Reflecting & Rebuilding: Digest Edition
Contributing Editor: Emily Hemingway, Editor-in-Chief
As the school year winds down, this special digest issue reviews what we’ve learned so far this year and the lessons we can take with us into the summer. We looked back at the past six months to see what ideas have captured your interest, what resources have offered you support, and what answers you have been seeking.
Recently, you’ve been asking yourselves three questions: How can I teach the social and emotional skills my students need? How can I intentionally focus on racial equity in my approach to teaching and learning? And finally, how can I take care of myself in a world, and a profession, that demands more and more of my time and energy?
In the pages that follow, we have curated the answers that our authors have offered in some of our most popular articles from the first half of 2021. You’ll learn about the competencies, instructional strategies, and standards that can support explicit SEL instruction in your classroom from experts Chip Wood and Michelle Benson. Ina Pannell-SaintSurin, Jazmine Franklin, and Katie Potter offer approaches and resources for infusing equity practices into all aspects of your teaching. Jane Cofie discusses support for partnering with families, and Anjail Kenyatta and Dr. Joe Tilley leave us with actionable steps we can take to support our own self-care.
We hope the summer months offer you a chance to reflect on this past school year and rebuild your energy and inspiration for the school year to come.
Articles in this Issue
Learning Together: Connecting With Students, Community, and Each Other
Our most popular social media posts and articles so far in 2021 make it clear how much time and effort our followers invest in connecting with their students, building trusting…
Child Development and SEL
Early research conducted for Responsive Classroom began in 1985 by Stephen N. Elliott and was based on the C.A.R.E.S. skills he created with Frank Gresham (Elliott, 1993; Gresham & Elliott,…
Making Time to Teach SEL Skills Using SEL Strategies
The author would like to thank the following educators for providing their insights during the writing of this article: Jennifer Book, second grade teacher, McLauchlin Elementary School, Raeford, NC Shera…
Setting the Standard for SEL
The C.A.R.E.S. standards . . . help students learn the skills that we know will create the conditions for success in school and outside of school. In 1983, the U.S.…
Social-Emotional Learning Strategies With a Focus on Racial Equity
Since March 2020, we have been living with an increased sense of instability, uncertainty, and confusion as our lives changed significantly with the emergence of a global pandemic. Positioned in…
Equity and Mindfulness
Culturally Responsive Mindfulness: Strategies for Teachers and Students With all of the challenges and changes our schools and educational communities have faced since March 2020, it might be difficult to…
Social-Emotional Learning & Diverse Books: One Cannot Exist Without the Other
As teachers, we know how difficult it is to explain and define emotions in concrete terms. A situation arises and we grapple with how best to approach it with the…
Parent-Teacher Cooperation and Student Success with Jane Cofie
How important is cooperation in creating effective collaboration between teachers and parents? Jane Cofie: Cooperation is a key component in an effective partnership between teachers and parents. It begins with…
Mindfulness for Educators
There’s no question that educators face stress in many different forms. From managing online classroom dynamics to figuring out how to delineate between working from home and living at home,…
Don’t Take It Home: Creating a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Teaching can be stressful. Over the last year, with the addition of virtual classrooms, hybrid classrooms, and socially distanced classrooms, teaching became even more stressful. Before the pandemic, teachers worked…