A Pandemic, A Flood, and SEL

Red River of the North at Crest, downtown Grand Forks, ND

As the days pass and we watch the snow melt, the river rise, the snow come back, the river starting to recede, and our town grow quiet as we learn from home.

Lately, as I send letters, drop off goodie baskets, and find myself going out of my way to show more kindness, I am reminded that humans are social animals and everything we do has social-emotional implications.  Especially now with physical distancing being vital to curb the spread of COVID-19, emotional closeness is so very important. 

I have been working on materials and resources to support teachers and learners during our remote learning experience and find joy in sending my weekly email with the latest Tech Tip Tuesday (something I have created for colleagues for years and have continued - click to see latest volume).  It is not much, but it is my attempt at supporting the social and emotional well-being and resilience of teachers by attempting to create promote a support network for adult learners so they can impact student learner academic outcomes.

Essentially, it is my mission to find resources and provide support to our educators, so that they can help student learners develop strong social-emotional skills to thrive in school, career, and life. 

As we look at the list of SEL skills needed for the future, we can clearly see how relevant they are for all humans at this very moment in our history and we begin to navigate our way back to school and work settings:

·      regulate their emotions,

·      manage stress,

·      cooperate with others,

·      set and achieve goals,

·      teach self-awareness, and

·      builds self-confidence.

Integrating a focus on social-emotional learning into your remote classroom or home activities during physical distancing can really assist learners of all ages (yes, even us adults) help us navigate and recover from the experience of our current pandemic trauma.

This past week’s Tech Tip included multiple resources for SEL learning.  I will continue to create and share resources over the upcoming weeks.  That being said, I’d be happy to add you to my weekly Tech Tip Tuesday email list, just let me know you are interested.

Until next week, stay healthy and safe... and remember to reach out socially even if we can't do so physically!

Jessie