Building and Sustaining Positive Social and Emotional Climates
The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence has developed a social–emotional learning program called RULER, which teaches students to do daily check-ins, identifying the energy level and pleasantness of their emotions on a color-coded “mood meter.” Some teachers check in by allowing students to slap various emojis posted outside their doors as they walk into class, or by making eye contact and greeting students one-by-one to see how they respond. Teachers have also adapted check-in strategies for remote environments by asking students to share animated GIFs or key words, or by using social–emotional learning apps. Teachers who perform such check-ins regularly will have a ready tool to gauge how their students are responding to big events, such as political unrest or uncertainty in their own lives.
I
have been working 24/7 since this pandemic began in my role as superintendent,
just like all of my educator friends across the state and country have as well.
I have searched every resource, looked at every model, and tried to emulate the
best of the best. But I forgot one major resource: my students.
To help young people combat the growing mental health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale University is offering a variation of its most popular “happiness” course to more than 500 low-income high school students around the nation at no cost.
The Advisory Board of Teaching Tolerance has shared ideas for starting discussions in the days following the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.