Febuarary 2023 at the SECD Lab

Hope everyone had a wonderful wrap to their February month. Here at the SECD Lab, we celebrated Black History month, Presidents Day and more! February is a month dedicated to learning how to use social emotional learning in times of crisis and spreading resources that educators can use. We encourage viewers to preview some of the readings provided below!

Celebrating Black History Month

Retrieved from Black History Month Celebration. Welcome to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center! from https://dallasmlkcenter.com/black-history-month/

Black History Month is dedicated to celebrating the historical achievements of African Americans throughout the month of February! Before 1976, Black History Month was actually not a month, but a week. President Gerald extended the event and made it a month to commemorate the successes of black Americans throughout history and present times.

Celebrating Black history month inside and outside of the classroom helps students feel empowered and encourages learning about history, culture and traditions.

“Connecting Black History to Joy” is an Edutopia post written by Hereich Nichols that explains that Black History Month is an opportunity to celebrate the joyous events of that happen in history, alongside learning about historical figures such as, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and more.

Heriech Nichols mentions that all students and teachers should be able to identify and answer the following

  1. Name five Black history figures unrelated to the Civil Rights Movement

  2. Name least one Black community tradition

  3. Name at least one Black historical music pioneer or genre 

  4. Name one pop culture trend from the Black community that has gone mainstream (e.g., high-fiving)

  5. Name at least one Black millionaire 

If you would like to read more, please click here!

Check out these Article for more:

Connecting Black History to Joy— Black History Month isn’t only about pain—it can be a full-fledged celebration of accomplishments that have shaped America.

Teaching Black History Thought, and Culture Through Art | From Alma Thomas to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Augusta Savage, here are eight remarkable artists to talk about in class—and art projects inspired by their work.  

7 Books About Black History to Use as Mentor Texts — A curated list of texts to guide students to explore Black history and practice a variety of writing moves at the same time.

Teaching Black History Year-Round Requires Rigorous Sight — The vastness of the Black experience in America extends far beyond one month of the year.

Presidents Day

Presidents day is a federal holiday that is celebrated on the third Monday of February. Incorporating Presidents day in school lessons help prompt critical thinking skills and resonating skills.

How can we incoperate Presidents day in the classroom? Dr. Maurice Elias discusses how four simple questions can be asked about Presidents day that underlies social- emotional and life lessons.

Those questions are as presented:

  1. What would you do if you were President of the United States of America?

  2. Who would help you do this?

  3. How long do you think it would take to do this?

  4. What if you had a hard time, ran into some difficulties, some obstacles? What would you do then?

As the questions above are asked in a conversational matter, students will be able to think about aspiring future goals, who they trust to help with those goals, time line and the awareness of the struggles that can occur while trying to achieve those goals.

Resources:

Presidents' Day: A Life Lesson for Students | Edutopia 

Letters to the President: Make It a Student Tradition | Edutopia 


Teach Social-Emotional Learning for Better Schools, Safer Neighborhoods | Edutopia

SEL For Moments in Crisis

Everyone can experiences off day, but its how we react to tough times that shape who we are. There are many steps educators and parents can take to help during any healing process.

  1. Communicating and incorporating mental health checkins that reflect on positive aspect of their day and how they are currently feeling.

  2. Consistity and routine can help students during changing times!

  3. Incorperating self-care plans that allow students to feel like they are in control!

Please checkout the article written by Cathleen Beachboard, that discusses more in detail about these interventions!

Focusing on Student Well-Being in Times of Crisis | Edutopia - One teacher recommends supporting student safety through three Cs: communication, consistency, and control.

Check out these Resources:

A Toolkit for Students in Crisis | Edutopia-- An elementary school assistant principal shares a few ideas for how to help students calm down and regain self-control.

What’s the Role of Teachers in Supporting Student Mental Health? | Edutopia -- As student mental health issues reach crisis proportions, schools and teachers are playing a larger role than ever providing support. Is it too big an ask? 

How School Leaders Can Support Teachers During Times of Crisis | Edutopia-- After two difficult years, teachers need support from administrators more than ever, but providing the right support is key.

Students Taking Action Together, STAT book is out!

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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!

Check out our new podcast featuring Dr. Adam Lekwa

Upcoming SEL Day: Uplifting Hearts and Connecting Minds

#SELDay!

SEL Day is just around the corner and this year’s theme is Uplifting Hearts, Connecting Minds. SEL day is a day dedicated to promoting and advocating SEL in schools and communities! Social emotional learning is a way of teaching that helps facilitate an environment for students and children to grow socially and emotionally. SEL Day is a great way for educators and SEL advocators to get together and spread the positive influences SEL can have on everyone! What are your goals for SEL Day? How do you uplift hearts and connect minds!!

Make sure to register for SEL Day! Click here to register!!!

What is SEL and how is it important?

SEL stands for social emotional learning, which is a method of teaching that helps strengthen the five learning competencies and

SEL has five core competencies: self mangement, self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship skills! These core competencies help build and streghten skills needed for healthy future relationships and goals.

Social emotional learning is essential in helping shape young minds and teaching children how to communicate, manage emotions and use critical thinking to solve problems!

How is Our Team Recognizing SEL Day?

Isabella, Tiktok

I’m Isabella and I run the SECD Lab TikTok. I have been promoting SEL Day through a short video describing what the purpose is and another video where I interviewed other lab members, asking them why they are a part of the lab, why they support SEL, and what they are looking forward to for SEL Day. Join SEL4US and The Urban Assembly on March 10 for SEL Day! This year, the theme is uplifting hearts and connecting minds, we hope you or your organization join the movement to support social-emotional learning! SEL Day allows people worldwide to show how they support and implement social-emotional learning in their communities. Last year, we had around 10 million views from around the globe, we hope to gain even more interest in SEL Day in order to create a larger community. 


Maham, Twitter and Pinterest

My name is Maham, I run the Twitter and Pinterest accounts for SECD Lab. Through these platforms, I have been promoting our lab and our current projects, as well as sharing resources related to SEL day for our followers. SEL Day is a great opportunity for educators, organizations, and any interested individuals to learn more about social-emotional learning! Prior to the SEL day summit on March 10th, SEL4US will be launching the first ever National SEL Week. All week long, we invite you to celebrate and promote SEL through videos, blog posts, social media, your choice! Our focus this year is on uplifting minds and connecting minds, an insightful topic that can prepare us for what currently may seem like a polarizing society. SEL day continues to grow bigger and better every year, and we are excited to see what this year will bring.

Lena, SECD Lab Highlights

Hi everyone! My name is Lena and I help out with the SECD Lab website, specifically the Lab Highlights! I wanted to create a blog post that describes what SEL day is and the importance of SEL Day. This year's theme is uplifting hearts and connecting minds. SEL day is a great way to celebrate the importance of social and emotional learning! Even as a college student, I continue to grow while learning more about Social Emotional learning, even implementing some SEL interventions in my day to day life as well! SEL is not only for students, but for anyone who is willing to learn about it!

Louise, Podcast and SB Team

I’m Louise, I’m a second year MAP student and hopeful future clinician. I work with the SECD On Demand! Podcast and play a role on the South Brunswick team evaluating SEL in the Arts. Through these positions, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing from teachers, students, and other experts in the field. From their stories, I’ve learned that social and emotional learning is something we’re doing all the time. If we can add structure to that learning process, we might be able to yield faster and better results. SEL in the classroom gives us the opportunity to set kids up for success and a future they self-determine and actualize. SEL is a box of tools that help us all form connections and experience life to its fullest

Ashley, Instagram

My name is Ashley and I am mainly responsible for our Instagram page! This year, I hope to gain more engagement on our social media platforms by delivering effective and research-based SEL intervention skills and knowledge to children, teenagers, parents, educators, and community leaders so that we can champion a better future with synergistic efforts. On SEL Day, I aim to spread the word about SEL through social media by creating educational content, local media, and sharing across the networks. We are inviting everyone to participate in SEL Day to promote the importance and benefits of children's social-emotional development! 

Pranita, Academy Newsletter Spotlight Interviews

Hi! My name is Pranita, and I’m an undergraduate sophomore. I am currently in charge of the Academy Newsletter Spotlight Interviews. I am excited to be able to talk to and connect with experts in the field of SEL to learn about the current work and research they are currently carrying out. I am able to learn more about recent advances related to current SEL programs within specific communities in different contexts. I would love to increase awareness of SEL, and I am so excited for everyone to experience SEL Day! It’s a great experience to learn more about SEL and some interesting work going on in the community as well as its significance.

Registration Links for SEL Day!

Taking Stock and Facing the Future: A Discussion on the State of SEL

Join David Adams, CEO of Urban Assembly and SEL Day co-chair in conversation with SEL-field co-founder and Rutgers University Professor of Psychology, Dr. Maurice Elias, and CASEL’s CEO, Dr. Aaliyah Samuel. We don’t know where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve been and this discussion will reflect on the exponential uptake of SEL over the last few decades, the current state of the field, and what comes next. Our speakers will discuss timely field priorities such as supporting SEL implementation quality; paths to developing state-wide support; effectively advocating for SEL; and building bridges of understanding across lines of disagreement and difference to continue to expand the diverse national coalition of SEL allies.

SPEAKERS

  • David Adams, CEO, Urban Assembly

  • Aaliyah Samuel, EdD, President and CEO, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

  • Maurice Elias, Ph.D., Leadership Team, SEL4US; Director, Rutgers Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab; and Co-Director, Academy for Social-Emotional Learning in Schools

Register for SEL Day to access the Zoom link for the Summit: Register here

Join us for an SEL4NJ Summit on SEL Day!

SEL4NJ and its partner organizations will be presenting a special SEL Day Summit on March 10, 2023 from 11 am to 4 pm Eastern time.  The event will be hosted online and will feature six presentations about the benefits of social-emotional and character development in schools and in life.  Sample topics will include the new NJ School Climate Improvement Platform, a panel discussion with grantees from our New York Jets scholarship program, SEL and the Arts, shaping a positive school environment with SECD, SEL in everyday curriculum and instruction, and providing connections and networking for school improvement.  

Click Here to Register!

Click Here to view Summit schedule and session descriptions!

How is our team spreading awareness about SELDay!

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!

Check out our new podcast featuring Dr. Adam Lekwa

November 2022 at the SECD Lab

Hope everyone had a wonderful wrap to their November month and a safe holdiday. Earlier in November, the SECD Lab had the pleasure to be present at the New Jersey Education Association Convention! The NJEA Convention is held in the Atlantic City Convention center. The NJEA Convention is where hundreds of professional development seminars, workshops and programs to help educators are held.

Our team was able to set up a booth and prompt SEL!

Upcoming Webinars and Other Events:

Check out Rutgers page designated to registering for webinars such as, SEL and Equity 101. A list of upcoming webinars are listed with a brief description of the topic and the link for registering.

Webinars and Other Events

Students Taking Action Together, STAT book is out!

Photo retrieved from National Education Association

The Week of November 13 to 19 is dedicated to American Education Week. American Education week is important because is recognizes the importance of public education and to show support to our educators and staff. Educators all over the world are shaping young minds! Being able to incorporate SEL strategies that will integrate empathy and compassion among students and colleagues will help create stronger trust and relationships.

Based on Taylor Hausburgs article, “SEL Audits Reveal Hidden Dimensions of Teaching and Learning” an example of an SEL audit would be a teacher starting every morning thanking her students for being there. This helps with enforcing “social and emotional minutes of gratitude”(Hausburg 2022)

Resources:

Students Take Action in the Community | Edutopia

The Secret to Creating Effective School-Community Partnerships | Edutopia

Benefits of Service Learning for High School Students | Edutopia

Election Day!

Election Day is an annual day were general selections for federal positions are taken. As we get older, we tend to here that people do not want to vote. However our votes matter and if we start with targeting social and emotional skills, we can increase future voter outcomes. A new study shows that programs that rienforced SEL practices had higher likelihood of voting later in life.

The study could be found below!

Childhood Skill Devolpment and Adult Political Participation

Giving Thanks and Showing Gratitude

Gratitude is defined as a quality of being thankful, readiness to show appreciation for and return a kindness. By spreading and practicing gratitude, we would better regulate our emotions, cope with stress and improve relationships. (Rowells 2022)

As described in Laine Rowell’s article on Cultivating a Culture of Authentic Gratitude, 4 ways to show gratitude are:

  1. Make positive phone calls home

  2. Write an open letter of gratitude

  3. Leverage social media

  4. Use gratitude journals/jars

Not only are these gratitude practices great for students, but they are impactful to adults as well!

Resources:

Encouraging a Sense of Gratitude in Students | Edutopia

Habits of Heart: Helping Students Reflect and Act on Gratitude | Edutopia

3 Gratitude Practices That Don't Involve Journaling

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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!

Stay Tuned For Our Upcoming Podcast Episode!

 

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