Journal of Social & Emotional Learning

In this issue, we’ve curated articles aimed at ameliorating the challenges you may be facing right now while also encouraging you to find small moments for grounding and growth. Regardless of the changes you’re navigating, remember that what you are feeling is valid, these circumstances are temporary, and that in the wake of great change and disruption new opportunities can arise.

The educator stories in our May issue, collected from around the world, show the importance of social-emotional learning, building and maintaining positive relationships, setting clear expectations, and reinforcing our sense of community in our school environments. Social-emotional learning is the foundation for great teaching and engaged learning, helping to create a community of learners who can carry their sense of significance and belonging with them wherever they go.

COVID-19 has affected all of our lives, and for educators in particular it has been challenging to find ways to maintain a positive classroom community through distance learning and sustain student engagement, all while helping students to recognize and appropriately manage the emotions they may be experiencing.

We know educators everywhere are experiencing their own array of emotions and challenges surrounding the sudden changes presented by immediate school closures. We also know these challenges are being met with hope, ingenuity, and compassion. In this special edition issue, you will hear from a variety of educators about the ways they are coping, adjusting, and finding ways to continue creating hope and joy for their students.

In this issue, we explore and define social-emotional literacy, discover the importance of picture books, and learn how graphic novels are more than a novelty. These insights are tools you can use on your SEL journey and may even provide you with the gift of time. Our favorite books and characters are as varied as ourselves, but their impact is universal and cannot be denied.

In this issue, we will explore how habits permeate every aspect of our lives and how we can support the long-term goals we’ve recently decided upon through small changes in our habits. By making small tweaks to practices that we do repeatedly and without conscious effort, we can achieve, and exceed, our resolutions and make them a permanent positive change to our lives.

One of the most beautiful things about being a human being is our ability to experience and express emotions. This month’s issue is all about our emotions and their influence on how we get along with others and with ourselves. Developing emotional competence is a life-long process of learning to recognize, name, and manage our emotions in order to improve our success in life, learning, play, work, and relationships.

How are we valuing the time-honored art of play and gifting it to our students and ourselves? In this issue we will explore the importance of play, how the game of play is changing in today’s world, and ways we can keep play alive.

As you begin reading, you will embark on a journey with us as we explore the role of social and emotional learning and its potential impact on the lives of students and educators in the US and around the world. While you see the significance on a daily basis, it is important to acknowledge that the growing role and impact of social and emotional learning (SEL) on student success has accelerated beyond what even the originators of the term envisioned when they first coined it in 1994.