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.
Students Taking Action Together, STAT book is out!
Order here: New STAT Book Now Available for Order! — Rutgers SECD Lab
American Education Week
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:
Make positive phone calls home
Write an open letter of gratitude
Leverage social media
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
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