotions. Students are not face-to-face, however the importance of learning other's names is highly regarded.”

Ryder observes that recognizing familiar letters and sounds has led students to bond over commonality between their names. Insight into their home life and everyday recreational activities can also offer opportunities for connection.

“With use of various manipulatives (supplied by the Kindergarten Prep curriculum) and everyday items in the home, children are involved with hands-on learning,” says Ryder. “A perk of the online platform is as children learn, lessons can be extended by visiting libraries, museums, parks, etc. Educational videos further enhance learning, encouraging the use of imagination.”

Interactive formats featuring vibrant visuals and creative guided activities offer access to young learners of all abilities. Online or offline, customized plans using physical resource elements such as hands-on resources and video environment connection opportunities allow educators to provide support to students at a flexible pace – matching individual progress and developmental goals. The online format allows more control over social situations, keeping young minds from wandering and staying on-task for best outcomes.

“Our program focuses on building essential skills for problem solving, implementing language in learning and age-appropriate collaborative social skills,” says Warren. “We incorporate puppets, songs, dance, and more to inspire our littlest scholars. We then break out into smaller academic learning sessions that focus on achieving milestones in math, language, science, social studies, fine motor skills, music, and art based on the preschool learning foundational standards.”

Prep for Kindergarten and Beyond

Created by developmental psychologists and academics, Kindergarten Prep is cutting-edge and national award-winning online solution. The program empowers children ages 3-5 with skills that will serve them long after they move their tiny tassels to the side and head on to elementary school. Programs which personalize learning and adapt to each child’s own pace of learning not only offer a safe and flexible entry into the world of education, but in an age of endless digital opportunities, teach invaluable tools for the future.

“The increased use of technology can not be denied,” says Ryder. “Students as young as four easily develop the skills to navigate online technology, thus establishing a foundation for the future. Students can learn about themselves, their community and the world, right at their fingertips. Face-to-face encounters are important, however the ability to learn in a safe, inspiring, informative, interactive, environment has lasting benefits and positively affects self esteem.”

The true value in a program such as Kindergarten Prep is the versatility to help not only students and their families, but districts by offering a robust range of learning solutions to help all children achieve success.

“Learning should be meaningful and should build connections to prior knowledge or experiences,” says Warren. “While children learn differently, all children are able to learn. Therefore, some children and families need alternative solutions to help support their child in their learning journey.” 

Learn more about how Kindergarten Prep can work for your needs at: https://stridels.com/curriculum/stride-sprouts

Some 17% of adults younger than 30 identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey, which echoes recent data collected by the CDC that estimates nearly 2 million Americans aged 13-17 identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender—representing 9.5% of the total youth population. 

As a result, there’s a good chance that at least a few students in any classroom may identify as LGBTQ+. These students are at relatively high risk for becoming the targets of bullies, violence—and even committing suicide. Providing support for these students is critical to their success, academically and beyond.

Providing LGBTQ+ Safe Spaces and Support for Students Who Come Out 

Rodney Crouse, a fifth-grade teacher for Guilford County Schools in North Carolina in his twentieth year of teaching, grew up in nearby Alleghany County, which borders Virginia and the heart of Appalachia. “In my mind, it wasn't that long ago that I came out as a senior in high school and received death threats. When I asked to take my first boyfriend to the prom, they had to have extra police and security at the prom for my safety,” Crouse says. “Fast forward to just two days ago. We had an all-day training at the high school. I walked in and there was a pride flag with the trans triangle hanging in the middle of a classroom, and that was a really emotional experience for me – to go from death threats and people wanting to kill me to some teacher being brave enough to hang a flag in the room to designate that as a safe space . . . that was a huge leap.”

Although public acceptance has grown, LGBTQ+ students still face challenges as families and communities aren’t always supportive. Crouse understands firsthand as his parents were not exactly accepting when he came out to them, with his mother telling him she’d rather have “a dead son than a gay one.” 

“I was very close to being a statistic,” he says. “It was a college professor who stopped me from carrying out my plan. She locked her door and would not let me leave until someone from counseling came down. That was huge for me.”

Although Crouse never formally comes out to his students, he doesn’t hide it, either–he has a picture of him and his husband on his desk as well as a small rainbow streamer, which he says provides subtle clues for those students who may be looking for a safe space or an ally.

“I have more and more students who are either coming out to me or who are children of same-sex families,” says Crouse. “My only agenda is to help them grow as good human beings.”

If a student does come out to you, or if you want to create a supportive LGBTQ+ environment, Crouse offers these tips:

1. Listen without the urge to respond. Crouse says no immediate reaction is okay. “Take a breath because that pause may help you from saying something completely stupid, because I don't think anybody sets out with the intention of doing harm, right?” 

2. Don't feel like you have to change anything about yourself. “If they didn't trust you, they wouldn't be coming to you in the first place,” says Crouse. So he suggests that you let them have that space and be safe. 

3. Stay consistent. Try not to change how you respond or react to a student after they come out because others may pick up on that in a classroom, which could lead to unwanted attention and unintended consequences. 

4. Signal safe spaces. Crouse suggests that teachers who are willing to be an ally put something in their classroom for those students who may be looking for a safe space, whether it's a safe space sticker on a door or window, a small rainbow strip or streamers, anything that would say, “This is a safe space,” and allow students to know that.

5. Don't operate in fear. Don't be worried that you're going to say the wrong thing or use the wrong pronoun or acronym. “It's all about intent,” says Crouse. “If you're following your heart and coming from a good place, those of us in the community, we know. It is not offensive if you say the wrong thing.” Such moments can even open a space for conversation. 

In addition, he cautions those in states that require reporting of such incidents to really consider what they’re doing, and if it’s truly in the best interest of the student to report them. 

Providing Representation with an LGBTQ-Inclusive Curriculum 

“The people who we label and understand today as LGBTQ+ have always existed in every corner of every community and country ethnicity and belief system,” says Deb Fowler, executive director of History UnErased, an education nonprofit. “All of the representations young people have, in pop culture and social media, in many spaces of their online life, is now being paired, paradoxically, with so much hate and horrible rhetoric, that it's just denying their existence, denying their rights.”

Finding ways to provide LGBTQ+ representation can help those students feel accepted. For example, History UnErased offers a curriculum that recognizes LGBTQ+ contributors to culture, science, history, and more, while also dispelling misperceptions, allaying fears, and including everyone in the learning. It has a one-time cost and is designed to be integrated with mainstream courses. “Everything is anchored in primary sources,” says Fowler. “We're not making it up. And it's not about sexual behavior.”

The HU curriculum also is an opportunity to weave the other previously erased voices into a more accurate reflection of U.S. history and the remarkable diversity it represents, says Fowler. 

“This is life-affirming, it is life-changing, and it is life-saving,” she says. “And that is not hyperbole because I witnessed it myself as a former classroom teacher. And I've witnessed it in doing this work working with educators across the country, and what we're hearing from them is that this is an opportunity for young people to see themselves reflected in what all of their classmates are learning.”

• Top LGBTQ+ Sites and Resources to Support Students 
• How to Encourage Transgender Students to Pursue STEM Careers

Concerned about student mental health during the COVID pandemic and some of the civil unrest of the past few years, the School District of Philadelphia developed an online student wellbeing survey. 

“Being majority Black and Brown students, we recognize that these two incidents were magnified for our students,” says Shannon Ellis, Executive Director of School Climate and Culture Initiatives for the district, who administers the survey. “So it’s definitely a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and just understanding why our students need to feel loved and supported and welcomed and seen and appreciated.”

“We saw nationwide this increased need and then also attention to social-emotional wellbeing for students,” adds Dylan Van Duyne, an equity training specialist for the School District of Philadelphia, adding that the district piloted the survey in the 2020-21 school year. “What we saw during COVID was that we can't simply focus on academic outcomes. We also have to think about what student belongingness looks like in this online world.” 

The Student Well-being Survey is a five-minute school climate assessment that each student (in grades 3-12) is asked to complete. In short, the survey explores how students feel about their experiences and relationships at school. Currently, nearly two-thirds of the district’s students complete the survey.

The data gathered by the survey is used to identify groups that may be struggling and facing challenges, and then guide equity efforts and social-emotional supports.

Creating A Wellbeing Survey 

After the original series of survey questions was developed by Abigail Gray, the district’s deputy chief of school climate and culture, one of the initial challenges of the process was getting student participation, even with top leadership buy-in. 

“When we initially rolled out the survey, we were administering the survey monthly, and we learned that that was too frequent for schools to have teachers have students complete the survey and then for us to give them the data back,” says Ellis. “It just was too quick.” 

The survey is now administered quarterly through the student online portal, which has boosted participation. It is available to be taken for a set period of time, and can be completed during school hours, through a student’s phone, or from home later.

Having a quarterly survey allows for the progress monitoring to be built in, says Van Duyne. “It's not like we're asking teachers to take on a huge new lift of creating their own novel survey,” he says. “We already have four windows for this survey, so we're able to see quarter-to-quarter what that growth looks like.” 

Survey questions are aligned with the five social-emotional competencies--relationship building, social awareness, problem-solving, self-awareness, and self-care. These are broken down into three categories: adult-student relationships, peer relationships, and self development. Each category has four to five questions per category.

Adult-student relationships

The adult-student relationship questions are designed to determine if a student feels as if an adult from the school cares about them or says something positive to them, both of which are part of forming positive relationships. 

For example, as a result of data from the survey one school successfully implemented a “2x10” strategy in which a staff member talks to a student for two minutes per day for 10 days in a row about non-academic subjects. The school’s scores have increased positively since then.

Peer relationships

While monitoring the responses to the peer relationship questions for high school students, the district found that peer relationships have a statistically significant relationship with STAR (standardized testing and reporting) data. Having positive peer relationships seems to correlate to better academic performance on assessments.

“So I think that speaks volumes and it might be intuitive, right?” says Van Duyne. “Like okay, we know that students are going to come to school for the attendance piece, as they do better in school when they have strong relationships with their peers, but then to actually see that trait’s correlation to STAR scores has been useful.” 

Self-Development

Due to the interruptions in in-class learning due to the pandemic, students have struggled with social-emotional aspects of their education, in particular, their self-regulation and self-development. Learning to navigate those situations is an ongoing learning challenge for many students. 

“One of the questions is, ‘I learned something to help me deal with my feelings,’ which is different from the question, ‘I was able to deal with my feelings in a healthy way’,” says Van Duyne. “What are the skills that we're teaching in school so that students when they encounter that tricky emotion–whether it's anger, whether it's sadness, whether it's frustration–they have a skill that they can use to be able to process that in a healthy way.”

For example, the district recently saw that some of the student-athletes were struggling, so the social-emotional learning team, led by Ellis, spent time with the athletic directors to better educate them about the SEL support available for students.

Advice for Districts Looking to Create a Wellbeing Survey 

For other schools considering implementing a student wellbeing survey, Ellis suggests making sure survey questions are easy to read/understand and developmentally appropriate. Also consider questions that are specifically related to your school or district. “For example, one question that we changed is last year we asked ‘I was afraid of another student.’ And we're actually changing it this year to ‘There's too much fighting at my school.’ And that is because some students can be afraid of other students for other reasons other than the specific climate of the school.”

Another question recently changed is “I was treated unfairly because of my race, gender, etc.” It’s now been split into “I was treated unfairly by an adult . . .” and “I was treated unfairly by a student because of how I look, dress, talk, or act.” “And yes, that does encompass culture,” says Ellis, “but we know that our students can understand that better.”

When administering a survey like this, Van Duyne encourages transparency, communication, and collaboration. “My advice would be when creating the surveys, make sure you're not just hearing from principals, assistant principals, you're not just hearing from teachers,” he says. “We're also hearing from climate staff, counselors, and community members about what the specific questions are on the survey.”

That transparency extends to the staff and even the students themselves, who can access the data through the school portal. “Our high school students are very interested in the survey data, and how their schools and how we as a district are responding,” says Ellis. “We go back to the Student Advisory Board meeting and show them their suggestions or things that we are looking to do, and we show them what we actually did districtwide to respond to the survey data.”

Van Duyne also points out that once you have the data, it’s critical to disaggregate it to really drill down on how to use it to boost equity and support students. The data for each survey is posted by the School Climate and Culture department for public viewing on the district’s website. “We had a leader in our network who said, ‘Okay, I'm finding that it is Black and Latino females in my school who are reporting the lowest adult student relationship scores,’” he says. “So then from that, she had a series of student focus groups where she learned from the voices of the students and then that was something that she then shared back with the whole staff.” 

Ultimately, anything to help students feel better about themselves and their mental health is all part of ensuring success in school and beyond.

“We understand that when people feel loved and we feel safe, and we feel supported, that we will perform better,” says Ellis. “And we want to graduate students who can go out into the world and live their best lives and thrive.”

• Best Practices for School Leaders to Support Well-Being
• 3 Wellbeing Initiatives That Work for Schools

Celebrate Mother’s Day in your classroom with these fun and free learning resources. Whether your students are making personalized cards for the special moms in their lives, learning fun coding and STEM activities, or exploring motherhood in the natural world, the ideas and tools here can be enjoyed by kids of all ages.

Best Mother's Day Activities and Lessons

NYT Learning Network: What’s the Best Gift You’ve Ever Received?
Choosing or making the perfect gift is often a part of Mother’s Day. But what is the perfect gift? The New York Times solicited readers’ opinion on the best gift they ever received. Have your students read the article, then write about the best gift they’ve ever received. A thought-provoking article for the consumer age. Free, no account required.

NYT Learning Network: Science Practice | A Study on Baby Talk
This Mother’s Day related biology/sociology/linguistics lesson asks students to read and analyze a fascinating article about a study that compared the interactions between mothers and offspring in humans, bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas. An excellent choice for an open-ended high school inquiry lesson. Free, no account required.

Exploring Contrasts in "The Lanyard," by Billy Collins
A standards-aligned lesson based on poet Billy Collins’ "The Lanyard," which explores the narrator’s memory of a gift he gave his mother. If you’ve read the poem as an adult, surely you laughed aloud—although that may not be the reaction of your students. Either way, it’s a fine lesson in poetry. Includes a video of the poet reading his work and a detailed worksheet to guide students’ inquiries. Grades 6-12.

Orangutans: Mother Knows Best
Did you know that the orangutan has the longest interval between offspring of any mammals—and the longest childhood of any mammal (up to 12 years!), save humans? This standards-aligned lesson features a fascinating five-minute clip from the PBS Nature series delving into the ways that a young orangutan learns survival skills from its mother. Includes guidance for teachers, questions for discussion and student handouts. May be printed or shared to Google Drive. Grades 3-8.

Digital Mother’s Day Gift
Educator Jennifer Findlay shares her digital Mother’s Day Top Ten greeting card/slideshow, available in four themes. This is a great way to help kids express appreciation for their mother while practicing their writing skills.

Science Buddies: How Does a Chick Breathe Inside Its Shell?
A chicken’s egg is so familiar to most of us as to seem unworthy of inspection. Yet, like motherhood, it’s actually a remarkable state of being that we should strive to understand. This fine biology lesson guides students in investigating the inner workings of an “ordinary” egg, using commonly available materials.

Plant Evolution WordSearch Puzzle
Given the season, plants are a natural gift for Mother’s Day. Use this well-known association as a starting point for a word search focused on plant anatomy terms. Want to dive deeper into plant biology? Check out the history of the American rose and the Plant Parts and Functions lesson plan for grades 6-8.

Mother's Day Painting
An art lesson based on the intimate portraits of mothers with their children by the famous American painter Mary Cassatt. Using paper or canvas plus acrylic paints, students will create artwork illustrating the unique bond between mother and child. Free account required.

Animals and Offspring
A lesson to delight every preschool child, Animals and Offspring consists of a free downloadable PDF that includes learning objectives, explicit instruction, differentiation, baby animal matching images, and more. Perfect for kids learning to identify animals, the lesson also serves as social-emotional learning and can be expanded to include art and literacy. Free account required.

A Celebration of Famous Mothers in Art
From Google Arts and Culture, this stunning assemblage of great works of art featuring mothers invites the viewer to observe closely. Each work of art is accompanied by a description and related links. An excellent starting point for a Mother’s Day art lesson.

The 15 Most Memorable Mothers In Literature
While real mothers may receive heart-filled greeting cards, the same cannot be assumed for mothers from literature, many of whom were difficult, absent, mentally ill, or otherwise human. Perfect for an advanced literature class, this potentially provocative collection of literary mothers is sure to engender opinions and lively classroom conversation.

Mother’s Day 2026
The history of Mother’s Day is not all rainbows and butterflies. In fact, founder Ann Jarvis was appalled at the commercialization of Mother’s Day and worked against it in her later life. Learn how Mother’s Day history touches on the Civil War, the early peace movement, women’s suffrage, and other crucial topics of the 19th and 20th centuries. High school lesson idea: Ask your students to research and write about different societies’ attitudes toward mothers over the past two millennia.

13 Mother's Day Celebration Ideas for School
Mother’s Day offers the chance to bring the expressive arts into your classroom. Ranging from reading and writing assignments to decorating vases, these activities are aimed at primary and middle school students, and are easily implemented.

Mothers In The Movies
Mothers in the movies have been at times lionized, at times demonized—and at times portrayed as the complex humans that they are. Peruse this article to find excellent material for discussions in high school social studies and psychology classes.

Mother’s Day Online Quizzes, Games, and Worksheets
Ideal for youngsters and English Language Learners, these activities include picture vocabulary, word jumble, Mother’s Day crossword puzzle, and more.

Crafty STEM activities for Mother’s Day
18 super-fun Mother’s Day-related activities that students will enjoy. Tell a story with a homemade flip book, create a family portrait mobile, or make an edible gift for Mom. Ever heard of a thaumatrope? Learn how this unique toy from the past was used – then make your own.

Mother’s Day And Father’s Day In The Inclusive Classroom
Not every kid has a mother in the home, so it’s crucial to make sure all students are included in Mother’s Day activities without causing them shame or distress. This article by educator Haley O’Connor offers lots of good ideas for creating a meaningful, inclusive Mother’s Day lesson, and links to her digital Mother’s Day resources.

Story Corps Stories to Celebrate Mother’s Day
A genuine and touching celebration of the relationships between mothers and kids. Consider offering credit to students who record their own Mother’s Day conversations on the StoryCorps website.

Code.org Customizable Mother’s Day Cards and Music Quiz
These customizable coding activities from the reliable and free Code.org offer something for every kid and every mother, from flowers to Teddy Bears to a music quiz for moms

Interest in social and emotional learning (SEL) has spiked in the post-pandemic world. In 2022, Google searches for SEL reached an all-time high, according to CASEL, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting SEL. 

To address this increased interest, CASEL has launched a free one-hour online learning course: An Introduction to Social and Emotional Learning. The virtual course aims to help teachers, parents, and other stakeholders learn more about SEL.

I recently completed the self-paced course in under an hour and received the certificate that it provides. The course is geared toward K-12 educators and parents of school-aged children. As a writer and adjunct professor, I don’t fall into either category but still found the course engaging and helpful in thinking about the ways I interact with students and colleagues. 

The course provides a great and concise overview of what SEL is and equally as important what it is not. The self-paced nature and the efficient and informative manner in which information is provided make this an ideal course for perpetually busy educators. 

Here are five things I learned. 

1. CASEL's Online SEL Course: What SEL Is 

While I came into the course with a good understanding of what SEL is, the clear definition CASEL provides is still helpful. Here it is: 

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a lifelong process of developing skills that help us to be successful in school and all parts of our lives, such as communicating effectively, building relationships, working through challenges, and making decisions that benefit ourselves and others. The term is also often used to describe how we help students learn and practice these skills in supportive environments.

2. SEL’s Five Core Skill Areas or Competencies 

CASEL describes SEL in terms of five core skill areas or competencies. The course reading defines these as: 

Self-Awareness is how we think about ourselves and who we are. 

Self-Management is about managing our emotions, thoughts, and actions as we work toward goals. 

Social Awareness is how we understand others, how we learn to take on different perspectives and have empathy for people, even those who are different from us.

Relationship Skills are how we get along with others and how we form lasting friendships and connections. 

Responsible Decision-Making is how we make positive and informed choices. community. 

3. Four Key Settings That Shape Emotional Development

CASEL’s framework for school-wide SEL includes four key settings that shape social and emotional development. These are: 

• Classrooms
• School in general
• Families and caregivers
• The community at large

4. What SEL Is Not 

In some circles, SEL has become a politically charged term but these attacks on SEL are often based on a misunderstanding of what it is. That’s why I found this course portion so helpful and important. It made clear that SEL is not: 

• A distraction from academics. In fact, SEL training has been shown to increase academic performance in multiple studies.
• Therapy. Though SEL helps build skills and relationships that promote healthy well-being, it is not meant to take the place of healthcare therapy.
• SEL helps students share and understand different perspectives and share ideas. It does not teach one perspective or way of thinking.

5. I’m Already Teaching SEL  

The course contains a number of scenarios for teachers, parents, and school leaders on how they might respond to potentially difficult situations with students. These are helpful to go through. As an educator, I found the advice, which focuses on understanding different perspectives and hearing student concerns, validated my approach. 

The course also provides an opportunity for reflection on the ways in which many of us are already using SEL in our classes and lives. I found this particularly helpful as it demystified the process and made me realize that incorporating SEL into my class isn’t something that requires years of training. In fact, it taught me that I’m already using SEL in many ways without realizing it. This realization helps me see how I can be more intentional about building more SEL elements, such as self-reflection and meaningful conversation between students and myself, into my teaching and professional practices. That’s a pretty great takeaway for a free course that took less than an hour to complete. 

• What is SEL?
• SEL For Educators: 4 Best Practices
• Explaining SEL to Parents
• Fostering Well-Being and Social-Emotional Learning Skills

Hiveclass is the remedy to a generation of students who spend an average of six hours per day looking at a screen. This online platform wants to turn passive screen time into active.

By collating a huge library of video guidance on sports, Hiveclass aims to offer an engaging web-based way to get students moving and keep them more engaged in sports as part of their education.

Covering a variety of sports -- including volleyball, basketball, dance, hockey, soccer, and tennis -- this aims to appeal to a wide range of students. The idea is not only to improve performance for students who already play sports, but also to help draw in those who otherwise use their screen time for more passive watching.

Here's how Hiveclass works so you can decide if it's right for you.

What is Hiveclass?

Hiveclass is a web-based platform that offers guidance to children on how to play sports and improve as they progress through the system. The idea is to engage more kids in active screen time to get them moving rather than only passively watching.

Hiveclass covers a variety of sports that include basketball, dance, field hockey, fitness, lacrosse, self-defense, soccer, tennis, and volleyball. All that is available on the device of the student, so they can use this as and when they please.

Crucially, Hiveclass works with schools and libraries across the U.S. to provide these resources to students for free. Students can access these as and when they need, and teachers can use the tools to help students in and outside of class.

The guidance itself is given by athletes who specialize in their particular sport and through professionally shot videos. These are created with a curriculum-based approach and are available in English or Spanish. All of the content can be accessed via smartphone, tablet, laptop, or PC, anywhere with an internet connection.

How does Hiveclass work?

Hiveclass is available in two formats, one for educators and the other for libraries. This gets educators access to the wealth of digital content to teach with, all of which is set to standards as put forward by Shape America. 

It also allows educators to track student progress to easily monitor performance and goals.

Students are able to access all the content they need via the platform, which can then be monitored by educators. Since the system requires a sign-in, once authorized on a device, a student can get access to that content anywhere via an internet connection. The idea being that any open space can be used by students to help them improve their athletic abilities, physical health, and overall wellness.

Most of the content is presented in follow-along style videos. But there is also a selection of questions and an SEL component to help students engage beyond the physical movement side of the practice. 

What are the best Hiveclass features?

Hiveclass is built to curriculum standards as designed by a team of top physical educators, aligning it with the national standards set forth by Shape America. 

Since all that is self-guided, it can allow students to progress without even being in class, or being with an educator in person. This is ideal for engaging students less comfortable in groups but also to help already engaged students to progress further on their own time.

The platform is built to be inclusive with content developed specifically for all students with accessibility features throughout the content. It is possible for kids and educators to search using filters that provide results that are tailored specifically to anyone with certain needs. Helpfully, you can also preset profiles, so at the tap of a button only content specific to that student will be displayed. 

A Reading Hive is available that allows libraries working with the platform to showcase relevant books that students might want to borrow to learn more about an area or skill on which they are working.

How much does Hiveclass cost?

Hiveclass offers separate pricing for educators and libraries, with packages tailored specifically to each. These packages are also tailored to the scale and needs of the education institution in question. 

As such all the pricing is on a quote-by-quote basis. You would need to make an inquiry with a representative of Hiveclass, who then will discuss your needs and work out a price.

The licenses of a library, for example, work on an annual basis with payments established on that level of commitment.

Hiveclass best tips and tricks

Use any space
Adapt to the space you have. In a classroom? Use a balloon instead of a ball to teach the basics of volleyball.

Go green
Have students use their local green space to work through part of an exercise and then feedback to the class how it was to go out into that space and exercise.

Reward the work
Set targets, and for students that exceed those, reward them with in class benefits, such as a rest during the tougher training that week for example.

• What is Padlet and How Does it Work?
• Best Digital Tools for Teachers

At a recent Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit, one session led by Amy Bigbee Grosso, PhD focused on teacher and student well-being, which was a new session for the event. It was a much-needed and well-attended opportunity because all the participants agreed that learning cannot happen when there isn’t a safe and engaging classroom environment. 

The participants focused on empathy, student well-being, and creating psychologically safe classroom cultures. We discussed many topics to support student learning and well-being, and made sure to also address our educators’ needs, coming away with many strategies that will support our learning communities, learners, and educators. 

Teachers need to be able to create emotionally safe spaces in their classrooms and be willing to play a critical role in the emotional well-being of their students. Providing strategies for them to do so is critical.

Practices for Supporting Student Well-Being 

Foster a Feeling of Empowerment 

Equipping students with structure, consistency, and choices is crucial for fostering their sense of empowerment and control. Classroom consistency builds a sense of normalcy and safety. Routines such as posted schedules, daily greetings, collaborative problem-solving methods, and focusing on process over product are methods teachers can start with.

Allow the Use of Digital Creative Tools

Teachers can offer a range of digital tools. However, some students prefer open-ended drawing or drawing from prompts. For example, our group discussed anti-coloring books to explore student expression with a comic creator such as Pixton, which provides templates for SEL lesson ideas, or Shape Collage to allow students to design a collage in any shape of their interest.

Incorporate Music

There are many opportunities to stream music into the classroom. Playing music and allowing movement or yoga are effective methods of promoting a sense of calmness in class.

Understanding Student Behaviors

Disruptive student behavior, such as interrupting, calling out, not finishing an assignment, teasing, and saying "no," can be seen as attention-seeking. These behaviors are often misunderstood or lead to the teacher saying, "You are making bad choices." We often take time to try to punish the bad behavior instead of finding methods to correct the behavior and highlight the desired behavior. Focusing on the desired behavior will refocus the students and create a positive focusing climate, and the student will find attention by being positive.

Supporting Teacher Well-Being 

In addition to the need for student well-being, teachers are at genuine risk of burnout. Our group discussed how teacher stress affects students' well-being and achievement. A common theme was that if teachers lack belonging and connection, their students will feel the same way, impacting their excitement for learning and development.

Our group discussed ideas for school and district leaders to support teacher well-being. This discussion empowered our group, and these strategies can also support you.

Value Your Staff

A major theme was asking leaders to focus on kindness and gratitude. An act of thanks or kindness produces positive sentiments, stronger professional connections, and improved well-being. So utilize simple ways to build appreciation and compassion into staff's day. Kindness and gratitude are contagious, so imagine the benefit to your classroom!

Provide Time To Talk To Peers

Teaching can be an emotionally demanding job with daily challenges. Create structures that allow teachers time to discuss issues and focus on solutions rather than constantly venting about the problems. While a venting session may make educators feel better in the short term, it doesn't solve problems that cause stress. In turn, teachers feel stuck. Instead, allow teachers to spend time with a supportive colleague and implement a problem-solving protocol. The more solutions a school creates, the better the environment will be for teachers.

Encouraging Collaboration

We talked about how teachers feel alone and need time to collaborate. The participants shared that teachers in their schools who employed collaborative practices were more innovative in the classroom and less stressed about the job. In many cases, teachers may have solved problems with access to the same resources in the same context as others who haven't been able to solve them. So why not share? Sharing knowledge and ideas allows teachers to feel supported and reach the desired results much more quickly. Additionally, collaborating greatly benefits the teacher who shares the knowledge and ideas.

Manage Administrative Communication

How often have education leaders sent an email the second something pops into their head, regardless of the time of day? We discussed that this practice might be tempting in order to "communicate" but could place unnecessary pressure on staff who feel they shouldn’t be available via email 24/7. Our groups suggested that leaders should send emails at reasonable times and ban sending emails on weekends. It was recommended for teachers to delete or, better yet, never add work email to their personal phones. When they leave the school, it is time to get refreshed and enjoy time away from the role. Not be tied in 24/7.

Create a Space Where Teachers Feel Welcome

Teaching can feel like a lonely and overwhelming job sometimes, and staff must have the time and space to relax during the day. One suggestion was to create a staff room that is open to all with a relaxed atmosphere. Also, providing healthy snacks, treats, drinks, and music can deliver staff the opportunity to take a real break from the classroom.

It is essential to continually monitor and support staff well-being throughout the year. It’s no mystery that teachers typically have overwhelming workloads, high-stress levels, and a significant risk of exhaustion. Conversations such as these during professional development events and implementing strategies are critical to support our educators and leaders.

• Restoring Hope and Optimism in Schools
• How to Show Appreciation for Teachers

Social-emotional learning (SEL) has become an important tool for helping students with the so-called “soft skills” of life -- emotional regulation, social interactions, empathy, decision making.

We may term them “soft,” but these skills are in fact essential for every child to master as part of maturing into a mentally healthy adult who can successfully navigate the world beyond the schoolyard.

The following free SEL resources will provide a solid foundation for educators to understand and implement SEL in their classrooms and schools.

Social and Emotional Learning Activities and Lesson Plans
10 easy-to-implement lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school students include SEL activities for remote learning, classroom community building, current events, and more.

Powerful SEL Activities
A profile of Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, California, highlighting 13 simple, yet powerful, classroom activities to support social-emotional learning skills.

SEL in Digital Life Resource Center
From Common Sense Education, this excellent selection of lessons and activities is a guide for putting SEL into action in your classroom. Lessons and activities incorporate self-awareness, social awareness, decision-making, and other key SEL principles. Create a free account to access lessons.

What is SEL? Still not sure what SEL is all about? Long-time educator Erik Ofgang goes beyond the acronym, exploring the concepts, history, research, and resources for understanding and effecting social-emotional learning.

5 Incredibly Fun GAMES to Teach Self-Regulation Kids love games, and teachers love well-behaved kids. So a video demonstrating how games can help kids regulate their emotions is a win-win for all concerned! This annotated video provides five simple games, explains why these help kids, and the research basis for the games.

Explaining SEL to Parents
This Tech & Learning article tackles the social media controversy of social-emotional learning, and explains how to talk with parents so they understand the benefits for their kids.

What Is the CASEL Framework?
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is a pioneering nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting SEL research and implementation. The CASEL Framework is designed to help educators use evidence-based SEL strategies according to their unique needs and priorities.

Improving social emotional learning with Classcraft
In this useful and informative article, educator Meaghan Walsh describes how she practices SEL in her classroom with Classcraft.

5 Keys to Social and Emotional Learning Success
This video from Edutopia features educators discussing the elements of social-emotional learning as well as real-life examples of SEL activities in the classroom.

Harmony Game Room
A free app ( Android) from National University, Harmony Game Room is a stellar collection of social-emotional learning tools for PreK-6 students. Included are: Battle the Bully Bot Game (learn to handle bullies); The Commonalities Game (find out more about your friends); Relaxation Stations (focus and breathing exercises); and many more. After trying the app, head over to the Harmony SEL website to access a free SEL curriculum and educator training.

Social-Emotional Learning: The Magic of Circle Talk
How do talk circles help kids relax and open up to their peers and teachers? “The Magic of Circle Talk” answers this question and describes three types of circles to implement in your classroom.

CloseGap
CloseGap is a free, flexible check-in tool that asks kids developmentally appropriate questions to determine whether they’re quietly struggling to maintain good mental health. Then students have the option to complete quick, self-guided SEL activities, such as Box Breathing, Gratitude List, and Power Pose. Hmm, maybe not just for kids!

Quandary
How would you handle the marauding Yashors on Braxos? A challenging fantasy game designed to build a student's ethical and critical thinking skills, Quandary includes a robust guide for educators. Teachers can track and monitor student progress and decide which ethical challenge to present.

myPeekaville
Enter the magical world of Peekaville and interact with its residents, animals and problems through a series of quests and activities. The research-based app contains a daily emotions check-in tool, and is CASEL-aligned and COPPA compliant.

A multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) is a framework designed to guide schools and teachers in providing important academic, social-emotional, and behavioral support to all students. MTSS is designed so that students of varying needs and abilities in the same classroom can all benefit from its structured services. 

The following MTSS resources, lessons, and activities will allow educators and school administrators to deepen their understanding of MTSS and put it into effect at the classroom level.  

A Comprehensive Guide to MTSS
This complete Panorama Education guide is a terrific place to start if you’re still wondering “What does MTSS stand for?” Want to go even deeper? Take the free Panorama Learning Center MTSS certificate course, which covers how to implement MTSS to boost progress for every student in a school or district.

Academic Success for All Students: A Multi-Tiered Approach
What does Tier 1, 2, or 3 instruction look like in a K-12 school? Watch as teachers and students from the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School put the principles of MTSS into action in the classroom. 

Developing a successful MTSS/RTI Team
Understanding MTSS is only the first step. Next, administrators must assemble the team who will carry out the MTSS implementation. This article details the roles and responsibilities of MTSS team members, as well as suggesting what characteristics they should possess. 

Building A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework for Mental Health
Educator and Tech & Learning senior staff writer Erik Ofgang looks at a few key steps schools can take to establish and implement MTSS. 

Explaining SEL to Parents
Social-emotional learning has become a divisive topic recently. Yet, research has shown that parents broadly support SEL skills while disliking the term. This article details how to explain your school’s SEL program to parents, with an emphasis on how it helps kids learn.

Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies
According to a 2019 Centers for Disease Control study, a majority of American children have faced traumas such as abuse, neglect, natural disaster, or experiencing/witnessing violence. Trauma-informed teaching helps teachers understand and manage relationships with students who’ve been traumatized. This article by behavior analyst and educator Jessica Minahan offers great practical ideas for enabling trauma-informed teaching in any classroom. 

Share my Lesson
Explore these social-emotional education lessons designed and tested by your fellow teachers. Nearly every topic is represented, from the arts to math to language and culture. Search by grade, topic, type of resource, and standards. 

Connect your Classroom
Connecting with kids from other cultures offers an excellent opportunity to foster empathy and understanding. The not-for-profit Kind Foundation provides a free communications tool that lets teachers expand their students’ world via secure video, messaging, and file-sharing technology. Empatico was a winner in Fast Company‘s 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards.

Developing an RTI plan
A step-by-step guide to implementing a response to intervention (RTI) model. Includes PDF resources covering beliefs, skills, problem solving, and documenting interventions.

Personalizing Support With Response to Intervention
A profile of the Charles R. Drew Charter School’s successful use of RTI to improve student achievement, this Edutopia article describes the school’s intensive early-elementary RTI and Tier 3 instruction model. It’s brimming with useful tips and ideas, from creating engaging activities to reducing the stigma of Tier 3.

Guiding Students to Success at Their Own Level
Fascinating case study of how Meyer Elementary School in Michigan effectively applied an RTI framework across the entire school, shrinking the achievement gap between the highest- and lowest-achieving students.

TK California: Social-Emotional Development
A social-emotional primer for pre-K teachers. Learn how teachers can boost kids’ social-emotional development through positive relationships and best practices in the classroom. Bonus: Printable Seven Social-Emotional Teaching Strategies PDF.

K-12 Wheel of Emotions
Strong emotions can be unsettling to children, causing them to act out inappropriately or isolate from others. Learn how to use an emotion wheel to help kids identify and explore their feelings. These emotion wheel lessons and activities were created and field-tested by your fellow teachers and are searchable by grade, standard, rating, price (many are free!), and subject.

Best Practices for Trauma-Informed Teaching
Dr. Stephanie Smith Budhai explores six ways teachers can bring a trauma-informed perspective into their classrooms, including mindfulness, virtual healing spaces and journaling.  

Team-Building Games and Activities for Kids
“Now, children, it’s time for our MTSS activities. Doesn’t that sound fun?” said no teacher, ever. While not strictly speaking MTSS, team-building activities are a great way to promote positive feelings and relationships in your classroom. Dozens of diverse activities range from balloon walking to newspaper fashion show to group juggle. Fun for all. 

Hanover Research: Trauma-informed Instruction
A research-based brief that provides both academic background and practical strategies to help teachers build relationships and support students who are experiencing trauma. 

• How It's Done: Implementing Mental Health Tech Tools 
• An MD Turned High School Teacher’s Prescription to Improve School Mental Health
• 15 Sites/Apps for Social-Emotional Learning

As Superintendent of Ypsilanti Community Schools in Michigan, Alena Zachery-Ross led her team to provide exemplary services to students, staff, and community over the last two years. They trained all administrators on the Trauma Resilient Schools through Starr Commonwealth and Elena Agular's work on Onward, hosted monthly events for all staff and quarterly events for families including town hall meetings with mental health professionals, and organized Boots on the Ground activities in their communities. 

In addition, the district also created a Resiliency Center that was a one-stop-shop resource for students and families. They also offered food and learning labs right in students' communities to allow them to feel physical and mental safety. 

For these efforts and others, Zachery-Ross was recognized with an Innovative Leader Award for Best Example of Teacher & Student Well-Being during Tech & Learning’s recent Northeast Regional Leadership Summit.

However, creating these well-being programs is only the beginning. Long-term support and success requires ongoing effort and commitment to certain best practices.

Nominate someone for the Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award here

Encourage Ownership

“One of my mottos is, ‘People support what they help create,’” says Zachery-Ross, adding that by doing so, they’re more likely to be enthusiastic and engaged about the project. 

For example, the Sunshine Committee, which spreads positivity throughout the district (“cheers for peers”) and consists of staff from various departments, creates monthly opportunities for sharing and learning, both professionally and personally. They’ve organized online cooking classes led by a chef, orchestrated jazz concerts, held dance parties, and shared bitmoji classroom-building tips. 

“We want them to lead from where they stand, and they’ve had that opportunity,” says Zachery-Ross. “They didn't have to have a role of principal or instructional coach, but each one of them could bring that knowledge through their professional development. They could be the expert, and we give those opportunities for informal and formal leadership.”

Support Teacher Voice and Student Choice 

Everyone–educators, students, and families–is fatigued right now, says Zachery-Ross, so creating opportunities for teachers to express their voice has been a priority to boost enthusiasm for learning. 

“Teachers and students are burned out, yet when we connect the learning to real-life project-based programs, when we connect the teaching to something the educator is passionate about, instead of feeling drained that person lights up,” she says. “They want to tell people about it. They want to engage our students, and it rejuvenates people instead of diminishing.”

For example, for the district’s summer Grizzly Learning Camp, Zachery-Ross gave teachers freedom to have that voice. “We set up the framework for staff, and said, ‘You know we want specific standards that we're interested in covering over this amount of time. You propose what you would want to teach, what you would want to deliver, how you would like to be innovative and creative, what experience could you create for students, and apply,’” she says.

Consequently, allowing that teacher voice boosted student engagement by providing more choice. “We had over a third of our students attend because teachers connected standards to programs that were of interest to them, that they were passionate about, so it was a true extension beyond what the typical school they looked like,” says Zachery-Ross.

Keep Moving Forward

The pandemic necessitated innovation and new approaches to instruction, and Zachery-Ross encourages that spirit to continue. 

“Oftentimes we don't do things because we think our parents are going to be upset,” she says. “We found our students could tolerate new ways of doing things, our staff could tolerate it, as well as families and communities. We found that we're more resilient than we ever thought we would be. And students, quite frankly, did learn through the pandemic. They just learned differently, and acquired skills that we might not have thought they were ready for.” She points out how kindergarten students can now use digital tools, such as Zoom or Google Classroom, that are part of the professional world.

“We need to give opportunities for acceleration,” she says. “That takes these kinds of project-based hands-on relevant educational experiences that might not not look like our traditional programs.”

Focus on the Key Cs 

Before the pandemic, the concept of preparing students for jobs that haven’t yet been created was difficult to comprehend, says Zachery-Ross. But now three years later, the importance of developing the skills of learning is just as much a focus as understanding specific content. 

“What are things that will sustain?” she says. “No matter what, communication with other people, collaboration with others, being creative, being critical thinkers–there are certain things that no matter if we're in a pandemic or not, that can be sustained. And those are the things that when we talk about connecting this innovation with standards, that will be long-lasting and transferable skills that students can take to college to career to wherever they go.”

Embrace Failure

Of course, during the past two years there have been many challenges, and it’s unrealistic to think that each one was flawlessly resolved.

Zachery-Ross holds an annual “Fail Fest,” during which educators share some of the mistakes they made and chances they took that maybe didn’t work out as planned, and what they learned from these experiences. “Not being afraid to fail and learn is also just not being afraid to fail, right?” she says. “And that’s a hard thing to learn, because we all want to be perfect. We all want to do a good job, but sometimes you don't learn from that absolute and that's something we have to teach our students.”

For example, after getting devices to students for remote learning, Zachery-Ross and her team realized that it wasn’t enough to truly replicate the full learning experience, so they created a “classroom” for home by providing paint, markers, crayons, paper, pencils, and other supplies to students. “We just assume everyone has a whole classroom at home ready to go when remote,” says Zachery-Ross. “We were like, ‘Oh great, we got you a computer, but you don't have any books at home.’ So we should take these experiences from the pandemic and embrace them, and reflect on why we did them.”

Be Present

Leading a district in its education mission is more than setting policies and allocating funds. 

“John Maxwell talks about how everything rises and falls on leadership, and leadership to me is about influence,” she says. “How can we influence if we're not there? How can we influence if you don't understand, and the way to understand is to get to know people, so our motto is ‘Stronger Together.’ We can't do it by pointing the finger – I always say people don't follow your fingers, they follow what you do, how you communicate.”

Zachery-Ross says students immediately recognize if you’re authentic, so she tries to stay connected by being as visible as possible while also being her outgoing self. “When you create that sense of belonging, people will run through a wall and want to do work with you,” she says. “In order to truly lead, you can't have an ego. You can't. You have to be humble and even transparent when we do this. And if we're going to create a space that's safe enough to learn in, to truly be ourselves, to have a sense of belonging, then the leader has to show up.”

And that needs to be a trickle down approach of sorts. “If our staff don't feel like they belong, if they don't feel like they're a part, if they don't believe they are making a difference, then how can the staff make our students feel the same way?” 

Communicate Clearly

Trying to communicate clearly and without all the education acronyms and terms is a focus of Zachery-Ross. “We use the word well-being, we're using the word social-emotional learning, and that might frighten people,” she says. “Instead, can we ask the questions, ‘Do you see me? Do you hear me? Do you value me? Do you respect me?’ We have to sometimes just make it plain.” 

“How about saying, ‘Do I know Joe? Do I know their name? Does someone see me when we show up to work, is someone gonna miss me? If I don't come to school will someone think where am I? Do they value my opinion? Do they respect who I am as a person?’” she says. “If we get down to that core of those simple questions, then we can get to the point of finding what's needed for our students, for our staff, for our families, and then overall for our community.”

• Nominate someone for the Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award here

Father’s Day presents a wonderful opportunity to encourage your students to express their thoughts and appreciation for their fathers as caregivers, mentors, and role models.

The following Father’s Day activities and lessons are all free or low cost, and allow students to practice language, art, and STEM skills while acknowledging Dad or other important men in their lives.

Best Father’s Day Activities and Lessons

Would You Go to a Concert With Your Dad? (Yes, Your Dad!)
The New York Times Learning Network explores the unexpected rise of father-daughter bonding over popular concerts by artists, such as pop star Taylor Swift and country hitmaker Zach Bryan. Is it awesome or is it cringe? Students read the article, then write answers to five thought-provoking questions. Although the article focuses on the father-daughter relationship, the questions are well-suited for all kids.

Best Father-Son Movies
An inspiring, yet clear-eyed look at the best movies depicting the father-son bond from the experts at Common Sense Media. Reviews cover every key aspect – synopsis, appropriate age range, language, violence/scariness, sex, positive content, and more. Even better, each movie review offers questions for discussion that can be adapted for the classroom. Informative ratings from parents and kids are also included for some movies. After reading three free reviews, users will be prompted to join Common Sense Media for Parents at $3.99/month or $39.99/year.

PBS KIDS Celebrates: Father's Day
An agreeable selection of Father’s Days videos from PBS shows, including Alma’s Way, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Cyberchase, Design Squad, and other kids’ programs. Videos range from 2-26 minutes and highlight common father-child interactions; several feature singing characters. A lovely low-key way to present Father’s Day topics, from first haircut to camping trip to puppy vet visit. Ideal for younger learners.

The Best and Worst Dads of All Time
From History.com, this fascinating look at historical fathers includes the likes of Charlemagne, Mark Twain, Peter the Great, and other famous men. Charles Darwin may be the father of evolutionary theory, but how was he as the father of 10 children? The answer may surprise you.

How Many Dads Does It Take To Screw In A Lightbulb? Father's Day By The Numbers
A lighthearted, funny, and fact-filled look at the history of Father’s Day and the role of dads in today’s society.

Father’s Day Activities that Incorporate Social-Emotional Learning
A selection of activities, divided by grade, that allow students to explore the father-child relationship through brainstorming, writing and art. In addition to the emotional aspects of the relationship, the lessons reinforce skills such as planning, decision-making, and budgeting.

6 Stories From Incarcerated Writers on Father’s Day
From the Prison Journalism Project, a collection of fine essays about how incarcerated fathers try to maintain and restore their relationships despite the barrier of prison walls. Use as the basis for writing lessons or social-emotional learning lessons for high school students.

Father’s Day May Not Be Easy for Some Students
A professional learning PDF that offers concise guidance on dealing with students whose fathers aren’t present in their daily lives. For these students, Father’s Day can be a painful reminder of their absence. By considering such students when preparing Father’s Day lessons, educators can ease the emotional impact on them.

Fathers Day Quiz
This simple yet not-so-easy multiple choice quiz asks questions about terms related to fathers, such as Founding Fathers, the Father of Medicine, Father Christmas, and others. Fun and educational—and no account is required to play.

Father-Son and Father-Daughter Athletes
A fascinating look at professional athlete fathers whose offspring also achieved a high level of accomplishment in sports. Is it genes, environment, or both? Do top athletes tend to raise top athletes? To create a high school lesson from this article, ask students to research the heritability of athletic talent and write about their findings.

The Forgotten History of Father's Day
Why didn’t Father’s Day become a national holiday until 1972? Why weren’t men on board with Father’s Day when it was first proposed? Who were the women behind the first Father’s Day? These and other questions are answered in this intriguing article from Almanac.com, the 21st-century version of the Farmer’s Almanac.

Best Fathers in Shakespeare Canon
Use Father’s Day as an opportunity to delve into the rich trove of father characters in the plays of William Shakespeare. Written by a longtime Shakespearean teacher, scholar, and actor, this article conveys with humor, videos and scholarship the differences among the many dads of Shakespeare. A great starting point for a literature or sociology lesson with high school students.

Father's Day Lesson Plans and Activities
A rich source of varied Father’s Day lessons and activities, from Father’s Day printables to guided reading lessons to a comparison of fictional fathers from the works of William Shakespeare. Sortable by elementary and secondary grades. Free.

Digital Father’s Day Gift
Educator Jennifer Findley’s digital Father’s Day gift includes four themes to choose from, a Spanish-language version, and alternative versions for loving parents and guardians. The digital gift is designed to be used easily with (or without) Google Classroom.

Poems About Fathers
Dozens of poems by such poets as William Carlos Williams, Anne Sexton, Robert Hayden, and others will evoke powerful emotions in readers. Some are lighthearted, too. What do you know, what do you know, of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Poems for Fathers
Need more Dad poetry? Explore additional father-related poems here, from the Poetry Foundation. For ideas on how to get started teaching poetry, try How to Read a Poem, then share with your students.

Fathers in Fiction
A concise analysis of six fictional fathers, from Atticus Finch to Geppetto. Have your students read this article, then write their own analyses of these fathers, or others from literature.

Send an ehug to a father or father figure
Students can create and send a loving ecard to their fathers or father figures, choosing from among the customizable templates or starting from scratch. They can then use the rich library of characters, backgrounds, emojis, and much more to express exactly what they’re feeling. Print, save, or share via email. Free.

Father’s Day Online Quizzes, Games and Worksheets
Although geared toward English Language Learners, these free online Father’s Day activities are also well suited for any younger student to practice basic literacy skills. Exercises include alphabetical order, matching letter cases, word search, online crossword puzzle, and listening comprehension.

Father’s Day Remixable Game
Combine Father’s Day notions with a fun coding challenge from the Playlab at code.org. Students run the Father’s Day interactive drama, then hit the “Remix” button to adapt the code for a Father's Day performance of their own.

Ling Lam, Director of Education Technology, Helios School, Sunnyvale, California

After starting out as a facilitator at a nonprofit organization for grieving and foster youth, Ling Lam has learned the importance of recognizing the impact of well-being on students and in all aspects of education. 

“For kids there's something we call an ‘invisible owie,’ because when they're grieving or unhappy, they're suddenly saying, ‘Oh, my stomach hurts, my head hurts. I don't feel well,’” says Lam, Director of Education Technology at Helios School in Sunnyvale, California. “And then, they go to the doctor, the doctor says, ‘Oh, there's nothing wrong with you, you don't have a temperature, everything is fine.’ But they do feel hurt, so how do we recognize it?”

Lam focuses on creating that kind of awareness, not only for students but for teachers as well. She has been instrumental in bridging the gap between tech and instruction by developing strong relationships with both teachers and administrators, as well as with students. 

Consequently, Lam has developed some best practices in making the case for including more technology in teaching and learning, but also emphasizing the importance of blending technology with solid pedagogy and social-emotional learning needs. 

For this and other efforts, Lam was recognized as Best Example of Student and Teacher Well-Being Programs during Tech & Learning’s Innovative Leader Awards in California. 

Nominate someone for the Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award here

Best Practices for Blending SEL and Tech 

Simply blocking apps is not a solution. “As an administrator, teachers often tell me, ‘Block YouTube,’ ‘Block this,’” Lam says. “I say, ‘Are you crazy? They can just go click on the video in Google. They know how to watch. I cannot block Google.’” 

Consequently, blocking or taking away apps/platforms is not a feasible solution because it doesn’t change the behavior, Lam says. It can also result in students resenting the teacher and being motivated in the wrong direction to find another way around any blocking. “You can try to fight them but they all outnumber you in a school,” she says. 

Choose the broccoli. Lam advocates for strong digital citizenship instruction. “I tell the kids, ‘Treat others online the way that you want to be treated. Would you say that to the real person? Would you be proud for someone to see this? What would you say?’”

Lam also tells students to stop and consider the possibilities when it comes to using technology. For example, “If I present you chocolate and broccoli, why do we choose chocolate? Because it's that instant gratification,” she says. “But if you take a moment and think about it, ‘Oh, I should take the broccoli. It is so much better for me, it keeps you healthy, it won't give a sugar crash like a candy. It’s gonna help you with all these vitamins and minerals. I’m gonna be stronger.’” Fostering an environment in which students learn to make the proper choices on their own in relation to technology use is critical.

Have a written, detailed plan. It may seem obvious, but developing a technology usage protocol, and making it available to everyone, is essential. "We cannot just throw technology in the classroom and just put an app there and then be like, 'Oh, there you go,'” she says. 

Lam clearly lays out step-by-step guidelines of how to approach various contingencies in a document for everyone. "If this goes like this, what we're going to do is this, this is how we're going to approach it, this is how we're going to talk to the parent, this is how we mediate it," she says. "We cannot just do it on the fly."

Take ownership. When students do have certain tech needs, Lam encourages them to handle it on their own as much as possible. For example, if a student forgets their laptop at home, it’s up to them to contact  Lam or someone else at the beginning of the day to resolve the issue. 

“‘I don't know’ is not an acceptable answer,” I tell my students,” Lam says. “‘If you don't know, you ask someone.’” 

Also, by encouraging students to be proactive in situations such as leaving a laptop at home, they’re taking ownership of their own actions, which is a critical part of building social-emotional learning. “When you start owning mistakes, it takes away some of the stigma around it,” Lam says. “They can be like, ‘I've made a mistake. Oh, I know how to fix it. I can do something rather than just sit there and wait for someone.’”

Show appreciation. Another one of Lam's protocols is having the student write a thank you email after they've been helped by a staff member.

“I explain to the kids that when you say thank you, when you show your gratitude to someone, in the future people are more likely to help you because you're not just a taker,” she says. “Then it also becomes a habit the more you do it. Gratitude becomes muscle memory, and I want them to have this same habit from in-person when they go to a website or are in the virtual world. That's gonna help translate forward to make it better for everyone in the long run.”

• Nominate someone for the Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award here

As we transition from the days of the pandemic and into what will become a “new normal,” it is important to support students and help them heal from the trauma they endured over the past couple of years. 

While on the surface some students may seem okay, not all have adjusted so well. We also do not know all of the challenges that students may have experienced due to changes to family job and income status, the loss of loved ones to COVID, and the mentally draining experiences of students of color dealing with heightened racial attacks. 

As educators, we cannot solve all of these concerns, but we can do the five things listed here to support student healing and restoration.

1: Be Mindful of Cognitive Load 

Yes, academics are important, and students must meet certain standards in order to move to the next grade. However, learning and growth is more than academics, and includes social-emotional well-being and growth. Consider the workload of students during and after the school day. Students, as adults do, need time to clear their mind and think. Too much content and required assignments can overload students’ brains. Also, consider having scheduled mental health days to help combat potential cognitive overload. 

2: Utilize Strength-Based Approaches 

Nothing is more stressful than always hearing from teachers about deficits in performance, thinking, and lack of contributions to the class. Instead of focusing on what students aren’t doing, show them that they matter and what they bring to the classroom is welcome and worthy. Draw on students' strengths when teaching and focus on their assets. Feeling and knowing that you are an important member of the class community, especially in these unstable times, can support student healing and provide a renewed sense of excitement around school, and contribute to creating dynamic equitable learning environments. 

3: Collaborate with Families 

Families are an extension of students. Likely, if students need support in healing, so do families. By working in concert with one another, teachers and families can collaborate to create robust systems of support for students as they heal. If your school does not have a formal opportunity to engage with families, check out the National Parent Teacher Association’s website, which offers a wide variety of toolkits to get started. 

4: Engage with Communities 

As teachers, we are all familiar with Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System. While students’ experiences within the school environment is one of importance, there are also other spaces that students connect with beyond the in-person and online learning environments. To support student healing, find out about the students’ neighborhood and communities, and other layers of their ecological system that impact their world. There may be issues that students are dealing with beyond the classroom for which your school’s counselor or family services coordinator can provide resources. Leverage community organizations, leaders, and members who can consult with you and provide additional support. Here are a few other ideas on engaging community members. 

5: Give Grace and Continued Compassion 

It has been a long two years. Stress, illness, civil unrest, and uncertainty about the future has impacted us all. In order to support students in healing and moving beyond the remnants of the pandemic, we must give them grace and consistently show compassion. Grace can come in many forms, including being flexible with assignment due dates, celebrating small wins, and having the chance for “do overs.” Similarly, teach with compassion always, be kind to students, and show them that above all else, you care about them and their well-being. Another way to show compassion is to make time for students to center calmness using mindfulness apps and websites. 

We hope that you try some or all of the suggestions above to help support your students as they heal and restore. You may want to even start by creating virtual healing spaces that can be accessed by students, teachers, families, and the larger community.  

• Building A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework for Mental Health
• Building a Sustainable Social-Emotional Learning Plan

Explaining your school’s SEL policies to parents has become increasingly important. 

Outside of the education world, few people know that SEL stands for social and emotional learning, and even those who understand the acronym are often uncertain as to what SEL programs in schools look like. 

In our highly politicized education landscape, this can have unfortunate consequences, especially as schools and districts continue to invest more in SEL — according to one analysis, spending on SEL increased by roughly 45 percent between late 2019 and early 2021. 

As it turns out, SEL has become the latest flashpoint in the education wars, with conservatives in some districts equating SEL with liberal identity politics, according to the Hechinger Report. 

“It's very disheartening to see something as overwhelmingly agreed upon as a priority turned into a politically divisive issue by politicians that are looking to be divisive instead of doing what's best for kids,” says Melissa Schlinger, vice president of Practice and Programs of CASEL, a nonprofit leader in SEL education. 

However, once people understand what SEL is, they rarely have problems with it regardless of their political background, Schlinger says. That’s why she and other SEL experts advise the following to make sure parents understand exactly what SEL programs are and what they are not. 

Establish Lines of Communication to Discuss SEL and More  

The first step to effectively describe your school’s SEL program is to establish open communication with parents and the community, Schlinger says. “[Schools] need to make sure that they are providing opportunities to be in discussion with parents about the social-emotional learning skills, and that they are focused on what it means to create a supportive climate founded on relationships and belonging,” she says. “Invite open conversation and make sure parents recognize that their voices are not only welcome but encouraged as part of SEL implementation.”

This type of transparency and openness can go a long way to alleviating potential concerns about SEL programs before any crop up by giving parents a clear understanding of what these programs are actually about. 

Explain SEL to Parents and How It Will Help Their Children

“What we've heard from our superintendents and our district leaders is that when they show parents ‘This is what we're focused on, and these are the skills, and here's how we do it,’ there's really very little disagreement,” Schlinger says. It’s when education jargon and acronyms are paired with political interests looking to stir up anger that some schools get pushback. In those instances, Schlinger advises sitting down with parents, unpacking what SEL is, and saying, “Here are the competencies that make up social-emotional learning, and here's how we promote them.” 

Getting specific about what these competencies entail can also help, says Brittany Zakszeski, Ph. D, a training and consulting specialist at Devereux Center for Effective Schools, which is run by Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Consulting, a behavioral healthcare nonprofit. “We want to be teaching things like recognizing emotions, managing emotions, using coping strategies – a lot of these things are ones that most people would agree are important for school success, and that are not related to any partisanized outcome or agenda,” she says. 

Research supports this. A poll conducted by the Fordham Institute found that although there is broad support among parents for teaching SEL-related skills in schools, the term ‘social and emotional learning’ is relatively unpopular. 

Share What SEL Provides Students  

“As schools, we're in the business of preparing our children for life,” Schlinger says. “If you look at what employers are saying that they need from a future workforce, they need people who can work with people who are different from them, who can collaboratively problem solve, who can manage stress, and who have self-awareness.” 

It’s also important not to frame SEL as somehow separate from the academics that occur at your school. 

“We know that this is actually foundational to all academic learning,” Schlinger says. “It's not like we're taking away time from academics to focus on these things.” 

Remind Parents Why SEL is So Important Now  

SEL is particularly critical as we move out of the pandemic, and parents may need to be reminded of how much regular socialization and in-person school many children have missed, says Laura E. Rutherford, Ph.D., director of training and a research psychologist at Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Consulting. “I think most parents will say, ‘Oh, yes, now that you're saying it this way, I do see a need. My child is not used to the things that we would think of as typical that I grew up with.’ We actually have to go back and teach and help students learn them.” 

It’s important for parents to understand that schools need to create a safe and positive environment in which kids feel like they belong and they're connected. “That's a really important strategy for promoting mental well-being, which we know is really critical right now,” Schlinger says. “There's certainly a lot of depression and anxiety and behavior issues that are happening. And we know that social-emotional learning can play a really important role in providing supportive environments for kids to be in.” 

• SEL For Educators: 4 Best Practices
• SEL Takes Center Stage in Roadmap to Reopening
• Building a Sustainable Social-Emotional Learning Plan

As Spring 2022 approaches, we prepare to move forward after more than two years of living through a global pandemic. While great efforts have been made to continue teaching and learning during these turbulent, uncertain times, students, teachers, and families have been woefully taxed. 

Virtual learning environments have proved to be effective in continuing teaching and learning, beyond the confines of a physical classroom space. However, these environments can also be used to create virtual healing spaces. Mental health and wellness is important for students to be able to focus and engage in learning, so having these spaces available is incredibly needed. 

Here are four online environments that can be used as virtual healing spaces: 

1: Affinity Break-Out Room Calming Circles 

Create a variety of affinity break-out room circles in which students and their families can come together over shared interests, issues, and obstacles currently being faced, while supporting one another. These smaller affinity break-out room circles, which can be hosted through a video conferencing platform such as Zoom, can be informal or formalized with questions to consider. You could even collaborate with your school’s counseling staff to serve as a facilitator for these calming circles. The affinity spaces can be based on topics, grade levels, schools within a larger district, demographic groups, or any other ways to bring students and families with shared experiences and challenges together to reflect and debrief. 

2: Community Affirmation Pinterest Boards 

While designed as a social media and image-sharing platform, Pinterest is a wonderful virtual healing space that can be used to build community affirmation. Create classroom community affirmation Pinterest boards where students and their families can post inspiring quotes and images that can serve as peaceful inspiration. Post a link to the Pinterest board within your classroom LMS. You could even share new postings with your class each Monday to start the week off in a positive and uplifting way.  

3: Voice-Recorded Reflection Domains  

Sometimes students and their families want to share their thoughts, but not in a live space. With reflection, it can take time to gather thoughts and prepare to speak aloud. In these cases, making available voice-recorded reflection domains on a platform such as VoiceThread can allow students the space to think about the challenges they are facing, and share with the larger class community. Classmates and teachers can respond to the reflections with advice, words of support, and further affirmation.  

4: Synchronous Caring Sessions 

It is always good practice to bring the entire class community together as one. Consider holding quarter live synchronous caring sessions using a virtual conferencing tool such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or whatever platform is available at your school. Each class community member can finish statements such as “I care about ...”, “Caring about others has made me …”, “Caring to me means…”, “I feel cared for when….”     

Virtual healing spaces have the ability to bring together students, teachers, and their families in times of unrest and serve as environments in which reflection, calm, and community can be nurtured and thrive. Consider offering your students, their families, and yourself the space to heal and renew. 

If you would like to incorporate mindfulness activities, check out our article 5 Mindfulness Apps and Websites for K-12. 

• 5 Mental Health Tips for Educators During the Pandemic
• How Mental Health Days Are Being Scheduled at Schools

With the lingering effects of the global pandemic, coupled with myriad instances of civil unrest, K-12 students have been through a great deal over the past two years. While academic learning is at the crux of teaching, we as teachers must also focus on the social-emotional needs and wellness of students. 

One way to address this is to offer students opportunities to engage in mindfulness practices. According to Mindful.org, “ Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.” 

Here are five mindfulness apps and websites for K-12 students and teachers.

1: DreamyKid  

Dreamy Kid offers a comprehensive platform of mindfulness and mediation tools for students ages 3-17. Content on Dreamy Kid can be accessed through a web browser as well as a mobile application. One of the unique aspects of Dreamy Kids is the diverse category offerings that range from supporting ADD, ADHD, and anxiety, to healing activities and guided journeys for teens. For teachers who want to incorporate Dreamy Kid into their classroom, an education program is available. 

2: Calm 

The Calm app offers a robust suite of online mindfulness resources focused on stress management, resilience, and self-care. One unique feature of Calm that is relevant to K-12 students is the 30 Days of Mindfulness in the Classroom resource. Included are reflection questions, scripts, and a plethora of mindfulness activities. Even if you are not familiar with mindfulness strategies, there is a Self-care Guide for Teachers. The self-care guide includes calm tips, images, blog postings, planning calendars, and links to videos. 

3: Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame 

Geared toward younger learners, Sesame Street offers the Breathe, Think, Do with Sesame app that is designed to help children de-stress. Within the app, a variety of scenarios are offered with video clips that learners move through. Additional resources and games can be accessed once the learner has completed the prerequisite activity. Activities are offered in both English and Spanish.  

4: Headspace 

The Headspace platform offers a series of sleep, meditation, and mindfulness resources and activities. Educators are welcomed to Headspace and supported through free access for K-12 teachers and supporting staff members in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. Resources for how to care for yourself as a teacher are available, as well as mindfulness tools for your students. If you would like to delve deeper into specific topics, categories include: mediation; sleep and wake up; stress and anxiety; and movement and healthy living.  

5: Smiling Mind 

Smiling Mind is a nonprofit based in Australia that offers a mindfulness app developed by educators and psychologists. The app has strategies that support students’ social and emotional well-being, and it offers a series of strategies and techniques specifically designed for children.  Teachers and parents can order care packets too. Also, if you are an educator in Australia, there are additional professional development opportunities along with indigenous languages resources. 

These mindfulness apps and websites can support humanizing educational experiences while helping students cope with the ongoing mental health crisis. As students are seemingly always engaged on tech devices, introducing mindfulness, meditation, and de-stressing practices through the use of edtech tools may provide a pathway for students to self-reflect, center calmness, and become less overwhelmed with other environmental forces impacting them. 

• SEL For Educators: 4 Best Practices
• Former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera: Using Poetry to Support SEL

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is not easy to study. 

“All of us in education know it's challenging measuring academic skills; it's even more challenging measuring social-emotional skills,” said Jennifer Adams, who serves on the Executive Committee for Karanga The Global Alliance for Social-Emotional Learning and Life Skills, and is former Superintendent/Director of Education for the English public schools in Ottawa, Canada.

Despite the challenges involved, global research into SEL is improving as is an understanding of its importance and the best practices involved. 

“The topic discussion is becoming more granular and more nuanced. It's moved away from smiley face stickers for everybody to people understanding the science behind it,” said Mark Sparvell, director of marketing education at Microsoft and an advisor to Goldie Hawn's MindUp Foundation. 

Adams and Sparvell, who is also an ambassador for the Emotional Intelligence Society of Australia and founder of the SELinEdu Community, spoke about global research into social-emotional learning during a recent Tech & Learning webinar hosted by Dr. Kecia Ray.  The two focused on highlights from Beyond Academic Learning: First Results from the Survey of Social and Emotional Skills, a global study of SEL from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

View the on-demand version of the webinar here.  

 Key Takeaways  

Social and Emotional Skills Related to Well-Being

The OECD study is one of the first international efforts to collect data from students, parents and educators on the social and emotional skills of learners at age 10 and 15. Survey results were collected from 11 cities in 10 countries. 

“The first and foremost conclusion that the study comes to is that social-emotional skills are strongly related to well-being,” Adams said. “That might seem obvious, but I think it's important that we've got an international study that says this across countries around the world with very different education systems with very different cultures, languages, religions, etc.” 

This intercultural finding highlights the need for schools to do more to support SEL for educators and students, Adams said. 

Other findings include: 

• SE skills dip in adolescence, particularly for girls
• Boys reported higher emotional regulation,  sociableness , and energy levels
• Girls reported higher levels of responsibility, empathy and cooperation
• Socioeconomically advantaged students reported higher SE skills
• A competitive school climate and high expectations (teachers/parents) are associated with higher well-being in 10 year olds and higher test anxiety for 10 and 15 year olds
• Well-being dips as test anxiety increases from 10-15 year olds, especially for girls

Focus on Well Being Rather Than Learning Loss 

The OECD report and a separate Aspen Institute guidance reached similar conclusions around learning loss, Sparvell said. “At the moment, we hear people, schools, and systems talking about learning loss talking about learning interrupted,” he said. “There is maybe an inclination to rush toward more content, more time spent covering curriculum, but both the OECD paper and the Aspen Institute suggest a balanced approach, which carefully considers well-being, particularly emotional well being, as a route toward academic achievement.” 

Adams leads a thought leadership group, which frequently invites education and health experts to talk. “It's very interesting to hear that when those panelists are talking, whether they're from the education system or the mental health sector, they're all saying the exact same thing,” she said. “The advice that they're giving to education, policymakers, and to leaders, is to make sure that we really take care of our students and our staff, and the learning will come as part of that. The knee-jerk reaction to potentially go down that path of trying to catch up is absolutely the wrong approach.” 

Social and Emotional Learning Disparities 

A particularly significant finding of the OECD paper was that socioeconomically advantaged students reported higher social and emotional skills. 

“We know that there is a demonstrated gap based on socio-demographics for academic skills,” Adams said. “What this study has shown is that that gap exists for social-emotional skills. And obviously, during this time with a pandemic, it exacerbated both of those gaps, which really means that as we come back, and we have children coming back into schools, we have to take extra care now that we know more about the gaps and the needs of those vulnerable children.” 

Sparvell said the impact of this disparity could potentially be felt for years. “Those with higher developed social and emotional skills, with greater resilience, with greater ability to put things into perspective, with greater levels of optimism, all of that good social and emotional learning stuff, essentially have got protective factors to allow them to mitigate the harm caused,” Sparvell said. “Yet this research is suggesting those very students who are already more vulnerable through their parents possibly having to physically go to work, through not having potential access to devices and technology, and who are already at risk, are even further at risk if they're not having access to high-quality, social and emotional learning programs.” 

Boosting Academic Achievement By Giving Students Control 

Sparvell shared how Microsoft sponsored The Class of COVID: Lessons of Today and Learnings for Tomorrow, a white paper by Harvard Business Review. For the paper, the team spoke with experts in a variety of fields to develop advice for coming out of the pandemic. 

Sparvell shared highlights from his conversation with John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist, and bestselling author of the “Brain Rules” series of books. “He said to me he’s only interested in what he can measure in terms of the brain. And he said that brains are built for stress, they love it. That's what we're designed for. Stress triggers emotions, which then guide behaviors fight, flight, freeze. But the brain hates feeling out of control. When it feels out of control, experiencing stress for prolonged periods, it ceases to operate effectively. It basically starts to freak out.” 

With this in mind, Medina’s advice for educators that Sparvell relayed is: “Be very cognizant about allowing students to have control in remote learning, hybrid learning, or face-to-face learning because in a world that is largely out of their control, they need small pockets of control. So when you hear people talking about voice and choice, and agency, what they're really talking about is, ‘I see you, I hear you, and you matter.’ It calms the stressed brain, and allows learners to engage in deep learning.” 

Sparvell added, “We know that emotions are the gatekeeper of how we think and process information. What drives us to do what we do and motivation, and where we direct our scarcest resource, our attention. So, for learning to be effective, we need to pay very careful attention to the emotional context.” 

• Recent Tech & Learning Webinars

Deep work is one of those mysterious talking points we assume should be part of our learning environment but we may not know quite why, or more importantly how to get kids there. 

We live in a loud world. A lot of "noise" surrounds us, and not the kind that blares in our ear. Rather, there are a tremendous amount of distractions all around us, from phones to social media to the latest crisis or drama unfolding, and this is the enemy of deep work. After all, deep work is defined by Cal Newport as the “activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limits.”

It may seem obvious that gaining a state of deep work focus is valuable because tasks get done, but the value far exceeds simply checking off a to-do list. Consider that deep work is highly satisfying because of the tremendous sense of accomplishment associated with it. This is far more significant because the anxiety and stress brought on by being distracted away from deep work is both so tempting and so detrimental.

A profound sense of accomplishment is a major contributor to the human condition and a monumental antidote to anxiety, stress, and trauma. I have written about this (Leading Schools Through Trauma) and outlined both the cost of trauma disrupting fulfilling work, and the ways around it. 

Here are some quick, stackable in-class interventions that can help your students (and you) break through the disruptors of deep work and back on track toward highly rewarding accomplishments.

Coffee Talk 

I have a confession: As I compose this story, I am listening to background coffeehouse sounds on my headphones. The reason? Listening to coffeehouse sounds puts me in an intensely focused state; one that sets the stage for finding that sweet spot that distracts me away just enough from the unimportant external stimuli (i.e. my phone pinging) and toward brain waves (alpha and theta) concentration that strike a perfect equilibrium for high focus and deep learning. 

Tonal sounds are a quick and effective solution to in-class options that promote the kind of motivation perfect for learning and pushing above a current level of understanding. You can find coffeehouse sounds anywhere on the internet, such as YouTube; these are ideal for having students fulfill independent or whole-class work focus.

Breathing for Optimal Learning 

Since anxiety is the enemy of optimal learning states, reducing stress and the effects of trauma are the ideal counterpoint. Various breathing techniques are available and I recommend the 4-7-8 method. 

When we breathe deeply and systematically, we activate stretch receptors around the diaphragm linked to the parasympathetic nervous system; this is especially true with the 4-7-8 method because we pause for 7 seconds in the slightly stretched position for a stronger rest-and-digest effect. Visually following this is beneficial for learners needing a quick minutes-long fix, at sites that show the learner the expansion and shrinking happening.

Social Media is Everywhere 

Accepting that social media is integrated actively into the lives of our students, as well as for us adults, means we should not try to avoid it or try to teach students to ignore it. The likely outcome is that you will be ignored! 

Instead, help students understand that negative feedback loops in social media are detrimental to concentration levels that induce deep work, and satisfaction. In fact, social media makes us less intelligent if we do not recognize the dangers of negative consequences. 

Teach students that social media can act as a support network in certain ways, such as an Instagram study demonstrated, helping young women properly discriminate between fantasy highlight reel images and the reality that others share with their own imperfections. This is empowering, and allows learners to step away from the powerful negative narratives that tax their minds beyond their sense of accomplishment and success.

Employing one or more of these techniques that support deep work will help students become more successful, motivated, and well adjusted. In an era where we are surrounded by distractors that tap our most primal and destructive thought processes, this matters even more. See students succeed due to technology support, not in spite of it!

• Former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera: Using Poetry to Support SEL
• SEL For Educators: 4 Best Practices

Technology is changing the social-emotional learning landscape that all students navigate every day, from how they express themselves to how they communicate with friends and family. How educators support all students, regardless of language or ability, to promote their own well-being and be a positive influence online, continues to be a priority for all school districts. 

And in light of the pandemic, that SEL piece of digital citizenship has become even more critical.

“Even though students are back in the classroom and it’s supposed to be back to normal, it doesn’t quite feel like that,” said Tali Horowitz, New York education director for Common Sense, during a session of the recent New York City Department of Education Beyond Access virtual professional development conference. “It’s been a rough year for all of us. We may have lost people close to us, our students may have, and there’s a lot going on.”

Accordingly, much of the focus in schools has been on social-emotional learning. “Much of that is around soft skills, not core content,” said Jackie Patanio, edtech citywide lead, NYCDOE. “Not things you need to know for math, right, but soft skills on how to interact with one another and build those skills internally, so you can build a relationship with someone and learn how to empathize with them.”

Resources, lessons, best practices, and activities to help boost SEL in digital citizenship were the focus of the discussion during the session, which can be viewed free on demand here. 

Common Sense Education has also created a resource center full of free resources for promoting SEL in the digital lives of students.

Social-Emotional Learning & Digital Citizenship Takeaways 

Taking stock. To help support SEL and connect with students and families, teachers may want to consider focusing on specific key areas with the help of these questions from ShareMyLesson:

• Experiences: What losses or significant changes has your child experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic? 
• Feelings: How has your child handled being out of school, away from their friends, and sheltered in place with your family? 
• Anticipation: What has been your child’s reaction when they knew they were coming back to school? 
• Behavior: Is there anything else about your child’s behavior during the pandemic that you think will help us help them take full advantage of their time with us? 
• Consider adding: How can the school support you? OR What could help your child have more success in school? 

“Remember, this work should never be done alone,” said Laura Ogando, program manager for Digital Literacy & Inclusion, NYCDOE. “When we’re working on these topics, we need to connect to the support community, and involve our social workers, guidance counselors, school psychologists -- there’s an array of folks in the building.” 

During the pandemic, social media was cited by students as important for keeping connected to family and friends, staying informed about current events, and getting information about COVID-19, according to research by Common Sense. 

In addition, there’s been a marked increase in hate speech online, and learning to navigate all this is an essential part of good digital citizenship. “It’s important to teach our students how to be upstanders,” Horowitz said. “How do they address and report people when they see this kind of hate speech, and how do they handle it when it’s hitting themselves as well.” 

SEL and digital citizenship lessons. Common Sense Education offers a plethora of free, vetted SEL-focused lessons.

“The beauty of these activities is that a lot are quick, 15-minute activities, which is great when you need to address something but don’t want to take up an hour,” Ogando said. “It’s all just very practical. These lessons are not necessarily bounded by grade. Some students may not have gotten these lessons when they were younger.”

Many Common Sense lessons start with self, and then go to responsible decision-making, and then finally widens out into social awareness. 

Different lessons that span across various grade bands are available. For example, during the presentation, one lesson on self-management was shared. It focuses on teaching children to say goodbye to technology by developing a three-step routine consisting of pausing, breathing, and finishing up. Act out scenarios are partnered with the lessons to help students learn to use the lessons, and space is also provided for students to reflect on the lesson.

Another lesson that was shared focuses on being a “super” digital citizen who makes sure other students make good choices and are safe, responsible, and respectful. Other shared lessons explored digital “drama” and considering other peoples’ perspectives as well as dealing with online and digital relationships. 

Every lesson also has a family conversation piece and is available in Spanish. “It’s a good opportunity for families to share their thoughts and ideas around these topics as well,”  Horowitz said. 

Finding what works best. To help lower stress and prevent online burnout, it’s important to remind students that they can put conversations on mute, turning off notifications or stepping back before responding. Or that they can even disconnect completely by putting down their device and just going outside. 

“We’re working to help our students find what works best for them versus what the tech company says works best for them,” Horowitz said. 

• How to Teach Digital Citizenship
• Supporting Digital Citizenship During Remote Learning

Poetry can support social-emotional learning as it connects with students in a profound way, says former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera. 

“Poetry is a free space,” he says. “It's your internal free space in your mind, your feelings, the words you use, and you imagine it with images and landscapes. Your heart is boiling or heating up or flaring or volcanically wanting to explode. The poem is there for you; it'll contain that fire.” 

Within that free space, students have a chance to delve into trauma and other serious issues on their minds. “They talk about rape, they talk about suicide,” Herrera says. “Poetry then is the place, you can just open that mountain of fire, and write it and speak it and present it. And then we hear and we feel it. And it's a great way to find healing.”  

Herrara, who was U.S. Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017, will be the keynote speaker at NYC DOE’s Beyond Access Forum: Moving Forward Together on November 2. The virtual event, which is open to all educators, will run 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. ET. 

The child of migrant workers, Herrera is an alum of UCLA and Stanford University, and obtained his MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. During his keynote, he will share a poem aimed at inspiring educators and their students.

“I want to uplift people's lives in whatever way I can,” he says. “I'm not Mighty Mouse -- I'm Minnie Mouse, I'm Micro Mouse. But I do want to help in whatever way I can, or inspire in whatever way I can.” 

His poetry collections include 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border: Undocuments. He has also created work for children, including Imagine and Jabberwalking, and much of his outreach work focuses on connecting poetry with young people. 

More Than Words on Paper 

As Poet Laureate, Herrera helped to launch “Wordstreet Champions and Brave Builders of the Dream,” a program in partnership with Chicago Public Schools. The effort saw Herrera connecting with nearly 40 English teachers to help expand their perception of what a poem was and how it could be created. In one exercise, teachers faced each other in two rows and talked, while other teachers walked between the rows writing down snippets of conversation they heard and then using that as the basis of a poem.

“We cut up paper, we used colors, we stood in lines, we shouted at each other, we walked through these little tunnels of people talking like little gauntlets. We painted things and made symbols,” Herrara says. 

The educators then brought these ideas and energies back to their district. 

Herrara also coordinates the Laureate Lab Visual Wordist Studio at Fresno State, which is also geared toward pushing the boundaries of what constitutes a poem. 

“It comes from the whole idea of not being so squashed into a small space talking about poetry. As I have taught through the years, students come into the creative writing program, wherever I've been, and they want to do art also. They're painters also, and they're writers, but there's no way for them to paint in their creative writing courses,” he says. “They want to merge writing and painting, and writing and sculpture, writing and dance, writing and performance. And all that is kind of pushed aside usually in a traditional creative writing workshop.” 

This philosophy also applies to mediums increasingly popular with students today such as social media.

“Poetry, like every expressive form, is multi-dimensional, but we just seem to have things in little boxes,” he says. “We can dance a poem, we can collage a poem, we can YouTube a poem. And we can do simultaneous expressive formats; playing jazz on the corner, doing YouTube at the same time, drawing and dancing at the same time.” 

A Way of Learning About the World

No matter what form a poem takes, it remains a form of personal expression, which is why it’s such a powerful medium for students, Herrera says.

“It’s a perfect place to express all that because it's so personal. What you get with poetry, it's just one hundred percent, one thousand percent, personal. It's the real you talking, it's not the school you,” he says. “So it's total expression, personal yes, but it also provides a possibility of new thinking and a new way of seeing things.” 

This can help students learn more about the world and themselves as well as help educators understand their students. Herrera says a good poem might cause a teacher to say, “Oh, I have to look at this issue differently now. I have to look at young people differently now because we hear a new thinking.” 

Herrera’s work is also steeped in respect for the teachers we find in all walks of life, from parents to guardians as well as the professional educators in our lives. “It's good to support our teachers because without teaching we have nowhere to go,” he says. “We are lost.”

• NYC DOE Beyond Access Forum Provides Professional Development Around Inclusive and Individualized Education
• AI Writing Programs Are Getting Better. Is That a Good Thing?
• Best Digital Resources for Teaching Poetry

In the T&L Honor Role podcast, Drs. Kecia Ray and Frances Gipson celebrate fierce and formidable women in education. Their guests are some of the most accomplished education leaders working today. 

In each episode, guests are asked how they take care of their health and wellness and balance the demands of leadership and other responsibilities. Some common themes have emerged. 

Most guests emphasized the centrality of health and wellness to their ability to be in service to others, noting that self-care fuels their work. The importance of sleep, good nutrition, and physical movement are central to self-care as well as music, laughter, meditation, and joy, particularly during this time of ongoing disruption.

Here is some of the wisdom they have to offer:

Dr. Tanzy Kilcrease, Bibb County (GA) Schools Chief of Staff. “Understand that self-care is not selfish. We can’t lead others if we don’t care for ourselves. As women and leaders we normally put the needs of others before ourselves at the expense of our health. I take time to reflect in the morning and evening, and I listen to my body. If you’re tired, rest. If you need a day, take one. It’s okay because the work is going to be waiting for you when you get back.”

Dr. Noreen Bush, Cedar Rapids (IA) Superintendent, the 2021 AASA School Superintendent of the Year. “Most of my life I’ve not been good at this. Quick snippets of daily joy is really what gets me going. I jam out on my song of the day in my car going to work. We have family dinner together every day. I focus on eating well and getting rest. I have accountability partners who hold me accountable for taking care of myself.”

Marie Izquierdo, chief strategy officer in Miami-Dade County (FL) Public Schools. “I like fitness and exercise quite a bit. I’m an Orange Theory advocate. It’s an hour I spend on myself. I love to read and sometimes binge on TV. Occasionally, I’ll take a mental health day to read at the beach or go for a long walk. I am a member of Chiefs for Change and there are so many women leaders there I admire. We turn to each other for support and advice about struggles that are unique to women.”

Dr. Danelle Walker Whiteside, first Black President of Austin Peay State University (TN). “I don’t really believe in work-life balance. It’s not 50/50. I’ve learned how to do work-life integration. I bring my family to university functions and my mom comes with us to help. Self-care is another issue. We have to give ourselves permission to integrate ourselves into our life. If I’m integrating everything, I have to give myself space to do it.”

Dr. Torie Weiston-Serdan, founder and executive director of Youth Mentoring Action Network (CA). “Self-care is a radical act. It’s new for me. I’m being more intentional about my time, and what I will and won’t do. I do 45 minutes of cardio meditation in the morning, and I’m working on eating the right kind of fuel for my body. And most importantly, understanding that if I don’t get to something today, the world will be fine if I do it tomorrow. It helps me make space for all the other things I do.”

Dr. Maria Armstrong, executive director of the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents. “Look at being present in the moment so you can enjoy it. Personally, I love to work out. It’s where I generate my energy and is the high point of my day. Once I’ve done that, I am ready to take on anything. Surround yourself with joy—friends and family. That’s the joy you have to make for yourself. You just have to make the time.”

Mónica García represents Board District 2 in Los Angeles USD. “I’m a learner when it comes to self-care and understanding that our best self is our whole self. Sleep cannot be underestimated, drinking water, taking a 30-minute walk, really understanding that you deserve it, and it will help you go your next mile. I believe in wellness. Schedule joy in your day. Surround yourself with people who feed your soul and, remember, you must be your biggest cheerleader, so you are clear about the ‘you’ you are building.”

Dr. Debra Duardo, superintendent of Los Angeles County Schools. “Now more than ever we need to practice self-care. This pandemic has put a highlight on mental health as our whole lives have been disrupted. I’ve been an avid meditator for over 30 years, so I meditate twice a day for 20 minutes. It gives me the ability to stay calm, to focus myself and not let the small stuff drive me crazy. I think everyone needs to find what works for them, whether it’s music, meditation, dance, sports, or the gym. It’s really important to find a balance.”

You can find more interviews of fierce and formidable women educators at Tech & Learning’s Honor Role podcast.

Throughout much of the history of schools in America, corporal punishment, suspension, and expulsion have been the primary means of controlling students who act inappropriately or even violently. But many argue that a punitive-based system, while temporarily restoring order, does nothing to address the underlying causes of misbehavior. Nor does it require offenders to truly reckon with the damage they’ve done to others.

In recent years, the conversation around school discipline has shifted from the punitive-based approach to an admittedly more complex, holistic approach known as restorative justice (RJ) or restorative practices (RP). Using carefully facilitated conversations, students, teachers, and administrators work together to solve behavior problems in schools. Suspensions or expulsions may still occur, but usually as a last resort, not first.

The following articles, videos, guides, professional development opportunities, and research are a great starting point for educators and administrators to learn what it takes to institute restorative practices in their schools—and why it matters.

OVERVIEW OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN SCHOOLS

How Restorative Practices Work for Students and Educators
A look inside selected Restorative Justice Partnership schools in the Denver area, featuring views from teachers, administrators, and kids.

What Teachers Need To Know About Restorative Justice
This article explores not only the basics of restorative justice (prevention, intervention, and reintegration) but also asks key questions, such as “Does it really work in a classroom?” and “What are the drawbacks to restorative justice?”

What’s Restorative Practices in Schools?Educator and behavior expert Laura Mooiman explains the structure of restorative justice practices in schools in this brief video.

Learning for Justice Toolkit: The Foundations of Restorative Justice
How a shift toward restorative practices can help schools—and why all educators need to be on the same page.

Restorative Practices in Schools Work ... But They Can Work Better
Strategies to implement restorative justice while supporting educators.

Making Things Right - Restorative Justice for School Communities
How restorative justice differs from traditional discipline-based approaches to conflict in schools.

An Alternative To Suspension And Expulsion: 'Circle Up!'
It’s not easy to change school culture, especially when buy-in is required from everyone—students, teachers and administrators alike. An honest look at the benefits and difficulties in implementing RJ in one of California's largest districts, Oakland Unified.

VIDEOS OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN SCHOOLS

Restorative Justice Introduction

If a student is injured severely enough to be hospitalized, can restorative justice provide a solution? Explore the potential of restorative justice through the case of a serious assault in a Lansing school. Emotionally powerful.

Restorative Approach Example - Primary School

Learn how an effective facilitator talks with younger students to resolve conflicts without traditional punishment.

Restorative Justice in Oakland Schools: Tier One. Community Building Circle

It’s not only educators that lead restorative justice initiatives. In fact, the role of students is critical. Watch as the students in Oakland create and nurture a community circle.

Using Dialogue Circles to Support Classroom Management

How one elementary school teacher implemented mindfulness and dialogue circles to help her students manage stress and to share meaningful life experiences. Great example of real-world, albeit imperfect, execution of restorative justice. Note: Includes a controversial element at the end.

Restorative Welcome and Reentry Circle

How can previously incarcerated students re-enter the school community in a positive way? Teachers, students, and parents welcome a young man back into a high school by building trust and showing empathy.

The "Why" of Restorative Practices in Spokane Public Schools

Spokane Public Schools educators discuss the importance of authentic relationships between teachers and students.

Restorative Resources Accountability Circle Graduation

How do you know if a student has taken full responsibility for his or her harmful actions? Until this occurs, there cannot be restorative justice. In this video, kids talk about understanding empathy, sharing feelings, and accepting responsibility.

Chicago Public Schools: A Restorative Approach to Discipline

Teachers, students, and administrators explore why suspension means nothing but “free time” for students who misbehave, while restorative justice addresses the roots of such behavior.

Introducing Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth

Hear from a local judge who found that the criminal justice system was inadequate for creating lasting change among young offenders.

GUIDES TO RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN SCHOOLS

How to Implement Restorative Practices In Your School

Learn how respect agreements, restorative inquiry, and re-entry circles can be employed and implemented in your school.

Alameda County School Health Services Coalition Restorative Justice: A Working Guide For Our Schools

From the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, this comprehensive report analyzes the benefits, outcomes, and impacts of restorative justice initiatives in schools, as well as provides a handbook toward implementation.

Oakland USD Restorative Justice Implementation Guide

Detailed, step-by-step instructions for all members of the school community—from teachers and principals to students and parents to school security officers—for creating school restorative justice programs.

NYC Restorative Practices Whole-School Implementation Guide

The NYC DOE delves into all aspects of setting up an effective restorative justice plan in this 110-page document. Includes useful printable forms.

Denver School-based Restorative Practices Partnership: Step by Step School-Wide Restorative Practices

Will restorative practices eliminate “misbehavior” in schools? A look at the myths and realities of RP, as well as what to do when challenges make it hard to implement.

Lessons Learned from Restorative Justice Practitioners in Four Brooklyn Schools

A concise and eye-opening examination of the experiences of restorative justice practitioners in four Brooklyn schools.

6 Steps Toward Restorative Justice in Your School

Overwhelmed by the challenges of adopting a restorative justice framework? These six steps break down a weighty project into doable parts.

Making Restorative Justice Work

High school principal Zachary Scott Robbins describes the restorative justice tribunal structure and process, highlighting critical factors such as budget, time, and the importance of demonstrable success.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN SCHOOLS

RS Webinar Tutorial: Restorative Circles

Australian educator and school behavior expert Adam Voigt leads a 2020 webinar focusing on restorative circles, an essential aspect of restorative practices.

Restorative Justice Education Online Training

A research-based 16-module online training that fully prepares educators to carry out RJ initiatives. A certificate of completion is granted upon completion of the program, which includes topics such as teacher-student relationships, community circles, and the blend of current practices with restorative justice.

12 Indicators of Restorative Practices Implementation: Checklists for Administrators

School administrators tasked with setting up RJ have a tough row to hoe. Although they may not be the day-to-day practitioners, they must persuade teachers, parents, students, and all other stakeholders of the value in transforming school culture. These checklists help administrators wrestle with the issues.

Restorative Practices in Schools Fall Training Institute

A fully online training in restorative practices to be held Nov 8-16 2021, the six-day seminar includes options for two and four days as well. Choose the two-day introductory course or take a deep dive into the weeds with the full program.

Restorative Practices for Educators

This two-day online introductory course teaches fundamental theory and practices. A certificate of participation will be awarded and may be submitted for continuing education credit. While registration has closed through September 2021, there is still space available October 14-15, 2021.

Schott Foundation: Fostering Healthy Relationships and Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools

A practical, 16-page guide explaining how restorative practice-based education results in conflict resolution instead of incarceration in a juvenile justice center. Packed with useful ideas for implementation at the classroom and district level.

RESEARCH ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN SCHOOLS

Does restorative justice work? While understanding the experience of participants in RJ is crucial, it’s also important to know what scientific research has to say about the effectiveness—or lack thereof—in schools.

• Improving School Climate: Evidence From Schools Implementing Restorative Practices
• Restorative Practices in Schools: Research Reveals Power of Restorative Approach, Part I and Research Reveals Power of Restorative Approach, Part II, by Abbey Porter via International Institute of Restorative Practices
• Study Shows Youth Are Less Aggressive With Restorative Practices, by Laura Mirsky via Restorative Practices Foundation
• Restorative Practices Shows Promise for Meeting New National School Discipline Guidelines
• Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Programs
• The promise of ‘restorative justice’ starts to falter under rigorous research
• Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Principles in Juvenile Justice: A Meta-Analysis

• 4 Ways to Use Master Scheduling to Support Equity
• High-Yield Strategies to Normalize 2021-22 School Year
• How to Recruit New Teachers

With the challenges and disruption of the last 18 months, there is new awareness and commitment to the importance of health and wellness of teachers, staff, and students. 

“You have to put your own oxygen mask on first before you can help others,” said Dr. Brandy Nelson, executive director of learning and teaching, Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) Schools, during the recent NYC Schools Tech Summit (watch free on-demand), hosted by Tech & Learning. The virtual event explored how educators and leaders are focusing on wellness and shifting their approach to technology as they prepare for the new school year.

In Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, there is a commitment to staff health and wellness as they return to support students. “Even with professional development, we need to ask if we’re doing it from a place that honors belonging, partnership, and wellness for the staff,” Nelson said. “Then in partnership, we can support our students with wellness initiatives and strong instruction.” 

The other panelists -- including Dr. Tracy Daniel-Hardy (director of technology at Gulfport School District), Michael D’Onofrio (assistant principal, PS 186, New York City Schools), and Sarah Marshall (global head of content for BETT, the world’s leading education show) -- discussed how education leaders are rejecting old assumptions, such as “learning only happens at school,” “classroom seat time is required for learning to occur,” and “teachers control how learning happens.” 

Although their approaches differed, the educators agreed that the pandemic has provided an opportunity for schools to transition to new teaching approaches and learning experiences in which social-emotional wellness is at the core for both students and teachers. 

Access to technology continues to be the pre-eminent equity challenge for many districts, although relying on well-trained teachers who are supported with ongoing professional development still is the most important ingredient for success in the classroom. 

Key Takeaways 

• Social-emotional wellness is a key focus for teachers, staff, and students, particularly coming back together in person after 18 months. 
• Educators are focused on finding the best ways to support SEL, equity, diversity, and inclusiveness while delivering core curriculum. 
• Reconsider all your assumptions about teaching and learning and whether or not it is still actually true, such as seat time is equated to learning. 
• Defining and monitoring student success is critical, so developing effective systems around that is crucial. 
• Getting technology was a focus last year, so now leveraging it to support strong instruction is the key to the year ahead. 
• Focus on rigor, relevance, and relationships for good outcomes. 

Revised Learning Plans and Practices 

Dr. Brandy Nelson 

Over the past year we learned that learning can happen anywhere/anytime; seat time is not required for learning to occur; and students should control their learning. We have to create spaces and opportunities for that. Our core work is strong instruction, so we need to make sure our content is strong and aligned to standards and that we understand how to use technology effectively to support the work, now that it is a major player in our learning models.

Dr. Tracy Daniel-Hardy

The technology seemed to overshadow some of the teaching and learning last year, so this year we are going back to basics. We want to emphasize that there is nothing more important than good teaching and that teachers are the most important part of the puzzle in educating our children. Technology, like any other teaching and learning tool, is a means to an end, but we can’t talk about technology in isolation. It is part of how we are going to support the programs we’re using, and students need to have the appropriate devices to participate in our programs.

Michael D’Onofrio

Even before the pandemic, our district had begun a push for social-emotional learning by expanding our team with a counselor. Students learn a different social-emotional trait, such as empathy or mindfulness, each month, and we offer yoga as one of the options for students. At our school, students spend the first 20 days of the year getting to know one another and their teachers, building relationships with each other, and working together to learn these traits. Each school may do it a little differently, but we’re building relationships from the classroom level all the way up to the district level. 

Sarah Marshall

The recent tech integration as a result of the pandemic is helping us rethink teaching and learning. We’re considering what has worked and what should be continued, but with staff well-being and workload fully in mind as we help teachers recover and find a better way through. For example, online parents’ evenings have been broadly embraced and I don’t think many schools will return to face to face. Even though the pandemic has been very stressful, it has led us to some new ways of doing things.

• Reimagining Education: What to Keep/What to Ditch
• Post-Pandemic Edtech Tools: What to Consider

Toby Farms Intermediate School, where I work as the school counselor, is located in a city with one of the highest crime rates in the nation. In this sort of urban setting, social-emotional learning (SEL) is extremely important. When you're in an urban setting, you have students who are experiencing higher levels of trauma, so they might become a little bit more reactive to situations. For example, if one kid is walking down the hallway and bumps into another kid, they may perceive that as a threat. 

Students who are constantly engaged in the “fight or flight” mentality are more likely to interpret those small stressors as attacks, and SEL helps them engage in behaviors that are conducive to building and maintaining relationships. We’re especially focused on these behaviors right now as we are making our transition from remote to in-person learning. Our kids are excited to be back, but they haven't been sitting in a classroom for months—they've been sitting in their bed or at their kitchen table. 

Here are the SEL tools and tactics we’re using to model and support positive behaviors in class. 

The Power of Real-World Examples 

Our approach to SEL is based on the five domains laid out by CASEL: 

• Relationship skills 
• Responsible decision-making
• Self awareness
• Self management
• Social awareness

To keep students engaged when I present these ideas, I use real-world examples in which students can see themselves or people they’re familiar with. If we’re talking about responsible decision-making, for instance, we’ll talk about how if you don't turn in your homework, you know your grade will go down. Or if you steal a candy bar from the corner store, you could have the police called on you. 

One positive example of responsible decision-making I like to share is the football player Rob Gronkowski. The boys all know who he is, so they really pay attention when I tell them that Gronkowski actually saved all of his career earnings and lives off his endorsement money. He now has more than $54 million.

To really connect with our kids, I like to bring in local speakers who have broken through barriers and demonstrated resilience. I had a local radio personality known as “Cappuccino in the Morning” come and talk to my students about how she went to a historically black college or university (HBCU) and made her way up the East Coast to pursue her dreams. That was a really cool message because a lot of our kids didn't know what HBCUs were and didn’t understand the importance of them. I had a student tell me that she was so excited because she listens to Cappuccino every day. This sort of example is especially powerful because students don’t just see a famous person—they see what they have in common with that individual.

Reinforcing Concepts through Digital Comics 

With SEL, we want students to reflect on what they just learned. Creating their own digital comics using a tool such as Pixton allows them to show understanding of these concepts and also to see themselves represented in stories. I appreciate how inclusive the imagery in Pixton is: It offers people in wheelchairs, and all different skin tones, hair types, and clothes. Seeing someone who looks like yourself in a comic for the first time can be life-changing. To offer this sort of representation and to apply our SEL concepts across the curriculum, our school uses comics in writing, geography, and science classes, too. 

One of the first assignments I gave when we returned to in-person learning was asking students to make an online comic based on one of the five SEL domains. I got them started with examples such as, “You could have two people engaging in a light saber fight and ask: ‘Is this responsible decision-making?’” And the answer is “No, we have a zero tolerance policy for violence.” 

Through our positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) program, I offered prizes for these comics: first prize was a $20 WAWA gift card, second prize was a $10 WAWA gift card, and third prize was a $5 gift card from either Chick-fil-A, WAWA, or Freddy's.

The Practical Rewards of PBIS 

Many of our kids come from lower-income households, so gift cards for food are practical and give them some independence because they can go and buy themselves something to eat. Last year we had an incentive in which every student who made the honor roll got a nice blanket that was donated from Harrah’s Casino. It wasn’t just a reward; it was actually something practical that they and their families could use. 

This year, we're asking teachers to submit the names of all students who have been in attendance all week. Then we put those names on a spinner, and the winners get $20 WAWA gift cards. With all of these incentives, we’re telling students, “If you exhibit positive behavior, we want to reward you.”

Mindfulness in Gym Class and Special Education 

SEL is everywhere at Toby Farms, including gym class. We have a professional, Ms. Mandel, who comes in and teaches mindfulness. We also work with her and our other teachers to create a list of students who would benefit from one-on-one mindfulness. She sees those students on a weekly basis for 15 to 20 minutes. Having a group and an individual component is an enormous help in a school where I’m the only counselor for 350 students. We do our best to make SEL everyone’s job, and to teach it in ways that will stick with our students.

For example, I recently went into a special education class. I gave everyone a piece of paper and a pen, and said, “All right, I want you to write mean things about this paper.” After they wrote down mean things, I told them they could crumple it up or rip it. So they crumpled it up and ripped it. 

And then I said, “Say you're sorry and return that paper back to normal.” But of course they couldn’t. The paper already had nasty messages written on it and it was destroyed. I told them, “That's exactly how it works when you say hurtful things to somebody: just because you say you're sorry, doesn't take it away.” This sort of hands-on lesson, in which they do things with their own hands and see the consequences, is really powerful for our students.

Kat Keefer is the school counselor at Toby Farms Intermediate School in Brookhaven, Pennsylvania. 

• How It’s Done: Assessing and Teaching SEL Competencies
• 15 Sites/Apps for Social-Emotional Learning

We know student voice is crucial to effective pedagogy -- both literally and figuratively. If teachers and students can’t hear one another, their contributions to the learning are negated. 

“Hearing the tone, speech, and passion in students’ words is what drives our educators,” says Matthew X. Joseph, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at Leicester Public Schools in Worcester County, MA, a PK-12 district with 1,400 students. “Having the option to have clear sound to include both at-home learners and in-school learners gives a true ‘one class’ feeling.” 

To help improve the audio quality in the classroom and for students learning simultaneously at home, the district piloted the Nureva HDL300 system. This audio system, designed for classrooms, captures the audio of everything happening in the classroom so students at home can clearly hear what the teacher and in-person students are saying during class. Teachers can stand and walk around, and in-class students can communicate with students learning from home, who can hear everything without any feedback or delay. The system installs on the wall in minutes, and its plug-and-play connectivity and auto-calibration makes setup simple. 

“In-class learners can talk in a normal tone, and students at home can hear like they are in the room,” says Joseph. “The teacher can also teach at a tone and pace that everyone can hear. When they call on an at-home student, they feel they are included, and the lesson flows as if all students were in front of them. This kind of seamless connection is invaluable.”

SEL is Key

Creating time to have in-depth discussions can support the district’s learner's academic and social-emotional needs. 

“Having the Nureva system in the room allows for an in-depth conversation without lulls or volume issues to interrupt the flow,” says Joseph. “When we talk SEL with our students, we want the emotion to be felt in our words. Students are more engaged when they can be heard and feel they are a part of the discussion.”

Timing is Everything

Even with ideal audio solutions, there are many challenges with hybrid learning. One challenge is over-planning. Joseph advises teachers to limit topics for each learning session to just one skill per lesson, so students leave feeling empowered, not overwhelmed. Include specific examples of taught skills to encourage students to practice their work skills when there is asynchronous learning time. 

“We try to ensure the material we teach can be taught in half the class time,” says Joseph. “This will then allow for an opening and closing of every lesson. With possible connection issues and adjusting to online learning, we want to ensure there is time for warm-up, instruction, and closure.”

Pro Tips

To make the most of the hybrid classroom, Joseph recommends:

• Be present. Having the Nureva system  allows educators to feel all students are in front of them—the divide between at-home and in-person students is diminished.
  
• Celebrate small wins. It's important to celebrate the small achievements. Small wins are opportunities to reflect on how far we've come, which gives us the strength to stay inspired.
  
• It’s okay if you don’t know all of the answers. This shift is new to all of us, demanding different skills and techniques. It's okay not to have all the answers. Take a breath, and work on solutions rather than feeling overwhelmed.
  
• Listen without intending to respond. When you're engaged in learning conversation, do you listen, or are you more focused on what to say next? Usually, we're only half-listening because we're already thinking about what questions we can ask students to add to the dialogue. Instead of thinking about what to say, be more present in your conversations with students and think about what you hear. By merely listening with curiosity, rather than anticipation, you will be inherently more present.

Teacher Feedback

“The Nureva system is great,” says eighth-grade science teacher Dave Socha. “It far exceeds the simple auxiliary speakers that I had hooked up to my desktop computer, which would go in and out as the input/output cords were bumped and shifted. The sound from the system is smooth and deep. It definitely adds to the experience when students speak on Google Meets, when we share recorded work products on FlipGrid or ScreenCastify, or when we're simply watching a video clip in class.” 

These are challenging times on so many levels; anything that helps kids feel “normal” is a plus. More than just a perfunctory fix to enable students to hear lessons or each other, having audio tech that feels natural can be a game changer when it comes to the intangibles of teaching, and reaching, students.

Valentine’s Day provides an excellent opportunity to incorporate fun and engaging pop culture into your classroom or remote learning instruction. Graphic arts, design, literacy, social-emotional learning, and even STEM topics lend themselves nicely to Valentine's Day themes.  

All of the following digital resources and lessons are free or low cost. 

1. ABCYa Valentine’s Day Puzzles
   Young learners practice click-and-drag mouse manipulation, as well as shape and pattern recognition, in the Valentine’s chocolate box puzzle game. Be sure to check out the Valentine-themed crossword puzzle, which provides helpful hints if needed.  
2. A Kid’s Heart: Valentine’s Day Math Games
   These Valentine-themed digital games help kids practice problems involving addition, exponents, and prime numbers. 
3. Animoto Valentine's Day Videos
   Animoto  makes creating original videos fun, easy, and free for people of all ages. Users choose from six Valentine’s Day templates to express their love for another person, pet, or even a favorite cause. Templates are fully customizable with users’ own images and music, or take advantage of the stock options from Animoto. Share your video via download, link, or social media.  
4. Apples4theteacher Valentine’s Day Games
   Nine fun computer games, including word search, memory and mouse skills, pattern recognition, and more.  
5. Digital Valentine's Day Activities In Google Slides™
   From Teachers Pay Teachers, this rich resource of 10 digital Valentine’s Day activities includes poetry, writing, design, word search, and more. 
6. Distance Learning Virtual Scavenger Hunt Zoom Editable February Valentines
   A great remote learning lesson, this digital scavenger hunt from Teachers Pay Teachers allows educators to customize the assignment and incorporate movement.  
7. Festisite Valentine Heart
   A simple, fun way for kids to get visual with Valentine’s Day poetry. Text is transformed into a heart-shaped, downloadable image or document. Have your students write their own, or analyze a published verse.  
8. Love Collage Maker - Photo Editor & Heart Frames (Android)
   Valentine’s Day is a perfect occasion for children to get creative with photos while expressing affection for friends and family. 
9. Love Magnetic Poetry Kit
   Ever written poetry on your fridge? This simple digital “magnetic” poetry game offers batches of 40 to 50 words to create lines with whimsy, wisdom, and emotion. When done, click “More words'' to get a new set and start again. Challenge your students with a theme or genre, and let the random fun begin.  
10. Pocket Heart (iOs) This free interactive 3D cardiology app is the real deal, used by medical students, doctors, and nurses. With its high-quality visuals, detailed descriptive content, and quizzes, it’s ideal for advanced biology or other life science studies.
11. Sincerely Ink Cards (iOS and Android)
    Students design and digitally create their own Valentine’s Day cards. Ink Cards will print on 5”x7” gloss laminate card stock and mail to the intended recipient - perhaps a classmate or relative (or teacher).  
12. Starfall
    Starfall’s create-your-own digital Valentine’s Day greeting helps the youngest students with spoken language, words, and spelling while they enjoy a variety of kid-friendly characters. Starfall’s Math Journey Valentine edition teaches basic number concepts as users traverse a heart-filled landscape. 
13. St. Valentine's Day by Stephanie
    Six cloze stories about St. Valentine and St. Valentine's Day provide grammar/word choice practice for young learners as they explore the history and culture of the holiday.   
14. Tynker: Valentine’s Day Card, Candy Heart Search and On Cloud Nine In these three great STEAM projects for young learners, kids learn coding and graphic arts while creating interactive Valentine’s Day cards and games.
15. Valentine's Day Word Search (iOS) Make a game out of word practice with this free iPhone Valentine word search, which offers three levels of difficulty and five Valentine word categories.
16. Valentine STEM Challenges
    It’s not all hearts and flowers! Use this top-rated PDF lesson to incorporate STEM topics such as physics and engineering into your Valentine’s Day instruction. Convertible to interactive digital format.   
17. Virtual Valentines 2023: Melting the Miles between Classrooms
    Designed by educators, the free Virtual Valentines Project aims to teach geography and cultural awareness through virtual Valentine’s greetings. Two options for global connections are offered, both ideal for remote or classroom learning.
18. Watch and Learn Heart Interactives
    Valentine's Day is filled with heart imagery and love poetry. But it’s the perpetual beating of the physical heart that keeps us alive and feeling emotions. Advanced students can use this free expert interactive from the American Heart Association to learn about multiple key topics in cardiology, from angina to  stents. 

For a child, being isolated can be a tremendous challenge to maintaining positive mental health, even in the best of times. Being away from classmates and outside the classroom can have a big impact on building social-emotional skills, and be a damper on development.

“Right now, with Covid, people are getting a taste of it, but this kind of isolation has been the reality for many students with immunodeficiency around the world, where it is just straight up dangerous for them to be in school,” says Harry Nelson of Special Effect, a UK-based charity that uses video games and technology to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities. “Dealing with these kids requires a lot of specialized tech and specialized rules.”

Enter Special Effect’s BubbleBusters Pilot Project, in which the organization works with schools and the families of children with immunodeficiency to provide robots to help those students overcome isolation, rekindle friendships, and restore access to education. Each child receives their own AV1 desktop robot, which is placed in their classroom and allows them to safely interact with their teachers, classmates, and others. 

“It’s very different from just having a camera or FaceTime in a classroom,” says Nelson. “Having the ability to independently just turn and talk to your friend . . . it seems very small, but it matters. I think of when I was back in school, and the number of times I’d turn to my friend and just share a quick joke or something. Having that physical presence in the room, being able to change the face on the robot to express yourself, with that anonymity, can be very powerful and poignant for a student and their family, and help build confidence.”

Each robot, which can move its head, flash light, and change its facial expression, are little personalities in themselves, says Nelson. Kids are encouraged to personalize their robots, and have used everything from stickers to Star Wars T-shirts. 

“Every child we’ve had has named their robot,” says Nelson. “It’s the first thing they do! They all have such wonderful names--there’s one called Enid. Why Enid? There’s just no reason for it, and that’s great.”

Sam

The BubbleBuster project was initiated after Special Effect was contacted by Sam, a young man who was unable to go to school for more than three years due to his ongoing treatments for leukemia. He had seen the work the organization was doing and wanted to help. “We were very moved,” says Nelson. “We thought, ‘That’s fantastic.’”

Special Effect founder, Mick Donegan, had seen the AV1 robot and was inspired, realizing that it was an opportunity to have Sam test the technology and to reconnect him with his classmates. 

The BubbleBusters project is named in honor of Sam. During his time in the hospital he created Bubble Boy, a comic book superhero version of himself who by day is stuck in isolation but by night, goes out to save the day. 

Very sadly, Sam lost his battle against leukemia in November. But his namesake superhero program has gone on to help students across the U.K.

“In the past few months, we’ve done double all of what we’ve done last year,” says Nelson. “We have gone from 10 to about 36 robots, which may not sound like a lot, but at £4,000 a pop, can be quite a lot. And we don’t just give people the robot and say, ‘There you go,’ it’s also full service and support we provide, all at no cost to the students, families, or schools.”

A team effort

With only 34 on staff, it can be daunting for Special Effect to provide the robots and support. Challenges range from getting proper connections through school firewalls to finding access in very rural areas that don’t have any broadband or 5G connectivity. In the past, team members used to drive out to the schools and homes to get everyone set up, answer questions, and make sure the connections were all good. Now, all of that has to be done remotely, which has added extra steps. For example, even the box that the technology is sent in to the homes has to be cleaned and quarantined to ensure safety. 

Anything with a camera in a classroom involves questions around student privacy, so those issues need to be addressed. The robot is specifically designed to go directly into schools, so each one can only connect with one tablet, and the video is ever only a live stream that is unable to be recorded.

In addition to class, students are encouraged to use the robot at break times to build social skills. “The social concern is often the biggest concern of the parents,” says Nelson. “They can buy a few textbooks and muddle through at home, but you can’t buy a childhood chatting to friends. The robot allows you to be there for your childhood and have those moments with your friends where you are cracking jokes during breaktime, and you’re talking and learning, and annoying on another and having a laugh and doing all the things that kids do.”

• How VR and AR Can Be Used to Support Students with Special Needs
• Helping Students with Special Needs Cope with Remote Learning

Never has school culture been more important for cohesion and community than during the pandemic. 

For a firsthand view into the power of school culture, I spoke with Shomari Jones, director of Equity and Strategic Engagement for the Bellevue School District in Washington state. The district, about 8 miles from Seattle, serves about 20,000 students, and is multiculturally diverse with 64% students of color plus a large Asian subpopulation. School is remote except for 130 students with special needs who are served in person.

Jones was grateful that the district superintendent, Ivan Duran, encouraged staff to have grace in supporting students right from the start of this unprecedented school year. “He told us, ‘If you need to take the first couple of weeks just to build community in your classroom spaces just to build familiarity, even if you don't get to the content in the curriculum that yet, let's build a space where students can begin to feel comfortable with the circumstances that they're being thrusted into in this year,’” Jones said. 

Missing the in-person learning environment 

As an example of the collaborative culture in the district, Shomari brings student voice into the center of the district’s conversations and operations. “Ninety-plus percent of our students said that they really missed the school environment, one in which they could clap and slap hands with other students down the hallway, and in their education attainment spaces, raise their hands and get questions answered immediately or break out into small-group learning and expect to be able to see and hear from other students,” says Jones. 

Despite some students having reported racial oppression in school, they still reported that their connection to school--and the teachers and adults there--was more important than the benefits of learning remotely, such as solitude and independence. 

To provide students with a stronger connection and support while they learn remotely, the district has adapted its practices and schedules, such as recording class sessions, which frees students to attend to younger siblings or learn at a time when they have access to the home computer. “That student can now go back and review what they've missed and engage in a manner that allows him to still feel like they were a part of the classroom conversation or environment,” says Jones.

Like most districts, Bellevue has designated Wednesdays as asynchronous learning time with no formal classes so students can schedule one-on-one learning appointments with teachers. “Virtual learning has posed a big challenge for some students, especially for those who are not particularly vocal or who tend to have fewer experiences of raising their hands in public,” says Jones. “Asynchronous Wednesdays, for some, have proved to be a space in which they feel affirmed and a little bit more closely connected to how to successfully get through the rigor of academics as it has changed for them.”

A flexible future 

Being guided by the voices of students, families, and the community has been the top lesson for the district, Jones says. To increase engagement, for example, the district frequently sends one-question surveys to families via the district SMS. 

Jones suggests districts reconsider legacy regulations and policies to focus on affirming and supporting families, creating a safe learning environment for students, and inviting parents to be part of the student success process. He also suggests that school staff should each have a personal central goal for the year that furthers their mission. Quantitative data should also be balanced with voices, faces, and stories to guide the schools’ promises to their communities, Jones adds. 

As school culture is reimagined post-COVID, Jones’ vision is to create choice in learning modality. “Everyone has different desires for how they learn,” Jones says. “Students are not the same person from day to day and from class to class. So why should they be locked into one modality or another without having that flexibility? Having flexibility sounds like a healthy thing for the school and definitely a healthy thing for individuals.” 

It’s this kind of stakeholder-first vision that is embraced in a strong collaborative school culture.

Dr. Cathy Cavanaugh is Chief Experience Officer and Research Scientist in the Lastinger Center for Learning at the University of Florida. Her experience includes leading a statewide education transformation initiative and launching a virtual school in Western Australia; higher education leadership and research in the Middle East during a national mobile learning program; and work as a professor and researcher in educational technology in U.S. universities; as well as school teaching and leadership.  

• Social and Emotional Learning, Trauma, and This School Year
• 15 Sites/Apps for Social-Emotional Learning

Students have been through a lot in 2020. School buildings closed their doors, a pandemic threatened their safety and kept them from friends and loved ones, and civil unrest resulted in social turmoil across the country. It truly is a year like no other. 

These drastic changes to students’ routines have undoubtedly brought about a great deal of trauma. How can educators use social-emotional learning (SEL) to address students’ trauma, help them cope with these changes, and be successful in the 2020-21 school year and beyond?

During a recent Tech & Learning Lunch ‘n Learn roundtable, Dr. Kecia Ray talked with educators and mental health professionals who shared specific ways to address student trauma and social and emotional learning. 

Watch the on-demand version here 

Key Takeaways

A nation at hope. Quoting Margaret J. Wheatley, Dr. Frances Gipson, formerly Los Angeles Unified School District’s longest-serving Chief Academic Officer and currently the director of Claremont Graduate University's Urban Leadership program, told attendees, “It is possible to prepare for the future without knowing what it will be. The primary way to prepare for the unknown is to attend to the quality of our relationships, to how well we know and trust one another.”

Gipson then referred to Transition From A Nation At Risk to A Nation At Hope, a report from the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. 

The report offers five key recommendations for educators in regard to SEL.

1. Set a clear vision that broadens and defines students success to prioritize the whole child 
2. We want to transfer learning settings and ensure that any setting is safe and supportive for all young people 
3. Change instruction to teach social, emotional, and cognitive skills, ideally embedded in existing lessons 
4. We need to invest in adult expertise in child care development 
5. Align resources in the community to address the whole child 

“Our educators are sending clear and urgent messages that learning won’t be prioritized until SEL is everywhere,” said Gipson. “We need to have a strategic plan for SEL in our schools. We need to create a space for SEL in our schools.”

Tool time. “Teachers need a toolbox, but I’ll go so far to say that we need a toolbelt, and SEL is on that toolbelt, that first tier of support,” said Gipson. Education leaders have to make sure that everyone has access to SEL in their toolbelt, which means PD and other supports. “SEL is not a ‘nice-to-have,’ but a ‘must-have’ in this environment,” she said. 

Saving lives. “Our vision is that all schools are safe and that students are getting the help and support they need,” said Paget Hetherington, Vice President of Marketing at Gaggle. “We want to make sure that every student is safe.”

Hetherington talked about how data collected during remote learning has shown a 66% increase in overall incidents.

Hetherington also discussed that by being able to monitor these incidents through a platform such as Gaggle, resources and personnel can be properly allocated to save student lives.

SEL-ling SEL. “Connection is vital during this time,” said Dr. LaShanda Lewis, Counseling Services Coordinator at Round Rock I.S.D. in Texas. “As a district, we need to make sure that we’re communicating with students more than ever. Going into this year, our traditional ways of connecting with students were not going to be the same. So we looked to tools that students would engage with.”

Lewis discussed how her district is using digital tools to launch SEL-focused programs, such as creating lunch bunches and “Talk about it” Taco Tuesdays, which allow students to connect digitally with one another. They have also adapted board games such as Pictionary to help students connect with one another, have fun, stay connected, and reduce stress, all of which is key for SEL. For example, one counselor plays a virtual version of the old game Don’t Break the Ice by numbering blocks that correspond to SEL-related questions to gain insight to where students are in their personal lives. 

The district also encourages virtual mentoring programs by partnering students virtually to engage in SEL-building activities and has launched mental health centers on campus so that students can stay in school and get support. These centers have been adapted for virtual settings so students can meet with their therapists during the school day. 

Students have also been using tools such as Gaggle to reach out for support needed by placing statements in the platform to get help. “Please don’t hesitate to look into what students are really saying,” Lewis said. “Research what’s going on there because it can be the difference in saving a student’s life.”

Come on, get ’appy. When we’re in a crisis situation, technology can be something to move us forward and take us into new places, said Dr. Lisa Strohman, an attorney, clinical psychologist, and author who has established the Digital Citizen Academy, a nonprofit program offered to schools with an in-home plan that educates, empowers, and inspires balance and prosocial use of technology. “We’re trying to teach students through SEL how to handle certain situations, but it’s challenging when they’re not right in front of us,” said Strohman. “We really have to rely on technology to let us know about their mental health. A lot of kids are going untreated.” 

Students are increasingly using apps to connect with family and friends now more than ever, Strohman said, and encouraging the creative use of these tools is one way to promote positive mental health. For example, Strohman discussed how kids are really drawn into music, and using music apps can help students become mentally active, be creative, and build their skill sets in positive ways. Learning a foreign language can also benefit the brain and stimulate other emotions. Meditative and mindfulness apps also can provide great SEL-friendly skill-building opportunities and can contribute to building a peaceful connection with technology. 

“Paying attention to what they’re using and how they connect, is critical,” Strohman said, underscoring the need to understand the difference between active and passive use is critical. “If you can use tech in positive ways to build that engagement and manage that stress and anxiety in kids, that can be very beneficial.”

Lunch 'n Learn with Tech & Learning 

We hope you can join us for this weekly District Leadership Lunch ‘n Learn Roundtable series, hosted by Dr. Kecia Ray, every Wednesday. In this weekly series, districts from across the U.S. share their strategic plans, the challenges they are facing, and the creative solutions they are using to support students and teachers. Register for our upcoming event here. 

More from T&L: Lunch 'n Learn roundtable recaps

• Building a Sustainable Social-Emotional Learning Plan
• Using Technology to Address Student Mental Health
• T&L Webinars

With students isolated during remote learning, the focus on their mental well-being and social-emotional learning has never been more critical. 

To help support that, best practices, advice, and resources to address social-emotional learning was the focus of “Social-Emotional Learning,” a presentation during Tech & Learning’s recent Virtual Leadership Summit, which provided an environment in which district leaders could share their successes and challenges in facilitated small group discussions.

Watch the full session

View slide deck

http://bit.ly/tlsel

Key Takeaways

Whole child approach. “We recognized that although all the college and career preparation is important, kids won’t really be successful unless we consider the social-emotional aspects as well,” said Jim Klein, CTO of Las Virgenes USD in California, during the presentation. To support that, the district developed its Student 360 program, which features six key components: positive mindset; persistence and grit; empathy and understanding; autonomy and independence; mindfulness and thoughtfulness; and collaborative communities. These points are listed on a card that is given to teachers each year as a reminder to include the components in lessons when possible. The backside of the card features principles and student vital actions, such as, “All students participate, and are present and focused on the learning.”

Setting SEL standards. Once the principles were set, the district moved toward establishing scope and sequence based on ASCA National Standards for Students. For each standard, resources such as videos, guidelines, activities, charts, and websites are provided. “It’s important to not only establish the standards, but provide the resources and tools for teachers to be successful,” said Klein. “It’s a big topic and it’s not something that we’re always trained to do.”

Intentional acts of kindness. The district has created more than 40 “kindness cards” for elementary school students that provide activities to encourage positive SEL behavior. Teachers distribute the cards before lunch and ask the students to perform the activity, such as “Help someone carry his or her things.” The cards encourage students to reach out and connect with one another. In addition, the district has restorative approaches cards to handle conflicts and generate conversations.

Reaching out. The district has also developed Community 360, a website and an app for parents and families that provides resources, events, activities, programs, virtual books, and more to encourage SEL. Through grants, the district also created a counseling site that offers certified counselors to provide support for families and students.

Summer programs. Klein also detailed some of the summer SEL-related activities the district provided, including virtual camps, book clubs, and dance classes.

Virtual transition. One of the challenges has been moving SEL activities into the virtual environment. Districts that hadn’t been actively engaging in an SEL program may find big challenges in launching a new one remotely. Training has been particularly hard, said Klein, such as trying to have teachers learn how to remotely navigate breakout rooms. Also identifying which kids need help with SEL is a big challenge in a remote learning environment.

Focus on K-2. In order to provide good SEL for the youngest learners, teachers of those grades in Las Virgenes USD have been collaborating so that all the students are experiencing the same activities and support. One challenge will be continuing these programs once classes return to normal, said Klein, as parents return to work and may not be able to provide the same level of support. 

Frances Gipson has amassed a laundry list of roles and impressive positions during her education career, though perhaps most meaningful to her is “Champion for Team Kid.” 

“It’s about putting students at the center and backwards planning from their needs,” says Gipson. “If ever there was a time to really think about those efforts, now is that time. I believe in Love-Soaked Leadership. It’s important to lead with love and be unapologetic about it. One way is to get grounded in our supports around students.”

Why SEL? And when. 

True integration isn’t about focusing on SEL 15 minutes and then moving to 45 minutes of Academic focus, it’s more about unpacking a character’s motivations and inner dialogue during a reading lesson, for example. Work that comes out of CASEL helps us think about best practices and intentionality in bringing SEL into the classroom. 

Here are three important questions teachers and students can ask themselves as they consider their social emotional wellbeing: 

1. Self Awareness— What do you know about yourself? How do you bring this monitoring and enlightenment to who you are in this space? How do you self manage? 
2. Cognitive Coaching— How do we think about responsible decision making? How do we think about relationship skills? 
3. Context of Culture — What’s your social awareness? It’s so important to put this in the context of culture — this looks different in different places, it’s not a one size fits all. Know your environment.

The Polarity of Non-Congnitive and Academic Emphasis

During the recent “Future-Proofing Your District Plan” Tech & Learning conference, Gipson asked attendees to stop and take a deep breath, and then recognize the body’s natural need to exhale. This nature-inspired example of polarity highlighted the “both/and.” Breathing in and breathing out, breathing out and breathing in — it’s not either or, it’s both/and. 

“A polarity is not a problem. Problems are things you can put on a checklist and mark off as you complete it. It requires different ways of thinking— if you are a polarity manager, you manage. If you’re a problem solver, you check it off a list. It’s that difference between technical and adaptive thinking. As you think about stability and change, you can’t say, ‘in this environment I’m not going to attend to students’ Social Emotional needs, just academic needs’— it’s both/and. 

“As leaders traversing Social Emotional Learning, if you want to stand on that balance ball at the gym, you oscillate a little bit back and forth to stay balanced, rather than seesaw,” says Gipson. “Think about the remote environment and restart environment—how might you help folks stay on the balance ball with this work rather than seesaw?”

Framework for Success in Changing Times

CASEL Framework: The CASEL Framework is depicted through a wheel that identifies five competencies (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making) across various settings. 

Positive Youth Development (PYD): The five C’s of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character and caring/compassion) is a research-informed model with specific applications for after-school programs. 

The Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills Frameworks: Illustrates the cognitive, social and interpersonal skills that help young people success in 21st century jobs and civic life. 

Sanford Harmony: A free curriculum resource, which includes access to Inspire (teacher aimed) and Institute for Philanthropy. Curated resources on Diversity Inclusion, Problem Solving, Empathy and Critical Thinking. It includes two Learning Pathways — Building Teaching Practices and Developing SEL Capacity. 

Another important resource —“From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope” is a landmark report and two-year collaboration using the input of over 200 scientists, psychologists, researchers, educators, youth/parent groups, and policy makers. It demonstrates that social, emotional and academic development are inextricably linked and that investments in Social Emotional programs generate broad social benefits. Positive adult influences must begin early and continue during a child’s entire school career in this effort to educated the “whole learner”.

The Plan Forward

“What shifts or connections are you making?” asks Gipson. “Think about the existing state and the desired state— if we were doing this well, what would it look like and sound like and how would it be resourced? Using that ‘both/and’ polarity mindset, it’s important to recognize that there are good things from your existing state. What do you want to carry over from the existing state and what elements can help in the transformation to the desired state? There are positive things teachers have naturally done, but we haven’t always labeled them. Once we do that, awareness is heightened and we can teach and model it for each other.” 

Gipson suggests focusing on how to likewise support the ‘whole educator’ and to remember that part of your teaching team is also your students and parents. 

“We’re learning in very new ways now. What might it look like to personalize and connect through relationships? If you are going to lead with love-soaked leadership and put students at the center, the folks that teach you most about yourself is your community.”

In September 2018, my school district approved the creation of my FH Knights esports team, the first middle school esports team in the country. We are currently taking on all comers in Rocket League. 

Over the last two years, I’ve learned a lot about running an esports team and the value of esports in education. 

Equity: Esports is for Everyone 

Esports should be in every school for many reasons. It is a great way to teach social-emotional learning, and can help kids build school competency, and find a pipeline to college. 

One of the best things about esports, however, is how accessible it is. Esports tends to draw students uninterested in traditional sports, including those who may have learning disabilities, physical handicaps, or be on the spectrum. 

Esports also is popular with students of color, LGBT students, and less affluent students as well. A Northwestern University study found, on average, black students game 30 minutes more per day than white students, while Latinx students game 10 minutes more. The Nielsen Company reports that 65% of all LGBT consumers play games of any type, slightly edging out heterosexual players (63%). Multiple studies have found that children from lower income families game more than their more affluent counterparts. 

Chances are you have an under served population that is looking for a place to call home within your school. Esports can be that place. Once we can connect with these traditionally under served students through the gaming they love, we can use it to create better learning outcomes for everyone. 

The Esports-STEM Connection 

If we are serious about placing students in STEM careers, we need to be serious about esports. Esports is the fastest-growing industry in the world, and many of the highly coveted STEM careers schools talk about will be found in or tangential to esports. Esports has also been shown to improve skills associated with STEM such as problem solving, critical thinking, and concentration. A recent poll of high school students currently involved with their school’s esports program showed that more than 50% of those students intend to major in STEM subjects when they get to college. Through esports, we can even provide hands-on experience before they get there.

The North American Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF) has done a great job helping spread awareness of STEM careers in esports. As a NASEF Fellow, I work to help promote the idea of the team behind the team. I have a competitive esports team that plays other schools and colleges, but I also have a team behind my esports team, made up of strategists, organizers, content creators, and entrepreneurs--roles my students take on to help support the team. 

These are roles students can fill in the real world. My student entrepreneurs undertake projects such as marketing our events on social media and designing our jerseys. Our content creators host podcasts, edit video, and design promotional flyers. Our strategists keep stats in a spreadsheet and analyze video of our opponents to help develop a game plan. Our organizers keep our devices updated and troubleshoot technical issues. 

Overcoming the Equity Gap 

When you think of esports, or are being pitched by the edtech companies on the technology needed to bring esports to your district, it can seem as if you need to spend thousands of dollars on flashy computers. That’s a common misconception. 

Think outside the Xbox. In the middle school esports league I’ve organized, of the almost 30 middle schools involved, more than two thirds of teams are run using devices, such as Xbox Ones, that students bring from home. 

Find outside funding. Schools in my league have funded programs through the PTA and even Donors Choose. Because esports and STEM play so well together, many schools have received STEM grants to create their esports team. A close friend and talented educator, Sandra Paul, Director of IT and Operations for Union Public Schools in New Jersey, worked with her leadership team to fund esports through a Title I grant. You didn’t need to spend a lot of money to start an esports team. 

Adapt resources already on hand. The answer to your equipment needs may already be in your school or district. Many schools have already invested in high-end computers for their STEM program, and a laptop computer or PC that can be used for STEM activities such as 3D design, video editing, or virtual reality, can probably run your esports game of choice. If not, a great way to convince stakeholders to purchase these devices is to highlight their crossover use as both esports and STEM machines.

Reach out to the gaming community. If you can’t bring the computers to you, go to the equipment! Many businesses and colleges rent or donate space to scholastic esports teams. Microsoft hosts schools in their stores. Here in New Jersey, colleges and Lan Centers provide spaces for esports teams to practice. Find out what is nearby and see if they would be willing to work with your team. 

As it often goes in education, where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you want to start an esports team, you can make it happen. And you should make it happen--your students want and need esports, and all the opportunities that come with it, in your school. 

With NYC schools remaining closed at least through September, preK-2 students citywide are in need of high-quality educational content that's easily accessible from their homes. While young New Yorkers are learning via the New York City Department of Education (DOE) online education program, keeping them engaged and excited about their education is a ongoing challenge in this time of isolation from teachers and classmates.

That's why Mayor Bill de Blasio, Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza, and The WNET Group announced the launch of Let’s Learn NYC!, a new educational public television program produced by The WNET Group in partnership with the New York City Department of Education featuring lessons for children in pre-K through second grade that will supplement remote learning. 

“This new program will provide even more fun and innovative learning opportunities for students and families to engage with together,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. “Every weekday, our youngest learners will be able to participate in story time, interactive lessons, and hands-on projects all from the safety and comfort of their own homes. We hope to see you there!” 

School buildings are closed, but across the city, families and educators are working to ensure students continue their education. Episodes will air on weekdays at 11:00AM EST on THIRTEEN starting Monday, May 4 and will continue through the end of the school year. The episodes will also be available to livestream at thirteen.org/live.  

Let’s Learn NYC! will be hosted by DOE instructional leaders and coaches with expertise in teaching young learners. Educators will film segments from their homes using their phones, tablets, or laptops, and send them to THIRTEEN to be edited, scheduled and aired. Programming will offer age-appropriate content that is aligned to standards and lessons for early childhood education and includes foundational reading skills, literacy, math, social studies, and science. 

Literacy lessons will focus on foundational skills such as phonics and fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension, and writing. Each episode will include a “story time” that helps students connect the literacy instruction to important facets of their lives. Other content area lessons will focus on children having fun with numbers, discovering science, and finding out about the world around them. The broadcast will also include “Parenting Minutes,” short videos produced by The WNET Group with information on social-emotional and early childhood learning for families to use with their children. 

Let’s Learn NYC! will be broadcast commercial-free on THIRTEEN, New York City’s PBS station, which is available for free to nearly all City residents. The program will also be available to livestream on the station’s website. Following each broadcast, each episode and supplemental learning materials will also be made available on schools.nyc.gov and thirteen.org/letslearn. Archived videos will include English and Spanish captions. 

This program is made possible by the Fund for Public Schools’ NYC Schools COVID-19 Response Effort, enabling public-private partnerships to support school communities directly during this time.  

Who: Kirsten Johnson, Director of Social Work Services, LCSW 

Where: Dover Area School District in Dover, PA 

When I was hired by Dover Area Schools for the 2017-2018 school year, I was given the freedom and support of the administration to implement a curriculum for social and emotional learning (SEL). While our schools have become adept at managing behavioral issues and PBIS systems, staff did not have a common vision of what SEL competency looked like or how to teach those skills the same way we teach academic skills. 

I was looking for a mechanism to get something into the hands of the teachers, so while they were learning what SEL competencies were, they would also have a tool to measure those competencies and apply it directly to teaching in the classroom. 

We chose DESSA. It is an easy-to-use, web-based tool that assesses SEL competence; specifically Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Decision Making. Teachers are asked to rate students three times each year. I see the assessment as a form of intervention for our teachers. While they are assessing, they are becoming attuned to what the competencies are and how to determine what additional instruction students need. DESSA provides a rating that is used to determine exactly which lessons students need to meet their SEL learning needs. 

The DESSA assessment allows us to target certain classrooms and specific skills—like how to broaden emotional vocabulary, understand the body cues to different emotions, or how to self-manage when students are having uncomfortable emotions. We also teach students how to feel empathy, interpret the feelings of other people, problem solving, and working as a team. The reason we selected DESSA is that it allowed us to target different classrooms and different student subsets in a way we had not been able to do before.

Increasing Growth in SEL Skills Development

Initially, we targeted grades K-2. We added third grade this year. There is a marked decrease in the number of students who need intervention across our four elementary schools. Using DESSA to measure our progress, we are able to drill down to see the decreasing need for intervention. We also see an increase in SEL growth across the district. Our teachers readily adopted DESSA because it is quick and easy to use, and didn’t require a heavy lift on their part. 

However, the challenge is finding time for teachers to build this into their day. Building administrators are providing structure for this to happen. One way we’ve done this is to ensure that instructional materials are easy to pick up and run with. While DESSA provides the assessment, the lessons that we select, based on the data, are from Sanford Harmony. There is a strong alignment between outcomes from DESSA and Sanford Harmony lessons. The lessons are free and web-based. They are quality materials and it’s been a user-friendly curriculum for our teachers.

School and Student Outcomes

We also use Responsive Classroom as the foundation of our classrooms. This is a student-centered social and emotional learning approach to teaching and classroom management. It is the combination of DESSA, Sanford Harmony, and Responsive Classroom that is making such a difference in our schools. These three programs working together, as well as providing our teachers professional development about trauma-informed classrooms, have completely shifted our teachers’ perspectives. The classrooms are warmer—creating community. It’s really beautiful to see. Kids are relating to each other differently and notice when their peers are absent. Teachers describe student behavior in a new way, and teachers feel empowered to help their students manage. 

It is our philosophy that teaching these skills holistically in elementary grades provides an immunization for students’ older selves, protecting against mental health challenges, risk taking behavior, and a myriad of other risk factors. Continuing to bring resources to them is how we’re going to protect our students in future years. We have the privilege of providing students a warm, nurturing, safe place for them to be. The influence we have on a child is immense and an awesome responsibility.

Technology Used

• DESSA
• Sanford Harmony

New App to Help Students Experience Social Distancing 

As part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Discovery Education and Afterschool Alliance today announced the launch of a new application for iOS products called Social Distancing Trainer. This new app, available now at no cost in the Apple App store here, teaches users about safe and healthy social distancing through augmented reality.   

Free Resources for Social-Emotional Learning, Happiness

Digital content from Discovery Education and its partners is available to families and students worldwide on the first International Social and Emotional Learning Day, which recognizes the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) for both students and communities. 

Discovery Education is highlighting the following SEL partnerships which deliver no cost tools and resources to teachers, students, and their families:

Discover Your Happy

Discover Your Happy Virtual Field Trip (grades 7-12): Identify how happiness impacts physiology and psychology.

Ignite My Future in School

If You’re Happy and You Know It Activity (grades 5-8): Outline the many pathways to happiness and discover how to teach others the roadmap for success. 

Soar with Wings: Social and Emotional Skills for School & Life

Zen Zone Activity Guide (grades K-5): Practice self-management and responsible decision-making skills within the home. 

Teaching with Testimony

Stronger Than Hate Challenge (grades 7-12): Create a poem, story, video or piece of artwork that uses the power of story to counter hate for a chance to win up to $10,000 in prizes. 

Edtech in Action is a new series of articles from attendees and speakers of Tech & Learning's events. Click here to learn more about these events and to apply to attend.

Where: Linwood Public Schools, Linwood, New Jersey

Initiative: Supporting social-emotional learning with STEM

The Linwood Public Schools in Linwood, New Jersey is integrating the concepts of social-emotional learning (SEL) to sour innovation and creativity throughout their curriculum. The emphasis on kindness and empathy are a central part of the program. As research and experience have found, practicing empathy breeds innovation. For Linwood, this has become an integral part of the day to day happenings in the district.

A great example of this empathy in action is seen at the district’s Belhaven Middle School. Four students from the school have been selected by the New Jersey School Boards Association and the U.S. Army to compete in the 2020 STEAM Tank Challenge. The team will compete on March 27 in the South Regional Competition in Blackwood, New Jersey. 

The students originally auditioned by submitting their idea “pitch” in video format. Their pitch, which was 100% student formulated and carried through, was for a smart device application that taught younger children how to perform hands-on CPR. They call the app, “CCPR,” adding the extra “C” in front because of the target audience. Through their research, they found children, elementary through middle school age, don’t know how to respond in an emergency situation and preventable deaths which could be avoided. The app’s interface takes a gamified approach, making this critical and educational product fun and entertaining for its audience. Through the use of Scratch coding and the Makey Makey invention kit, these students are creating this very marketable application to be presented at the regional competition in March. 

Through documentation of their design process and confidence in their product, the students are ready to take on the challenge!

Frank Pileiro is Supervisor of Technology for Linwood Public Schools.

Click here for more info and to apply to attend a Tech & Learning Leadership Summit.

RoboKind today announced the advanced release of their District Enterprise robots4STEM® Avatar Version software to provide coding instruction at no cost for students in districts that are experiencing school closures due to the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. 

Designed for students in grades 1-8, robots4STEM® engages beginning and intermediate learners and is aligned to the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) standards for computer science education. Educators can learn more in this video. 

Many district leaders have expressed concerns about students and online safety as they prepare for an extended period of online learning. The first lessons in RoboKind’s robots4STEM® course are focused on digital citizenship and online safety, so districts can rest assured that students begin the course with instruction on how to use technology safely and responsibly. 

Districts who have announced or are anticipating potential COVID-19 related school closures can visit Robokind.com/avatar to learn more and take advantage of this opportunity. 

S.S. Grin

Fantastical game helps teach friendship skills through storytelling

Pros: Incredibly interactive game uses vignettes to teach relationship skills and perseverance.

Cons: Length of time it takes to complete an activity could be limiting, especially since students can't save mid-activity.

Bottom Line: Riveting role-playing game reinforces relationship skills, but plan carefully so students can save their game

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

A cross-disciplinary collaboration at the University of Delaware has developed a teaching tool to deliver cybersecurity training in classrooms—Zenbo, the social robot. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project joins researchers from the College of Education and Human Development and the College of Engineering.

Recently, fifth graders from The College School learned lessons about safeguarding information online from Zenbo. The two-foot tall robot is programmed to tell children stories and solicit responses that test their knowledge on topics like phishing and password safety.

Based on prior research, the team believes using a social robot is an advantage over other methods, such as having children watch a video or animation. The children’s responses will provide data that the researchers can use to measure student knowledge about cybersecurity. Interacting with the robot may improve student engagement and bring about better outcomes for students with autism or emotional learning difficulties.

The research team plans to pilot Zenbo and the UD-developed cyber safety curriculum in classrooms in spring 2020.

Adventure 2 Learning, a video-based learning platform, today announced the launch of its second generation educational technology platform. The new platform offers more on-demand, interactive videos and more supplemental resources from Pre-K to 8th grade. Videos focus on core curricula, social and emotional topics and mindfulness, and were developed or curated in response to educators’ requests.

Adventure 2 Learning has expanded its program portfolio with Digital Life lessons, in partnership with Circle Media, ranging from how to protect user names and passwords to respecting others online to prevent cyberbullying. 

New algorithms suggest videos based upon teachers’ needs, making recommendations to videos they might like and keeping them updated on what’s trending for the grade level and subjects they choose. All Adventure 2 Learning content is vetted by a community of educational advisors and experts.

For more information on Adventure 2 Learning, visit https://www.adventure2learning.com

“Every child deserves a champion – an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.” – Rita Pierson

Young people worldwide are already leading movements and causes to end hunger, find solutions for climate change, and tackle other world problems. They are using social media and technology to spread the word and gather momentum. However, these movements are mostly outside of school. To inspire students to be the next world changers means we need to allow them at least one project or opportunity to change the world in our classes. This could be a global collaboration project, tackling one of the global goals, joining a challenge or contest, or a problem-based project. This way students will be given the opportunity to tackle world issues with their ideas and innovation and their teachers can facilitate that journey. This was the topic of my recent 10 minute keynote for the ELT Day for Puerto Rico conference, entitled, How to Inspire the Next World Changers.  Find the slides and resources below. Don’t forget to donate here to help those who recently lost their homes in Puerto Rico.

Tips and Resources!

Changing the world isn’t easy! How do we equip students for the journey?

• Champion student ideas
• Involve students in the process of innovation
• Give them opportunities to solve problems they care about
• Spend time investigating problems
• Get them brainstorming with design challenges
• Teach resilience
• Connect them with role models, guest experts and mentors
• Include student voice and choice
• Facilitate the documentation of ideas and innovations (digital portfolios, research
• ogs and journaling)
• Participate in global collaboration projects like the Global Goals!

Where to find activities, projects and lessons:

• The Science Demo Guy’s website has free STEM and Engineering Design Process posters and experiments to download and print. 
• NASA has amazing resources for educators, including free projects, lesson plans, videos, and interactives! Students can join the competitions for free when you set up a free Future Engineers account for them. 
• Sign up for a free Mystery Science membership and receive access to tons of awesome standard aligned lesson plans and projects. 
• Find STEM resources and projects with Google templates free to edit and use from the school I teach at here.

• Click here  to make a copy of the Research Choice Menu template I created with recommended research websites for K-12. Edit as you like and discover kid-friendly search engines in my post, Top Research Websites, Search Engines, and a Research Choice Menu for K-12 Students.
• Citizen science is defined by Oxford Dictionary as scientific work undertaken by members of the general public, often in collaboration with or under the direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions. 
• Find projects open to students and the public at SciStarter.com and Zooniverse.org.
  
  

Social Emotional Learning

• Find the Growth Mindset Self-Talk for students, Permissions, and other social emotional learning visual posters to print and use for free here!
• Download and print the free Self-regulation Coping Strategies For Students To Use At School poster!
• Emoji Bingo for students to identify and feel okay about their feelings!
• Z00 Academy is a free social emotional learning game for K-4.
• Stop, Breathe, Think has hundreds of lesson ideas and activities for students.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is a Technology and Computer teacher, education consultant, and author of books including Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

QuaverSEL

Shake up SEL lessons with music and movement

Pros: With a well-designed curriculum, this site uses a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to teaching SEL skills to young students.

Cons: The program doesn’t collect individual student responses; assessment is limited to teacher observation.

Bottom Line: Fun for students, easy for teachers, QuaverSEL uses the power of music to boost social and emotional learning.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

A free resource for Martin Luther King Day helps young children (grades 1 & 2) learn about the character trait of perseverance. 

The Character Tree, which provides online video lessons on character development, is offering a free video lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

In the video, the The Character Tree’s “Miss Sara” shares the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and describes the character trait of perseverance. The video also highlights other examples of perseverance such as learning to read in braille and getting help with a speech impediment.

To access the video, as well as samples of other video lessons, visit: https://charactertree.com/ 

If you are in the world of education and you haven’t heard the acronym “SEL,” you are probably in the minority. SEL stands for “Social-Emotional Learning,” the label given to the “soft skills” students need to be successful. 

Skills like collaboration, self-awareness, self-regulation, and decision-making are all part of a broad category that is being looked at as essential for success beyond the classroom. Students today are coming to school with more trauma, more fears, more anxiety, and generally more needs than ever before. Learning how to cope with these challenges is vital, but many students still struggle with finding social-emotional balance. 

There have been many theories about why social and emotional skills are not as strong as they could be. One theory is that as technology access grows, social and emotional skills decrease. 

Authors like Dr. Jean Twenge lend credence to the idea that technology is to blame in the decrease of social and emotional skills. In her book, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant,  Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, Dr. Twenge lays out the differences between previous generations and the one she has named “iGen” -- a term for students growing up after the infiltration of smart devices into society.

Dr. Twenge’s argument is that the immediate gratification and overwhelming amount of information available at our fingertips can become an obsession. If not used as the tool it is, a smart device has the ability to become extremely detrimental to social and emotional skills. 

Technology is not blameless in the decrease of social-emotional skills. However, technology can also open up opportunities for social-emotional well-being. Here are just a few examples:

• Mindfulness and meditation apps are available on smart devices. What used to require an in-person guide can now be achieved from the comfort of your bedroom, opening up the benefits of self-awareness to thousands more than ever before.
• Google Forms and other similar collaborative tools can engage those students who are uncomfortable talking about problems, but are willing to write about them. The teacher can then have access to that information in real-time, the student has not embarrassed himself by speaking in front of the whole class, and follow-up can be done discreetly.
• Companies are designing user experiences for the education sector with SEL in mind. Beyond the companies that are creating mindfulness practices, all content area designers are looking for ways to integrate more “soft skills” into their programs.
• Virtual and augmented reality can be used to provide students with immersive experiences that can foster empathy. With this technology, students can visit other places and times, such as concentration camps to Cambodia, to understand the horrors of genocide that they would never experience without technology.  
• There are endless opportunities to use Hangouts or similar virtual conference technology to expand learning and access to professionals, from school psychologists to AP teachers, to world languages. 

The melding of SEL and technology has gone so far as to become a focus for ISTE sessions (Read Caitlin Krause’s article, “Social Emotional Learning Revolutionizes ISTE: Is “Edtech” Edging Toward Redundancy?” here https://www.techlearning.com/resources/social-emotional-learning) and other technology conferences. 

As educators, we can help our students focus on the positive use of technology to support social emotional well-being. We can model for them what it looks like to have a disconnected conversation. We can allow them to use the tools available in their lives to improve their lives. And, we can guide them to know when enough is enough when it comes to their mental health around connected devices.

Nikki Schafer is an Instructional Technology Specialist in Omaha, Nebraska, where she lives with her husband, two little girls and two large dogs. Nikki has a bachelors in Music Education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, a Masters in Instructional Technology from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and is currently working towards a Masters in Educational Leadership with Doane University. 

Catalyst, a global community for education leaders, concluded its launch event series across four continents last week, finding that education leaders around the world share similar challenges and concerns about prevalent nonacademic topics that impact student learning. 

Event gatherings were held in Sydney, Johannesburg, London, and Washington, D.C., attracting education leaders from the national, district, and school levels. Since its launch in October, Catalyst has attracted 400 participant members across 18 countries in four continents. 

Regardless of locale, education culture, and school structure, four consistent challenges emerged:

1. Implementing social and emotional learning programs to meet the needs of all students. 
2. Creating a culture of equity and building student agency.
3. Future-proofing technology purchases to support emerging instructional trends, including personalization and differentiation. 
4. Creating immersive learning spaces that improve student learning.

“Action and outcomes, rather than solely knowledge sharing, are at the heart of our Catalyst community,” said professor and researcher Stephen Heppell, cofounder of Catalyst. “We see too often that educators are isolated — in their own states, provinces, or countries. They’re facing largely the same challenges but working independently to solve them. Catalyst provides a home for problem-solvers to work together, developing and sharing effective, pragmatic, and tested solutions.” 

Through in-person meetings and an online hub, Catalyst links education innovators with experts and each other to jointly create, implement, and refine new approaches to tackling some of the most complex challenges in the sector. The next series of Catalyst events will take place in the beginning of 2020 at major conferences worldwide — bett, FETC, TCEA, didacta, and SXSW EDU — where attending educators can easily participate and contribute to the conversation around these pressing education issues. 

Catalyst’s international roster of founding partners includes Jaime Goldstein, Director of Strategic Projects and Innovation Grants, the Harvard Initiative for Learning & Teaching; Nancy Conrad, founder of The Conrad Foundation; professor and researcher Stephen Heppell; education strategist Ken Shelton; SMART Technologies; and Learnit World Limited. 

Education leaders and those interested in driving change in education globally are invited to join the Catalyst community for free at www.educatalyst.com