Special Shoutout: Polina Poliakova

The SECD Lab is pleased to dedicate this post to highlight Polina Poliakova, our Multi-Project Research Coordinator, who is ending her time at the lab and moving on to a new chapter to pursue her master’s degree. Polina graduated from Rutgers University in 2020 with a degree in psychology, and has played a major role in her leadership position within the lab. She was in charge of multiple projects and ran many different aspects of the lab during her position as Multi-Project Research Coordinator. Her leadership and passion for SEL and the SECD Lab is always celebrated by SECD Lab members and her work will continue to support our purpose to guide social-emotional learning and character development in students. 

Polina’s passion for social emotional learning in youth has led her on this path in raising awareness on mental health issues and promoting effective communication and coping skills. Some of her research interests have been around creating positive psycho-social development in students with a bigger goal to improve educational experience for the younger generation.

Some words from Polina:

“I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the SECD lab as an undergraduate and post-graduate. Not only have I been a part of many ongoing projects, papers and evaluations, but I also feel like I have been a part of a really amazing community of individuals, who have helped me grow in many ways beyond academics. I am so lucky to have been involved in such a caring, supportive and positive team and I am excited to see what the lab will continue to achieve!

I am especially thankful to the leadership team and Dr Elias who took me into the lab and have really supported and shaped me into becoming the researcher that I am today. As sad as it is to be leaving my position, I know that my work in SEL is not yet done and I will treasure not only the relationships that I have formed, but also the importance that SEL holds in everyday life and hope to spread that knowledge wherever I go.” 

Thank you, Polina! We look forward to hearing about your amazing accomplishments and next steps!

Welcome SECD On Demand!

The SECD Lab is moving forward this summer with our podcast which can be found on Spotify. Currently, the podcast consists of one episode interviewing Dr. Maurice Elias, the SECD Lab director. The future episodes will include various guests from different backgrounds and careers who will be interviewed on numerous topics related to social-emotional learning. SECD On Demand will not only share some of the research done within the lab but serves to inform the audience on mental health, anti-racism, lesson planning strategies for students, and more. 

SECD On Demand hopes to highlight each of our guest speakers on every episode. The second guest speaker who will be featured on the next episode is Scott Edgar, an associate professor of music at Lake Forest College and author of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning: The Heart of Teaching Music. In the upcoming episode, we will discuss the contents of this book and the importance of including music education in schools to improve students’ social and emotional learning.

SECD On Demand will continue releasing new episodes with featured guests in the SEL and SECD community. The podcast will explore topics around social-emotional learning in depth and share the work and opinions of our guests. Find us and listen on Spotify! 

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Morning Classroom Conversations

As schools quickly transition back from the pandemic to back-to-school, how students adjust to the classroom environment has become more important than ever. The beginning of the school day is an important time for students to reinforce social and communication skills. It is an essential time to prepare them to not only learn academically, but learn more about themselves as well as their peers. Holding morning classroom conversations not only gives students a sense of community but also empowers students with a sense of agency as they grow and develop their social and emotional skills.

Coming out in September, Morning Classroom Conversations by By Maurice Elias, Nina Murphy, and Kellie McClain was written to help build students’ social-emotional, communication, and character skills in their transition back to school. The authors encourage teachers and educators to intwine daily conversations with students in order to create a safe space and to make time for practicing social-emotional skills. Some of these skills include practicing critical and creative thinking, building active listening skills, learning to respectfully disagree with others, and strengthening relationships among students. All of these skills are not only essential in becoming a well-rounded and developed person, but are also necessary to improve the overall classroom environment and to foster better relationships between peers. 

Morning Classroom Conversations includes hundreds of prompts and themes, sample scripts for teachers to follow, and an overview of the structure and end goals of these conversations. These discussions are essential to strengthen the learning environment and to allow students to feel not only heard but understood by both teachers and peers. 

Morning messages and meetings are already a big part of many teacher’s routines in the classroom.

These conversations before starting the school day encourages dynamic discussions and the development of students’ social, emotional, and character development. Morning meetings improve communication skills and grow opportunities for children to evolve into mature and well-rounded adults.