9 ways to boost social-emotional learning post-COVID

CASEL and the Committee for Children’s Second Step program are two of the leading nonprofit providers in helping schools integrate social-emotional learning.
Here are some SEL tips for administrators and teachers in the new school year from Mylien Duong, a clinical child psychologist and senior research scientist at Committee for Children (tips 1 through 5), and Karen VanAusdal, senior director of practice at CASEL (tips 6 through 9):
- Build connections with students through morning meetings and other interactions.
- Don’t speed up instruction right away to tackle learning loss.
- Give students voice and choice over some assignments and class activities.
- Be honest and up-front with students if they ask about whether schools will have to close again or other sensitive issues.
- Allow educators time to cope with their own anxieties and regulate their emotions.
- Have principals contact every staff member to discuss online learning methods and the issues educators are contending with at home.
- Hold “restorative circles” where staff can talk about the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, the presidential election and other issues.
- Ask administrators to help educators add anti-racist pedagogy to the new school year’s curriculum.
- Train non-instructional staff to help children cope with stress and anxiety.
Read the other stories in our series on SEL as school reopen during COVID:
- COVID-era SEL means preparing students for the unknown
- 10 ways Austin ISD reinforces SEL during COVID
- Why kids must feel safe before they can learn
- Student voice becomes a key component of SEL
- 5 reasons why SEL is essential in the COVID era