September 24, 2019
Time flies! It is hard for me to believe that I am now the parent of a college kid. I can still remember sharing stories in the DCRC newsletter about my preschooler, who is now off and living (somewhat) independently, several hours away from home.
For those of us who have chosen careers that focus on promoting the well-being of young children, we know how quickly the years go by. We also know that the work we do to promote children’s resilience in early childhood needs to carry onward into elementary school. Our partners at Aperture Education are committed to developing social and emotional learning (SEL) solutions that allow educators to measure, strengthen, and support social-emotional competence in K-12 youth, and in themselves. With the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) at the core of Aperture Education’s work, the DCRC-Aperture partnership allows us to offer a strength-based continuum for understanding and strengthening the resilience and social-emotional health of children from 4 weeks of age through grade 12.
For the past several years, Aperture Education has offered a back-to-school guide as a free resource to help educators, administrators, and support staff in K-12 schools better understand SEL. The 2019 Back to School Guide is full of research-based information that educators can start to put into place right away! The resource organizes a tremendous amount of free information from various organizations, so that K-12 professionals have a one-stop resource to get started with SEL in their classrooms and schools. As advocates for children, all of us should share this guide with colleagues and partners who touch the lives of school-age children.
Aperture Education 2019 Back to School Guide
Just to give you a sense of the information included in the guide, I’d like to share some specific sections that caught my attention…
SEL Activities That Can Reduce Bullying
The information shared in this section addresses the needs of both individuals engaged in bullying behavior and the victims. The strategies shared all emphasize the importance of building relationships both between students and among teachers and students. As with other sections of the guide, this section provides links to concrete activities for teachers to start using today! Here are a few of the favorites identified:
- A Brilliant Activity to Teach Healthy Relationships
- Fostering Relationships in the Classroom
- Classroom Activities to Help Students Make Friends
- Making Friends: 10 Team-Building Games for Students
SEL and Trauma-Informed Practices
Now more than ever, our schools need to focus on ensuring safe, supportive learning environments. Teachers need to be educated about trauma and its effects on students and their behavior. Linda Likins, former director of the Devereux Early Childhood Initiative, currently volunteers in her California community, working with former school teachers. During a recent presentation that focused on trauma, she shared that many of the teachers vocalized how deeply they regret not understanding trauma and its impact when they were teaching in the classrooms. Many former teachers commented on how valuable this information would have been, and how deeply it would have impacted their relationships with students, particularly those who struggled. Aperture’s Back to School Guide includes an entire section on trauma-informed practices (page 13).
SEL for Educators
Just like early care and education providers, teachers in K-12 settings also need to focus on their own well-being, in order to help manage the stress that comes along with teaching. The same emphasis on simple strategies that we highlight in the adult resilience journal, Building Your Bounce Simple Strategies for a Resilient You, can be found in the guide’s section titled, “SEL for Educators: 10 Activities to De-Stress” (page 18).
I hope and am confident that this resource can be of great use to you, as well as to any colleagues or even friends in your life. I invite you to spread the word (simply share this link: http://info.apertureed.com/btsg-2019), and wish you success for the year ahead!
