This month in SEL: how to take a “both and” approach to SEL and academics during summer school, the importance of developing students’ social and emotional skills, engaging learners in personally meaningful SEL… and more!
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How to Take a “Both And” Approach to SEL and Academics This Summer
Social-emotional learning can help us create safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environments that increase students’ agency, build self-efficacy, and improve academic outcomes.
Although adopting a “both and” mindset when it comes to SEL and academics is a daunting task, doing so is crucial to ensuring that our students feel validated, affirmed, and celebrated as they engage in rigorous instruction this summer.
In this post, I share three strategies to embed SEL within summer school initiatives in your community.
5 Learning Gains Made During the Pandemic
“Despite the hardships of pandemic learning there have been bright spots and even many learning gains, say educators.
While the potential for learning loss is very real, simply comparing students’ scores this year to previous years doesn’t tell the whole story and ignores the difficult but also rich life experiences students have had over the past 15 months.”
Developing Students’ Social and Emotional Skills May Be More Important Now Than Ever
“Effective social and emotional learning (SEL) is best encountered not in standalone programs, but within the context of academic lessons and a broader school culture and climate that provides students opportunities to encounter, reflect on, and practice habits of character. Such activities are inclusive and recognize and affirm students’ diverse cultures. The proliferation of SEL programs is based on the recognition that students’ emotions and social contexts are deeply intertwined with their success in school and beyond, including in the labor market.”
Engaging Students in Personally Meaningful SEL
“Grappling with the barriers to interpersonal connection inherent in remote learning has made us think even more carefully about how we craft lessons for students. Whether online or in person, lessons should promote deeper learning and, ultimately, greater student engagement and learning retention. That’s why it is of paramount importance to apply a social-emotional learning (SEL) lens to all lessons, no matter the subject. This means actively fostering belonging in a safe and welcoming classroom community, engaging students in learning that is relevant to their lives, and helping them grow skills that will enable them to pursue their personal goals.”
Other Headlines:
- 3 Engaging Activities for Teaching Culturally Responsive SEL (via Panorama Education)
- Key Elements of SEL Implementation (via Edutopia)
- How supporting SEL can improve diversity and equity in education (via ASCD)
- Nation’s skeletal school mental health network will be severely tested (via The Hechinger Report)
- Schooling Has Changed Forever. Here’s What Will Stay When Things Go Back to ‘Normal’ (via The 74)
This Month in SEL | June, 2021
Social emotional learning - Inside SEL 