3 strategies to support student well-being and SEL

The pandemic’s on college students’ social and emotional well-being continues to be felt in faculties nationwide. Here at Lincoln County R-III School District in Missouri, we aren’t any completely different. Many of our college students are scuffling with regulating their feelings. We’re seeing college students needing extra social and emotional support.

The Lincoln County Resource Board (LCRB) Mid-year School Based Programs Assessment (January, 2022) listed probably the most vital behavioral/psychological well being (BH/MH) points college personnel believed college students had been going through. 

• The second most crucial BH/MH problem was “anxiety, worry a lot, fear” (93 p.c).
• The third most crucial BH/MH problem was “controlling emotions, anger management, and conflict resolution” (78 p.c), related to the May and December of 2020 outcomes. 

These challenges aren’t distinctive to our faculty district; the truth is, the demand for social and emotional studying (SEL) applications has grown quickly as extra and extra districts see this want develop and acknowledge the worth of implementing these applications. A 2021 Tyton Partners report famous college and district spending on SEL grew roughly 45 p.c between November 2019 and April 2021 and that student wellbeing had turn out to be the highest precedence amongst faculties and districts.

Our district carried out a social and emotional studying initiative in 2019, which
features a PK-12 SEL curriculum (RULER), a SEL screener (DESSA) and interventions and preventions similar to SEL targeted Building Intervention Teams. We additionally adopted on-line student security and wellness programs for college kids, which reinforce a few of these SEL expertise similar to managing stress and growing wholesome relationships.

We discovered throughout this course of that it’s essential to take a multi-pronged method to SEL. Here are some methods to do that:

1. Prioritize SEL on the district degree. Our district acknowledged we wanted a extra
systematic method to social and emotional wellness for college kids and workers. So, we created the Director of Social Emotional Learning & Support place. The Director of Social Emotional Learning and Supports is primarily targeted on growing and main all District social and emotional helps for college kids and aiding college workers with acceptable interventions as essential. This place additionally coordinates with outdoors group companies for student support. We’ve chosen RULER as our SEL curriculum and the DESSA as our SEL screener. We created plans for interventions on SEL wellness, dedicating time to serving to college students particularly work on expertise they want instruction with.

When implementing an SEL initiative, it’s essential to have a scientific method and to take it sluggish. To assist with the districtwide method it’s useful to have it part of the district degree complete enchancment plan.  Then, every constructing can develop their constructing degree enchancment plans to set focused targets to assist attain the district’s finish aim.

2. Find applications that assist cowl a number of bases – and put aside devoted time to do them. Our district adopted on-line Student Safety and Wellness Courses from Vector Solutions as a result of they’re wonderful instruments to assist promote discussions about essential points like bullying, stress administration, having wholesome relationships, and extra. The programs assist reinforce social and emotional expertise and additionally assist us meet state necessities round a few of these points. Adopting applications that serve a number of wants may also help a district be extra environment friendly and extra focused in the way it’s supporting college students. We search for instruments which can be going to examine a number of bins.

Once you could have these multi-purpose instruments, create devoted class time to use them. Our district has what we name “WIN Time” (“What I Need”) – a devoted time period throughout homeroom for intervention. It can be utilized for teachers or SEL. A instructor can use that point, for instance, to have college students watch and have a bunch dialogue round one of many Vector video-based classes.

3. Practice – and reward – constructive conduct. This can go a good distance towards serving to college students develop their social and emotional expertise and in making a constructive college local weather. Troy South Middle School, which serves greater than 800 college students in grades 6-8, is a superb instance of a college with a powerful deal with this. Middle college could be a robust transition for some college students. Troy South Middle School carried out a college broad Positive Behavior Support program with the aim of serving to to construct constructive relationships between college students and their friends and academics whereas additionally outlining/explaining
building-wide expectations. The college’s (*3*) describes constructive behaviors college students can apply in varied settings similar to utilizing constructive language with workers and friends within the classroom or being a responsive listener and energetic participant throughout assemblies. Students can earn “RRAP tickets” (Respectful, Ready to be taught, Accountable, Positive) for making good behavioral selections, which may be redeemed for varied privileges and/or rewards.

The college additionally does kindness challenges within the fall and spring to support constructive conduct. And academics reinforce conduct by utilizing constructive language. For occasion, the college has a “chill zone” and a “focus room.” Instead of getting detrimental connotations, it’s defined to college students that they don’t go to these areas as a result of they’re in hassle, it’s as a result of they want house. You want to set the fitting language and tone of your voice. If a student is having a detrimental response to a scenario, we’ve got them take what RULER calls a “Meta-Moment”–a short step again from the scenario the place they pause and take into consideration how to flip that response constructive.

There isn’t any one-size-fits-all method to SEL. However, implementing SEL on a district-wide degree, utilizing high-quality curriculum, assessments, and programs that examine a number of bins, and emphasizing constructive conduct will all assist to present a well-rounded program.

Related:
How to establish student anxiousness within the classroom
Educators, dad and mom stay vigilant about defending student psychological well being