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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/media-balance-is-important

The lesson I chose was based on media balance and safety online. I would teach it to a Kindergarten class since it involves a lot of interactive videos and simple (but important) concepts. To me, Social Emotional Learning is how people develop healthy identities/personalities. It is when people learn how to develop healthy attitudes and how to manage their emotions. They further learn how to feel empathy for others, and how to develop relationships with peers.

There is often a high dependence on technology, especially now a days for younger children which can be an SEL challenge. This dependence can increase impulsivity, and lower frustration tolerance. This is another reason why I chose the lesson that I did because there is a section on learning how to take a break/step away from technology. It teaches a self regulation strategy for transitioning from online to face-to-face interactions.

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How do we find a happy balance between our online and offline activities?

Vocabulary Show definitions

balance - having equal weight or importance of something

device - an electronic piece of equipment like a phone, tablet, or laptop

This lesson meets standards for Common Core ELA , ISTE , CASEL , and AASL . See standards

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Media Balance Is Important | Common Sense Education

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How do we find a happy balance between our online and offline activities? Check out Media Balance Is Important, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your kindergarten students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/social-media-and-how-you-feel I chose to work with Grade 10 for this specific lesson. I love working and learning about the elementary lesson plans, but I feel social media is more an impactful source on older students. I do believe though that a lesson like this, in todays world, can be applied and modified to each grade. I however would teach it to tenth grade. I like how this lesson focused on the different roles social media plays within teens lives. The objectives for this lesson were to give students the opportunity to reflect on their own social media involvement thinking about how it is different for everyone. It also has their focus shift towards active and passive social media that develops positive and negative feelings. I think it is great that their are also take home resources provided. To me, SEL is the development of self awareness, self control, and interpersonal skills inside and outside the classroom. With technology, I feel as though that it can positive and negative impacts. Technology can be beneficial within the classroom when creating project or assessment. I use technology everyday to help me with assignments and connecting work within my classes. However, I have difficulty staying on task when it comes to utilizing technology, and I do not always get the same content from online assignments I would as physical ones conducted in class.

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Social media plays a big role in most teens' lives, and research shows that it causes intense feelings -- both positive and negative. But not all media use is the same. There are many benefits that come with both active and passive media use. For better social and emotional well-being, encourage students to become creators of digital media, not just consumers.

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Social Media and How You Feel | Common Sense Education

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How does your social media use affect how you feel? Check out Social Media and How You Feel, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 10 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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In a highly digital world, it's important to understand the dangers that come with it. I chose this article to highlight some of the information students shouldn't share online, because internet safety is so essential to discuss. I would teach this lesson to 2nd graders as its listed, as students this young and even younger are increasingly online and creating accounts for social media, where it might ask some of these personal questions. This lesson would tell the students not to do things like sharing their age, full name, address, etc. and keep them safer. Overall, I chose it because technology is inevitably going to be used by these students this young, and they need to know what they shouldn't disclose online to keep them safe.
To me, social emotional learning means focusing on student's overall wellbeing and allowing them to develop skills that are essential to their future. It teaches students about being able to manage their own emotions, develop interpersonal relationships and become flexible in their responses to challenges in life. Technology can be used to aid in Social emotional learning, with lessons like these.

But technology also creates challenges for SEL, like the difficulty in self-management of tasks or the creation of projects that aren’t necessarily as beneficial as those physically made. Self-management is a part of social emotional learning that is often an obstacle of technology, because children and adults alike are often always on near a screen and find it hard to keep time away.

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That's Private! | Common Sense Education

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What kinds of information should I keep to myself when I use the internet? Check out That's Private!, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/pause-think-online

This is a first grade lesson that addresses how to be safe, responsible, and respectful online. I chose this lesson because now, where technology is used in almost every classroom, it is important to teach students what not to do online. I think especially head to toe, which is used in the lesson, will help students remember the importance of being safe and respectful online because they will connect it with parts of their body and think back to the lesson. This is important for social emotional learning because it allows students to be caring and responsible while using the internet which can then translate to their attitudes in person towards their peers. Social emotional learning to me allows students to develop relationships, feel empathy, developing the attitude for a healthy identity, and will better help them achieve personal and collective goals. I think it is super important to teach this in the classroom because these are skills that will be used everyday for the rest of their lives. I think technology can become challenging when trying to teach social emotional skills because instead of face to face experiences and interactions, students become used to the idea of learning through a screen. I think a lesson like this can help because it teaches them that not only are other people interacting with you through techology, but also how to be responsible when using technology.

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From our head down to our toes, and our feet up to our nose, the Digital Citizens teach students how to be safe, responsible, and respectful online.

Understand the importance of being safe, responsible, and respectful online.

Learn the "Pause & Think Online" song to remember basic digital citizenship concepts.

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Pause & Think Online | Common Sense Education

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How can we be safe, responsible, and respectful online? Check out Pause & Think Online, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 1 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson specifically because this is a very big problem in every school, in every town, and even state, and it is becoming even more prevalent with social media. Students in 2nd grade are more than comfortable using social media and use internet in class. Introducing how to stand up to bullies both in person and online is something that everyone, no matter their age should be aware of. I remember watching an American Girl Doll movie about bullying in the 3rd grade and even today I remember how much of an impact it made on me. I would teach this lesson throughout all grades, but this lesson can be specific to the K-2 graders.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) means to teach children how to handle their emotions and make these responsible decisions based on their emotions. This lesson is perfectly targeted towards younger students to get their understanding of how to handle their emotions fully and how to deal with empathy towards others. I think that this is even more important with students at a young age being introduced to social media and how to handle what people are saying to them online and how they can respond or not respond. Students at this age are quick to respond based on their emotions, but if we can teach them how to handle and respond to these emotions, especially over the internet, it would be crucial to their lives and their responses. Some SEL challenges I experienced with technology are mostly just trying to get a genuine connection and a genuine response from others. People nowadays only show themselves at their best and at saying things because they can hide behind a screen. If we can teach children how to use technology in a responsible and authentic way I think we could pave ways with making these challenges into a pro.

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The internet is filled with all kinds of interesting people, but sometimes, some of them can be mean to each other. With this role play, help your students understand why it's often easier to be mean online than in person, and how to deal with online meanness when they see it.

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Putting a STOP to Online Meanness | Common Sense Education

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What should you do if someone is mean to you online? Check out Putting a STOP to Online Meanness, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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Hi Molly! This is such a great lesson to talk about for all grade levels. I think that introducing this at such a young age is important so they become familiar with the topic. However, I think that this could be extremely beneficial when students enter middle school. At least way back when, when I was in middle school I feel like this was the boom of the Internet and posting. If I had someone telling me about what to post and not post maybe even starting in elementary school I think that my posts would have been much different. I also think this is a great workshop or a flyer for parents because it allows them to learn about what their students should be posting and what they should look out for on their children's social media accounts or on their devices. I wonder if you could do this throughout a week of internet safety when students first enter the classroom and get their computers or iPads assigned to them. This teaches them responsibility and what to do and what not to do.

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Hi Julia! I love this lesson plan and I think that all of these lessons really go hand in hand with one another. As I mentioned in a response to Holly's lesson, I said that this lesson and all these other digital safety lessons can be taught within the first few weeks of school to help with the student's understanding and limits of using a school computer or iPad or their home devices. This teaches them responsibility and for them to be aware of what they are doing on these devices and how it could affect them throughout the years. I think doing this at a young age, first introducing it, and then getting into deeper thoughts and understandings as the student gets older. This also helps the SEL with stopping and thinking of their emotions and how they are going to respond. Because as we all know, once something is on the internet it is on there forever. We want to really emphasize that the internet is not a place to mess around on and that we need to be aware of our language, how others can perceive things, and how it can affect us in the future (both positively and negatively).

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Hi Angelina! I love love love this lesson plan. I think that you highlighted such a great point about how kids' usage of the internet and social media is only getting younger, which is pretty scary to think about. As I mentioned in all of the other responses, this would be such a great week or two of lessons at the beginning of the school year. Students at this young age do not know what they should or should not post on the internet and having this lesson that they can learn from and can most definitely build upon as they get older. I think that a lot of time students at this young age post things that they think are completely fine or want a lot of likes or to become TikTok famous, but that is not always the best for them or their family. All of these lessons can be super engaging and fun, and they do not have to be a boring PowerPoint or feel like a lecture. This lesson can have video and interactive games like finding a match or playing jeopardy to keep the students intrigued and keep up with their active selves.

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Hi Arianna, this lesson is super important! Standing up to bullies is a skill that every student in every grade needs. Unfortunately, technology seems to make bullying easier as cyberbullying can even be anonymous. Personally, I know my mom is an 8th grade algebra teacher and there's currently a problem with cyberbullying in her school between the girls in her class. These situations have implications that affect the classroom environment and who engages with who, and it's essential to tackle these issues in the classroom prior to their engagement with social media so they know how to respond to such bullying -Angelina Sangiovanni

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Hi Julia, I chose a very similar lesson about online safety, of which I think is super important in the classroom. It's definitely necessary to teach students what not to post online, as I think we as a generation missed out on those lessons and some of us could still benefit from them. I've seen trends on social media of posting their phone numbers or addresses online, something that this lesson would hopefully prevent from occurring in the future. I also love that this lesson incorporates so many essential topics into one with the head to toe activity. It not only teaches about safety, but also how to stand up to cyberbullying, foster communication online and how to balance media for one's well-being. Overall, this lesson is great at highlighting what's necessary for young students to learn about being online. -Angelina Sangiovanni

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Hi Cassidy, I really love this lesson! I think it's important to connect social media to one's personal emotions towards it, considering there have been so many studies that link both negative and positive effects from it. As a psych major, I've written countless papers on social media's effects and am currently writing my thesis on it as well, and it's so cool to see it overlap into this class and these lessons too! I also agree that this would be best for 10th graders, but it could definitely be adapted to younger ages. Nowadays, online resources are accessible to children as young as toddlers, so really diving into how it makes them feel at that age is also important.-Angelina Sangiovanni

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This lesson asks students to consider how gender stereotypes play a role in how we interact with people online, how this influences how people are treated, how it can contribute to cyber bullying, etc. I would teach this lesson to a fifth or sixth grade class because this is the time when students begin to use social media in a more serious context and this is the age at which kids begin to find themselves and form who they want to be both in the real world and on the internet.

Social Emotional Learning, to me, means focus on the health and mental wellbeing of my students before focusing on any sort of academic standards. Students cannot learn if they are not in the right headspace, if they feel unsafe, if they have things from outside the classroom that are weighing on them and that they are incapable of processing. Teaching students social emotional skills lets them know that I as their teacher am here for them, that I care about them first as people, not just as students, and that I want to give them the tools and strategies they need to problem solve and cope with the stressors they face in their everyday lives, both inside and outside of the classroom. SEL can be difficult to address over technology because it can lack that component of connecting face to face and having conversations in real time rather than from behind a screen. Technology can also contribute to problems students face in their everyday lives on social media with things like cyber bullying.

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Beyond Gender Stereotypes | Common Sense Education

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How do gender stereotypes shape our experiences online? Check out Beyond Gender Stereotypes, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 5 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson because it will helps kids better understand technology and their feelings behind it. Technology is so prevalent in society now, that there is really no way around it. If students can get a better idea of their feelings surrounding it, it could really help them in the long run when it comes to their mental health. This lesson is specifically designed for 1st graders, so that's who I would teach this lesson.

To me, social emotional learning means to allow kids to get in better touch with their feelings. It teaches them how to be empathetic, and it really allows them to grow into relationships with all kinds of people. I think SEL is just as important to be teaching as academics if we want the younger generations to have the people skills they need to succeed. Technology has really changed the way all this works. With the animosity the internet allows, people are able to get away with things a lot easier. It's hard to read emotion through words as an adult, let alone as a kid who doesn't have a full set of social skills yet. These are just a couple of the challenges technology can bring when teaching SEL.

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This foundational digital citizenship lesson challenges kids to pay attention to their feelings while using tech. With an engaging emoji game, students learn practical strategies for managing their feelings -- good, bad, and everything in between.

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How Technology Makes You Feel | Common Sense Education

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Why is it important to listen to your feelings when using technology? Check out How Technology Makes You Feel, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 1 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson because third through sixth-grade students are at an age at which they are very impressionable. While these students may not have cellphones yet, they all have had access to some sort of technology throughout their lives that present them with edited images and videos of actors/actresses, athletes, singers, and models all over their screens. Through this type of false media, these young minds are left with the perception that this is how they should look when they are older when in reality, all of the images they are looking at have been edited and face-tuned in order to eliminate any impurities and present celebrities as "perfect". Students are exposed to this false media at such a young age and bring those perceptions with them through life. We as teachers focus more on middle school and high school students when teaching the idea of false perceptions in the media because they are the ones who are self-conscious and going through puberty. However, what many people don't realize is that these elementary minds are exposed to the same exact false media at such a young age and are left with the impression that the way these people look on their screen is normal because they don't know any better.  The world is consumed by technology, especially after the pandemic. However, so many of the students that have and use technology, use it incorrectly. Therefore, in order to protect our students and ensure that they are all being proper digital citizens, we as educators must begin incorporating digital citizenship into our lessons, such as this one, as soon as possible.

To me, social-emotional learning (SEL) means teaching students how to apply the skills necessary to develop healthy attitudes in the classroom and at home, manage their emotions, and make responsible choices that better themselves and their well-being. Another reason why I chose this lesson is that it provides students with an escape from the false media they experience on a daily basis and gives them the information necessary to make healthy decisions that will benefit themselves as well as their education.

When I think about SEL skills, I automatically assume that in order for teachers to effectively incorporate them into their lessons, the lessons have to be face-to-face. However, given that Zoom is now an option for many classrooms due to the effects of the pandemic, I think that it has definitely been a challenge for teachers and students to practice SEL. I know for me, and for many of my friends, not being able to create those connections with my professors and peers that I normally would through in-person instruction lowered my spirits. However, what we as educators have to learn is how to adapt to certain situations so that we can provide our students with the most well-rounded experience we can with the resources we have.

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The web is full of photos, and even videos, that are digitally altered. And it's often hard to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake. Help your students ask critical questions about why someone might alter a photo or video in the first place.

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Is Seeing Believing? | Common Sense Education

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Why do people alter digital photos and videos? Check out Is Seeing Believing?, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 3 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose this lesson because it interested me. I also struggled with this when I was younger. I had trouble getting off of technology when I did want to when I was younger.  Young children have difficulty getting off of technology when they do not want to. It could be watching tv, playing video games, etc. However, it is important for them to learn how to step away. This lesson teaches kids how to get used to that, and why it is important to do that. The way that kids grow up in today's world they are always on technology. I would specifically teach this to kindergarten and first graders. Now they are just getting into school and they need to practice listening to the teacher and doing something even if it is not what they want to do, or if the time doing that is done. Social-emotional learning is very important because it teaches kids to develop social awareness, building relationships, show empathy toward others, and understand others. With technology, it is hard to build connections because you are connecting with a device. You need real-life in-person interaction to build a connection. There is a sense of it not seeming real over technology.

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Whether it's watching TV or playing on a tablet, using tech can be super fun! Often, kids find it hard to transition from an online activity to an offline one. Teach your students a simple routine for how to manage those inevitable digital interruptions that are part of everyone's lives in the digital age.

Learn why it's important to be aware and respectful of people while using devices.

Learn the Pause, Breathe, Finish Up routine as a self-regulation strategy for transitioning from technology to face-to-face interactions.

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Pause for People | Common Sense Education

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How do you say goodbye to technology when you don't want to? Check out Pause for People, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your kindergarten students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I choose this lesson because it stood out to me more than the others due to it relevance in today's world. I also choose this lesson because it is aimed for 5th graders which is a very potential grade I would like to teach. Making friends with people online was not something that I did or had to worry about growing up. But, social medial and online gaming has become such a huge role in today's world, making it something we have to educate the youth on. It is important for kids to know that it is okay and fun to have technology, but you have to be responsible with how it is used. It is also important to have the more difficult conversations with kids and explain to them that everyone may not be who that say they are and that it is easy to be someone else from behind the screen, so it is important to not talk to strangers on the internet. In the online lesson plan, I specifically like the objective of, "Describe how to respond to an online-only friend if the friend asks something that makes them uncomfortable". This is important to teach kids because even if they are being safe and responsible online, they can still find themselves in an uncomfortable situation and it is good for them to be prepared on what to do if this does happen. Social Emotional learning to me means teaching about skills that extend beyond the classroom but are very critical to learn inside the classroom. SEL is meant to be more intentional and specific to each child in helping support their individual needs. Some SEL challenges that I experience with technology is not being able to implicate SEL to the fullest extent due to the barrier of the screen. As important as incorporating technology into the classroom is, it becomes very difficult to build a foundation and relationship with a child without that human interaction factor.

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Kids make friends everywhere they go -- including online. But are all of these friendships the same? How can kids start online friendships and also learn ways to stay safe? Help your students understand both the benefits and the risks of online-only friendships.

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Digital Friendships | Common Sense Education

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How do you keep online friendships safe? Check out Digital Friendships, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 5 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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Hi Bailey! I agree with how you feel about social emotional learning! It is so critical for students to feel as teachers we care about them as people first! I also said in my response that SEL can be difficult through technology due to being behind a screen vs having face - to - face conversations. I think 5th and 6th grade would be appropriate for this lesson too because of it being the age that students are starting to get social medial as well as it being the age which kids find themselves as you said. Great job! :)

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Hi Angelina! I definitely agree that internet safety is VERY important to discuss with students. I think it is very interesting that you would teach this lesson to 2nd graders and that it is a second grade standard! I think it is important to start discussing at 2nd grade, but they may be too young to have social media or grasp the concepts of internet safety. I like that in your lesson you would highlight not sharing private information such as your full name, age, and address. I also said that SEL focuses on the wellbeing of the students and helps the develop skills for outside the classroom and their future. Great job!

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Hi Holly! I think this is a great lesson and is very important to teach students about social media balance. I think it is interesting to teach this to a kindergarten class, but understand as the world is changing and it is not the same as when we were that age. I like your idea of SEL and how it is students developing healthy identities/personalities. I agree with what you said about there being a high dependency on technology and how this can create a challenge with SEL. I think we can all agree and see first-hand during our field studies or other experiences working with kids and the impact of this such as the impulsivity and tolerance you stated in your response. I think teaching kids how to step away from technology and find balance is very important for the to learn. Great job!

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https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/putting-a-stop-to-online-meanness
I chose this lesson because cyberbullying is an issue that occurs everywhere to people of all ages. It is important to start teaching kids about this when they are young because then, hopefully, it will stick with them as they get older. That said, this lesson is important to teach elementary school students because it will have a greater impact if they start learning earlier in their life. To me, Social Emotional Learning is a way to teach students how to better comprehend their emotions, feel their emotions, and demonstrate empathy for others. I think technology makes it much harder for people to feel connected to others. I’ve experienced this myself, and it definitely is a challenge to overcome this.

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The internet is filled with all kinds of interesting people, but sometimes, some of them can be mean to each other. With this role play, help your students understand why it's often easier to be mean online than in person, and how to deal with online meanness when they see it.

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Putting a STOP to Online Meanness | Common Sense Education

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What should you do if someone is mean to you online? Check out Putting a STOP to Online Meanness, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I thought you picked a great article. In the days of social media, and where we get most of our news online, it is important to be able to distinguish real from fake. Even if you cannot distinguish real and fake, you have to be able to understand that anything online could be altered or fake news. Most things put on the internet have a motive to push a certain narrative. Most information we view is online, and most of our research comes from online. People need to learn that not everything online is true, and why the validity of a source matters, and why multiple sources matter. I think this is a great lesson.

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Hey Arianna,
One of the reasons I wanted to become a teacher, was the purpose of implanting kindness lessons within my classroom. Kids are so venerable to evil in the world, I agree that it is so important to have a positive impact on them, that encourages them to have a positive impact on others.-Cassidy Tobiasz

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Hey, Cassidy great article! I feel that this lesson does a great job connecting to students' SEL. Social media is a major part of our lives, especially for students teenagers, and pre-teens. Social media can have a strong negative effect on students' mental health. I think it is amazing that this topic is actually being addressed, and teaching students how to be positive on social media. Not only that but embrace the positive, and stay away from the negative. When I was growing up this topic was not addressed and social media was a very dark place during middle school and early high school. If kids are taught how to focus on the positives of social media and learn to deal with it not have a strong negative impact on their mental health. That could be huge.

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Hey Bailey
I always think about my environment when I am doing work, and think back to when I was younger and doing my work. I had to have a safe space and a place I was comfortable in order to work efficiently. My teachers were a big influence in that as well. The internet is a huge distraction and not a place where many feel safe. It is essential for them to learn how to utilize social media responsibly and appropriately at that age. - Cassidy Tobiasz

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Hi Julia, it is kind of shocking how early on students have to learn about appropriate behavior and responsibility on the internet. They begin using technology at such a young age, but I think it is also important for them to stay connected face to face rather than through a screen growing up. -Cassidy Tobiasz

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I chose a second grade lesson plan called “That’s Private!” It is extremely important to expose children to the threats and dangers of the world around them in a way that does not scare them but informs them. In this lesson, the discussion is based around what information the students should feel comfortable sharing with others. There is emphasis on keeping your phone number, address, personal pictures, passwords, credit card information, and so much more. I love that so much of the lesson is discussion based brain storming allowing students to list many different pieces of them that should be kept to themselves and people you trust. This talk allows students to hear ideas from other students and also is a great way to reinforce what they already knew from their parents. I also like the aspect of the lesson that allows students to think about what could happen if you do give away very personal information to strangers or anybdoy you do not fully trust and closely know. I really love that they play a game as well! This lightens the mood and is a fun and engaging way to share ideas and make sure everybody really understands the dangers.

Social Emotional Learning, to me, means exposing students to an environment that acknowledges the human side of students. It is discussion based learning that allows students to reflect on their experiences, discuss the good, bad, right, wrong, and explore usually unspoken emotions and feelings that may not otherwise be uncovered. I think teaching these SEL lessons is a way to lead by example as you show your students that it is healthy and super normal to discuss these parts of yourself and it is as important as learning academic subject such as math and science. It is also very important for the wellbeing of the children to check in on them!

An SEL challenge I experience in the world of technology is the decline of my general mental and emotional welbeing. I sometimes find myself scrolling for too long and wasting hours of my day. I find myself sitting on the couch and not moving my body as much as I should. These house wasted mindlessly scrolling and keeping my body and mind from experiencethe real and active world is so dangerous. When I come back to reality, I feel disappointed in myself and feel drained and exhausted even though I did not expend any energy. This is a challenge I face occasionally and I am hoping to improve!

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That's Private! | Common Sense Education

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What kinds of information should I keep to myself when I use the internet? Check out That's Private!, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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I chose a second grade lesson called "Who is in Your Online Community?" I picked this lesson because with the growing use of technology and social media it is more important than ever to distinguish the relationship kids/students have with the community in which they are interacting with on their iPads, phones, computers etc. When we were kids it was "don't talk to a stranger at the store/out in public", now kids have that extra threat of interacting with strangers on their devices as well. This is why it is so important to have this conversation at a young age with our students to clarify who is part of our direct community, and who is someone just in the world on our devices. Although this is a second grade lesson, this could be taught to any grade all the way through college. I don't think it could ever hurt to reestablish these boundaries.  Social emotional learning to me is giving students the space and time to be equip themselves with the coping skills to get themselves through life. SEL is comprised of self management, self awareness, responsible decision making, social skills and relationship skills. SEL is a super important thing to teach because these are the skills that students are going to reply on every day for the rest of their lives. If students are not taught/given the opportunities to improve/reflect on these skills they will have a hard time in every aspect of their life. I think there could be a lot of useful sites and interactive websites that really can aid SEL in the classroom. The one challenge I can see with this would be obviously not being face to face with others to get that human interaction. Reading facial expressions, body language and tone are all things that aid with a lot of the categories that are in SEL and being able to get those experiences is crucial.

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We are all connected on the internet! By learning the Rings of Responsibility, students explore how the internet connects us to people in our community and throughout the world. Help your students think critically about the different ways they connect with others, both in person and online.

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Who Is in Your Online Community? | Common Sense Education

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How are we all part of an online community? Check out Who Is in Your Online Community?, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 2 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.

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This lesson plan is important for students in the 3-5 range, as many of them will be approaching the age where they will be communicating online with their peers more. Having an understanding of how posts and communication online can make someone feel, and building a sense of empathy for others even when you cannot see them is important.
When I think of SEL, I think of schools taking the time to build strong rapport and communication with students in order to better educate them. With these strong relationships, schools can give students the tools and skills they need to navigate difficult situations, interpersonal relationships, and any of the difficult emotional aspects of growing up and learning. True SEL cannot be accomplished by band-aid type activities that are included to meet a requirement, but must be an ongoing and important part of a classroom and school.

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The Power of Words | Common Sense Education

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What should you do when someone uses mean or hurtful language on the internet? Check out The Power of Words, a free digital citizenship lesson plan from Common Sense Education, to get your grade 3 students thinking critically and using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate.