Social Emotional Learning in a Pandemic
This pandemic has created a lot of buzz words describing the times. Perhaps you’ve heard things like “unprecedented” or “pivot” a lot lately. They definitely capture what’s going on. Another popular term, especially amongst schools and education, is social-emotional learning.
Why are so many schools talking about SEL? Because it’s so important, now more than ever!
There are tons of reasons why this is. Before Covid-19 social-emotional learning was great at teaching students important skills to help them regulate their emotions and manage their behaviors. Research has found academic scores improved and kids learned useful life skills when SEL was implemented in schools.
During the pandemic schools are finding student’s mental health is suffering, amongst other issues, and SEL is vital in helping kids (okay, AND ADULTS!) get through these tough times.
This post digs deeper into what students of all ages are going through and how social-emotional learning addresses those challenges. There are many good reasons why SEL is important now more than ever.
SEL Supports Mental Wellness
No doubt, the pandemic has taken a toll on adolescents in some capacity. Covid-19 has disrupted lives in many ways. Children do best with predictability, but the last year has been nothing but unpredictable.
Kids have missed school, friends, scheduled activities and everyday normal life for awhile. Canceled milestones like prom or graduations are huge losses for teens as are birthday parties for kids. Some may have experienced sickness, death, job loss, or other hardships within their families.
These all may be secondary concerns in the wake of a virus, but youth can’t always make sense of what’s going on and it’s still a big hit for them. Kids’ reactions to all of this should be validated.
Statistics show just how much student well-being is affected right now.
The CDC reported from March to October 2020, the mental health related ER visits increased 24% in kids aged 5-11 and 31% in teens aged 12-17.
A national survey conducted by America’s Promise Alliance found ⅓ of the respondents feeling depressed.
It’s a pretty bleak picture for many of our youth. Yet social-emotional learning can help young people overcome these stressors because SEL supports mental wellness.
Luckily, many districts recognize this! SEL is all about helping students learn to cope and deal with their stress and worries. It creates safe learning environments for kids because they get to talk about their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. They also get to learn coping skills to manage their mental wellness.
When students left school in March of 2020 many of them unknowingly changed. Schools are changing, too, by putting less emphasis on academics and more of an emphasis on SEL. Learning can’t happen until students heal from what they’ve been through. SEL is the path forward to that healing.
By using SEL in the classroom teachers can check in with their students about their well-being. Students have time to talk about their apprehensions. They also can learn skills on how to handle their worries. Working as a class on these issues also creates a strong support network too.
SEL is important now more than ever because it helps learners heal and grow in their mental wellness so that they can one day get back on track with other parts of their lives.
Social Emotional Learning Builds Connections
Learning looks different for classrooms across the country. Some schools are in-person, others are hybrid, while others are fully virtual.
With the different ways instruction is getting delivered, it can be a challenge building a classroom community.
SEL is great for building connections whether students are in the classroom or learning at home.
Two core competencies for social-emotional learning include social-awareness and relationship skills. Creating connections is a big component to SEL lessons. Teaching concepts like teamwork, communication, or social skills seems like it can easily be done within a classroom, but what about distance learning?
SEL & Distance Learning
These competencies can be taught online too! It takes a little bit of creativity but it’s possible. Teacher’s are learning how to replicate what they would be doing in the classroom virtually. For example, in-person classrooms may have daily check-ins with a morning meeting. Teachers can schedule that same activity with a morning meeting via zoom.
During the zoom meeting teachers then spend more time working on building connections rather than just keeping it to things like daily announcements. Teachers may ask simply how the class is doing with a thumbs up or thumbs down. If there are a lot of thumbs down then they know to spend time discussing what’s causing the thumbs down.
Other ways to build connections is to give students time to interact socially with one another. They can do things like ice breakers, show and tell or share words of encouragement with one another. Teamwork can still happen during small group lessons in breakout rooms. Teachers can lead growth mindset activities focusing on building connections.
Bridge the Difference
While classes meet from a distance SEL can bridge the distance felt thanks to the opportunities of coming together through different platforms to talk and share. Teachers and students alike find these connecting sessions to be more meaningful because it might be their main social outlet during the day and kids feel less isolated.
For more info on incorporating SEL into your distance learning schedule, check out this post!
SEL Gives Students Important Real Life Skills
Social-emotional learning touches on the many facets of a child’s life. Things like self-discovery, friendship skills and making responsible choices are all useful concepts to learn about. It’s not very useful to learn about these ideas if there aren’t tools to go along with it.
SEL has the tangible tools to go along the content, which takes learning one step further. Learners can apply all of this information to their lives!
A student struggling with insecurities can learn and talk about those and then actually have tools to use to address the issues. Knowing what to do with yourself and with others in tough situations is so empowering!
What are the real life skills kids learn? Here are some examples:
Communication–Assertive statements like “I statements,” showing empathy to peers, express emotions, needs and wants, asking for help
Problem solving–How to work with others, analyze problems, create solutions, make informed decisions
Self-Management–Recognizing emotions, calming strategies, controlling impulses
Making choices–Understanding outcomes and consequences to choices, gathering information, weighing pros and cons
Relationship Building–Getting along with others, working through differences, empathy, sharing ideas, cooperation
This isn’t an exhaustive list there are many other real life skills kids learn!
Having useful skills in your tool belt has so many benefits for students, too. When they know what to do with themselves in hard times kids gain confidence, resilience and grit. Having this mindset not only helps them survive but thrive!
When this moment in time passes students will also have these valuable life lessons that then can be used later on in life when faced with other trials.
For more info on creating a classroom climate for social emotional learning and an overview of what SEL is, you can check out this post!
Social Emotional Learning Benefits Teachers, Too!
This year has taken a toll on teachers for sure in these unprecedented times! Educators have had to pivot the way they deliver lessons. They’ve taken on new responsibility with technology and balancing lesson planning. Teachers miss their students.
In other words with a lot of new challenges comes extra stress. So how can teachers overcome all the hardships they’ve endured?
With social-emotional learning, of course. SEL isn’t just for students, these concepts are for adults too.
SEL contains many golden nuggets of information teachers can apply to their lives. Schools that have social-emotional lessons built into the curriculum offer the perfect opportunity for teachers to use that information for their own self-care.
If a school doesn’t have SEL in its rotation, teachers may want to consider using it in their own classroom. You’ve already seen the great benefits for your students but you can benefit from SEL too!
If you’ve flown on a plane you probably can recall being told to use oxygen first before giving it to a child. When educators take care of their own mental wellness they are better equipped to handle the mental wellness of others. SEL is the lifeline to self-care.
Believe in the Power of SEL!
Social-emotional learning has been very effective in helping teachers and students manage their day and achieve success. However, with all the things students and teachers have experienced, SEL is paramount in helping everyone get back up on their feet as they get back into the classroom.
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