Teaching Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is extremely important right now. According to a 2018 survey, current and recent high school students don’t believe their schools have done enough to help them develop socially and emotionally, and most graduates don’t feel prepared for life after high school.. We’re also learning that some social and emotional learning … Pets: brushing your dog, petting your cat, snuggling up with a furry friend; talking to your pet birds, watching your fish, riding your horse, singing to your chameleon. Students have experienced a variety of stress and potential trama the past six months and schools must provide stellar activities to help students cope and build their social and emotional competencies. A guide with checklists, activities, and suggestions for creating space for self care and intentional connection with colleagues. Educators are sometimes not aware of what students have experienced in their homes right before class or during this quarantine period. Teachers can have students play together in the virtual classroom or assign games for students to complete on their own and discuss lessons learned as a class afterwards. Physical distancing is hard, but it can help to hear from peers about why staying apart physically is so important and how we can all stay in touch socially to support one another and keep connected. Social emotional learning takes education beyond academia and equips students with important lessons they can use in school and in the real world. Music: listening to a calming playlist with songs and/or artists that help them relax and deescalate, listening to an upbeat playlist that gets them dancing or singing along to blow off steam. Breathing exercises give students a chance to calm down, decrease stress, and reset their body before beginning academic content. After deep breathing, students will hopefully have a feeling of safety in the classroom and be ready to learn. determine what to use and what to toss. … Explore self-awareness by introducing emotional vocabulary. The activities here are organized around CASEL’s five core SEL standards: Stay up to date with news and happenings. Welcome to our Social Emotional Learning Activities page. The best thing caregivers and educators can do is to talk proactively with our young people about strategies they can use to help them avoid becoming overwhelmed or to help them reset if they do: Provide opportunities for students to gain social awareness of others and how they are dealing with the current changes in our lives. Students can use the chat box to type their affirmation statement or vote on their favorite one in a survey. Encourage students to do some research, write a script, and create a video or audio recording to post to social media or a digital classroom. Youtube has 3-5 minute yoga exercises for students that are short enough for virtual use and will help set the tone for the lesson. Teachers can expand upon the normal show and tell activity for students at home because they can share a spot in their home where they feel safe, go to calm down, share their rooms, their pets, and more personal things that they could not transport to a school building. Empathy and perspective taking are critical skills in building our social awareness, but these two concepts are quite difficult for the average, egocentric teenager to develop. The teacher can screenshare a list of items for students to find around their house. A very easy activity to begin virtual classes with is breathing exercises. Social-emotional learning doesn’t necessarily have to be something that happens in close proximity to a student, said Nancy Duchesneau, a SEL researcher for the Education Trust. What is the easiest decision you have had to make in your life? It can help you better connect with your students and help them work on five core competencies: … This is the time … This collection of light, fun activities invite you and your students to come together and enjoy each other’s company during these stressful times, and take a break from more serious classwork. Perfect for back to school, these activities … Below are 10 virtual SEL activities for students at home. To-do lists can be divided into two types: daily tasks and longer term goals. Targeted Competencies: self-management, social awareness, and relationship-skills. Operating from a growth mindset helps students at any age see where they are in relation to their goal and see progress as they take steps to reach it. Social-emotional learning (SEL) is a critical part of every child’s education and can be nurtured even when students are not in school. Teachers can choose the item that students will show and tell about that links to a specific emotion or feeling. Whether teaching in person or in a remote-learning environment, you can encourage social emotional learning in everyday activities … SEL can help students learn better. Ask students to think about the question: “How do you define a healthy relationship?”. The mode in which students check-in looks different depending on the age and grade level but some examples are placing their name or picture under the emotion, completing a drawing, writing about their feelings, relating their feelings to the weather, or holding up a finger to show their overall mood. When we practice and build our skills in self-awareness, self … Teachers can choose a coping skill and practice that skill with their students each day of virtual class in a week. High school students are at the juncture between being kids and being independent adults. Pick a spot in your home for students to set up a workspace. Remote/Virtual Learning Research Student Engagement Social-Emotional Learning Digital Learning Homeschooling Coverage of social and emotional learning is supported in part by a … April 26, 2020. Provide opportunities for students to gain greater relationship skills. Many teachers utilize a feelings check-in when students enter the room so they can gauge where each student is emotionally before beginning the lesson. As summer comes to a close teachers are preparing for that big first day of school. Remote social emotional learning can support all of these traditions and help teachers and students feel connected while apart. Teachers use show and tell to build pride and confidence in students and this activity helps build relationships by finding connections with others. Educators can use familiar strategies from an SEL program used at the school or CASEL’s SEL 3 Signature Practices to provide opportunities for students to reflect and contribute, pause to process … Perspective Taking: During this pandemic, we have all been inundated with loads of differing perspectives. 75 back to school activities for the remote learning classroom It's back to school time again and this year looks NOTHING like we have ever seen before. This activity helps teachers know who to check-in with later, who needs more emotional support, and helps students learn ways to identify and vocalize their emotions. While this strategy will not work for everyone, some districts, such as Fulton County Schools in Georgia, are putting together their own programs for incorporating social-emotional learning in the virtual classroom. Mindfulness, the ability to focus on the present and accept one’s circumstances, is a self-awareness skill that can significantly reduce stress and anxiety. Teachers can read or project a book on the screen that focuses on emotions and feelings. Mindfulness and breathing: downloading exercises/apps (e.g., meditation, mindfulness, breathing, guided imagery) to use when feeling overwhelmed and/or at night to relax into restful sleep. Provide opportunities for students to gain greater skills in responsible decision making. Yoga is great for movement and exercise, helps calm students, reinforces deep breathing, and clears students’ minds to be able to better focus on the lesson. Scavenger hunt –Set up a scavenger hunt to wor… Managing Stress & Anxiety during the Corona … Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, California, uses a variety of activities in the weekly, 90-minute Habits, Community, and Culture (HCC) class, where students learn Habits of Success and develop social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. Who are the most important people in my life and why? Some coping strategies that teachers can teach are counting, breathing, positive self-talk and more. To help your teen(s) practice active listening and perspective taking: Ask students to write a set of 4-5 interview questions and interview a variety of people they know by phone or video chat. Create Goal Lists: These can be done on paper, a computer, a whiteboard, an app, etc. EVERFI offers free digital SEL resources designed to equip students with skills like empathy, leadership, conflict resolution, self-awareness, and resilience. Students may be feeling anxious, stressed, and overwhelmed about the school work they need to accomplish at home.