March 2022 At the SECD Lab

New Jersey Mask Mandate Lifted!

ABC7 News Update

It was at the start of this month that the governor of New Jersey made the conscious decision to lift the NJ school mask mandate! Governor Phil Murphy was cognizant of the continuously declining numbers in the Tri-state area following the omicron surge. 

"We are not going to manage COVID to zero, we have to learn how to live with COVID as we move from a pandemic to an endemic phase of this virus," (Gov. Phil Murphy)

Our very own Dr. Elias joined ABC7 News to discuss the ongoing debate over the mask mandates. To hear his discussion, refer to the video (on the right).

SEL Day In Review

March 11th, 2022 marked the third International Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day. Please go browse the listed resources and explore how you might be able to host common ground and common good within the classroom.

To see more information on our lab’s participation in SEL Day 2022, please visit this page!

National Reading Month

Graphic created by Erika Tan.

In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, March has been coined as National Reading Month – a month to inspire individuals (of all ages!) to read every day. Reading is a key component of education and professional development; it also has immediate and long lasting health benefits such as increased cognitive function, memory, vocabulary and empathy!

To help promote reading within your classrooms, we’ve provided you with some resources below. Reading shouldn’t just happen in the month of March! Utilize these resources in the classroom for lesson plans, activities and guides for homework to help encourage your students and kids to read more.

National Education Association’s Read Across America — a website that contains events and ideas to use for celebrating reading and Reading Across America day (which occurs March 2nd!)

American Library Association — resources for teachers, parents, and students including promotional reading materials, and links to many other websites

Children’s Book Council — a website that includes links to authors, publishers, and parent information

National Council for Social Studies — Notable Social Studies Books that can be of use for classroom material and at home

National Science Teachers Association

National Council of Teachers of English — a website that includes numerous resources for teachers along with lists for Notable Children’s Books

Internet School Library Media Center — Contains a list of major book and non-book awards of interest to K-12 school educators

Another way to help promote reading across the nation is by working with and collaborating with organizations that advocate for such values. Reading is Fundamental is a great example of a charity that is committed to creating a literate nation and inspiring a passion for reading among all children. They are the nation’s largest children’s literacy non-profit! If you are interested in donating or want to learn more about their mission and vision, please go visit their website!

National Women’s History Month

Graphic created by Erika Tan.

Happy National Women’s History Month! This month is about commemorating the vital role of women in our American history. To learn more about the month or to find ways in which you can incorporate teachings into your classrooms (beyond March), please browse the following resources below!

https://womenshistorymonth.gov/ 

TeachingHistory.org Resources

Online Exhibits From the National Women’s History Museum

EDSITEMENT Women’s History Resources

For STEM Field related: Science NetLinks Women’s History Collection

ReadWriteThink’s Women’s History

SECD on Social Media

Our Instagram Page

Our Twitter Page

Our Pinterest Page

SOME REMINDERS

New STAT Book Available for Pre-Order

A new book containing the teaching strategies of the STAT curriculum is now available for pre-order from ASCD.

Pre-order here: New STAT Book Now Available for Pre-Order! — Rutgers SECD Lab

Stay Connected with Us!

To keep up to date with our lab on a day to day basis, please go follow our social media accounts! We are on Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Facebook, and Pinterest. We also have a podcast titled, SECD On Demand! Check it out wherever you may listen to your podcasts! Below you will find our most recent episode.

A Reflection of SEL Day 2022

On March 11th, 2022, we celebrated our third International Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day. During this day, educators and communities world-wide pledge their dedication to the development of children’s social-emotional well-being and the skills they need to properly engage in collaborative civic engagement. This year’s theme for SEL Day was “Common Ground and Common Good”.

Here is a brief review of what Rutgers SECD Lab had prepared and created for the celebration and honor of SEL Day.

An Op-Ed by Dr. Maurice J. Elias

On SEL Day, our lab’s Director, Dr. Maurice J. Elias, published this Op-Ed piece discussing this year’s theme, “Common Ground and Common Good” . To read more about his work as well as the theme from this past year’s SEL Day celebration, please visit this page.

Our Instagram Page

Members of the SECD DSCM team worked diligently to create graphics to help spread awareness and advocate for and support SEL. Below you will find the instagram post that we posted to have distributed by our viewers on our instagram page.

Our Pinterest Page

In preparation for SEL Day, members of DSCM team created and posted this graphic on our Pinterest page to help spread the message about what the day of celebration entails as well as discussion on the theme for this year.

Our Twitter Page

Members of our DSCM team participated in the #SELDay movement on twitter. The hashtag was successful in gaining traction as it was on the trending page during March 11th!

Additional Resources

To learn more about SEL Day and what Social Emotional Learning is, please refer to the following resources below!

#SELday

SEL Day - Celebrate Social Emotional Learning!

Toolkits for SEL Day

Social Emotional Learning Alliance for New Jersey

SOME REMINDERS

New STAT Book Available for Pre-Order

A new book containing the teaching strategies of the STAT curriculum is now available for pre-order from ASCD.

Pre-order here: New STAT Book Now Available for Pre-Order! — Rutgers SECD Lab

Stay Connected with Us!

To keep up to date with our lab on a day to day basis, please go follow our social media accounts! We are on Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Facebook, and Pinterest. We also have a podcast titled, SECD On Demand! Check it out wherever you may listen to your podcasts!

Updated Statement of Lab Commitments

The Social-Emotional and Character Development (SECD) Lab focuses on social justice, equity, empowerment, and developmental rights since its inception over three decades ago.  Along with many colleagues in related fields such as social-emotional learning, character education, and school culture and climate, we affirm the worth of every child. Our Lab strives to offer all children the opportunity to make positive contributions to the world around them and to be cherished by all peoples and communities.  

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor,  and many others like them- before and since- continue to serve as sobering reminders that we, as a society, still have a lot of work to do. As a Lab, we study and work to mitigate the insidious effects of poverty, discrimination, and neglect on children, and we have recognized that the combination of racial bias and poverty is a kind of social imprisonment from which far too few young people are able to escape.  The tragic murders of Black, Indigenous, and people of color at the hands of vigilantes and state-sanctioned agents are not revelations. That individuals harbor hatred based on racial/ethnic/cultural difference has been true since the beginning of recorded history; hatred that is organized around notions of inherent supremacy, disdain, and subjugation of “the other,” has been documented as leading to the fall of civilizations. The pervasiveness and continuation of such actions in the present-- and the recognition of the adverse impact of hatred and racism on so many people’s daily lives-- have only deepened our Lab’s commitment to action.

However, what has become undeniable and unavoidable in the death of George Floyd is its stark reminder of the words of Rabbi Joachim Prinz, spoken at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Speaking of his experiences as a Jew under the Hitler regime, he said he learned that:

The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.

We will not be silent. Silence in the face of injustice perpetuates injustice, just as the officers who were silent during and after George Floyd’s murder were complicit in that crime.  Rabbi Prinz’s call is a call to witnessing, a call to speaking, and a call to acting.  Furthermore, Rabbi Prinz warned us against complacency and against evaluating the state of the world through the lens you happen to have. At every moment, we must ask ourselves, “How might the others involved be feeling?”; “How would I be feeling if that were me?”; “How would I be feeling if that was one of my loved ones?”. Perspective-taking and empathy are not just two “skills”; they are markers for our interdependence as human beings, an interdependence that has been given new clarity and significance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The SECD Lab renews its pledge to advocate for and continue to illuminate the importance of processes supporting the social, emotional, and character development of all young people in America and worldwide.  We affirm that diversity and equity are intertwined and that our own Lab’s diversity will contribute greatly to our effectiveness. We will begin by continuously reviewing our own procedures and plans. We will continue to seek feedback from collaborators and community leaders with whom we work, and we will listen with humility and gratitude, in a spirit of continuous improvement.  We will determine where we can be most effective and where we best can lend our efforts and support to the work of others. We will continue to use empathy and honesty as operating principles in all of our work. We pledge to not keep silent about the impact of racism, social injustice, and economic inequality.  And we pledge to match our words with actions.

Onward!

 

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