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"If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve," Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: "Do what you love, and don't stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities..." Far from Pollyanna platitude, this advice actually reflects what modern psychology knows about how belief systems about our own abilities and potential fuel our behavior and predict our success. Much of that understanding stems from the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, synthesized in her remarkably insightful Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (public library) - an inquiry into the power of our beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, and how changing even the simplest of them can have profound impact on nearly every aspect of our lives.

One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A "fixed mindset" assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can't change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A "growth mindset," on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness.

The consequences of believing that intelligence and personality can be developed rather than being immutably engrained traits, Dweck found in her two decades of research with both children and adults, are remarkable. She writes:

For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value. How does this happen? How can a simple belief have the power to transform your psychology and, as a result, your life?

Believing that your qualities are carved in stone - the fixed mindset - creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character - well, then you'd better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn't do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.

[...]

I've seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves - in the classroom, in their careers, and in their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser? . . .

There's another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you're dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you're secretly worried it's a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you're dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way - in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments - everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

Do people with this mindset believe that anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven? No, but they believe that a person's true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it's impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.

At the heart of what makes the "growth mindset" so winsome, Dweck found, is that it creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval. Its hallmark is the conviction that human qualities like intelligence and creativity, and even relational capacities like love and friendship, can be cultivated through effort and deliberate practice. Not only are people with this mindset not discouraged by failure, but they don't actually see themselves as failing in those situations - they see themselves as learning. Dweck writes:

Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it's not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.

This idea, of course, isn't new - if anything, it's the fodder of self-help books and vacant "You can do anything!" platitudes. What makes Dweck's work different, however, is that it is rooted in rigorous research on how the mind - especially the developing mind - works, identifying not only the core drivers of those mindsets but also how they can be reprogrammed.

Dweck and her team found that people with the fixed mindset see risk and effort as potential giveaways of their inadequacies, revealing that they come up short in some way. But the relationship between mindset and effort is a two-way street:

It's not just that some people happen to recognize the value of challenging themselves and the importance of effort. Our research has shown that this comes directly from the growth mindset. When we teach people the growth mindset, with its focus on development, these ideas about challenge and effort follow. . . .

As you begin to understand the fixed and growth mindsets, you will see exactly how one thing leads to another-how a belief that your qualities are carved in stone leads to a host of thoughts and actions, and how a belief that your qualities can be cultivated leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.

[...]

The mindsets change what people strive for and what they see as success. . . they change the definition, significance, and impact of failure. . . they change the deepest meaning of effort.

Dweck cites a poll of 143 creativity researchers, who concurred that the number-one trait underpinning creative achievement is precisely the kind of resilience and fail-forward perseverance attributed to the growth mindset. She writes:

When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world - the world of fixed traits - success is about proving you're smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other - the world of changing qualities - it's about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself.

In one world, failure is about having a setback. Getting a bad grade. Losing a tournament. Getting fired. Getting rejected. It means you're not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for the things you value. It means you're not fulfilling your potential.

In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you're not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn't need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.

But her most remarkable research, which has informed present theories of why presence is more important than praise in teaching children to cultivate a healthy relationship with achievement, explores how these mindsets are born - they form, it turns out, very early in life. In one seminal study, Dweck and her colleagues offered four-year-olds a choice: They could either redo an easy jigsaw puzzle, or try a harder one. Even these young children conformed to the characteristics of one of the two mindsets - those with "fixed" mentality stayed on the safe side, choosing the easier puzzles that would affirm their existing ability, articulating to the researchers their belief that smart kids don't make mistakes; those with the "growth" mindset thought it an odd choice to begin with, perplexed why anyone would want to do the same puzzle over and over if they aren't learning anything new. In other words, the fixed-mindset kids wanted to make sure they succeeded in order to seem smart, whereas the growth-mindset ones wanted to stretch themselves, for their definition of success was about becoming smarter.

Dweck quotes one seventh-grade girl, who captured the difference beautifully:

I think intelligence is something you have to work for ... it isn't just given to you.... Most kids, if they're not sure of an answer, will not raise their hand to answer the question. But what I usually do is raise my hand, because if I'm wrong, then my mistake will be corrected. Or I will raise my hand and say, 'How would this be solved?' or 'I don't get this. Can you help me?' Just by doing that I'm increasing my intelligence.

Things got even more interesting when Dweck brought people into Columbia's brain-wave lab to study how their brains behaved as they answered difficult questions and received feedback. What she found was that those with a fixed mindset were only interested in hearing feedback that reflected directly on their present ability, but tuned out information that could help them learn and improve. They even showed no interest in hearing the right answer when they had gotten a question wrong, because they had already filed it away in the failure category. Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, were keenly attentive to information that could help them expand their existing knowledge and skill, regardless of whether they'd gotten the question right or wrong - in other words, their priority was learning, not the binary trap of success and failure.

These findings are especially important in education and how we, as a culture, assess intelligence. In another study of hundreds of students, mostly adolescents, Dweck and her colleagues gave each ten fairly challenging problems from a nonverbal IQ test, then praised the student for his or her performance - most had done pretty well. But they offered two types of praise: Some students were told "Wow, you got [X many] right. That's a really good score. You must be smart at this," while others, "Wow, you got [X many] right. That's a really good score. You must have worked really hard." In other words, some were praised for ability and others for effort. The findings, at this point, are unsurprising yet jarring:

The ability praise pushed students right into the fixed mindset, and they showed all the signs of it, too: When we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. They didn't want to do anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent.

[...]

In contrast, when students were praised for effort, 90 percent of them wanted the challenging new task that they could learn from.

The most interesting part, however, is what happened next: Dweck and her colleagues gave the students a subsequent set of harder problems, on which the students didn't do so well. Suddenly, the ability-praised kids thought they weren't so smart or gifted after all. Dweck puts it poignantly:

If success had meant they were intelligent, then less-than-success meant they were deficient.

But for the effort-praised kids, the difficulty was simply an indication that they had to put in more effort, not a sign of failure or a reflection of their poor intellect. Perhaps most importantly, the two mindsets also impacted the kids' level of enjoyment - everyone enjoyed the first round of easier questions, which most kids got right, but as soon as the questions got more challenging, the ability-praised kids no longer had any fun, while the effort-praised ones not only still enjoyed the problems but even said that the more challenging, the more fun. The latter also had significant improvements in their performance as the problems got harder, while the former kept getting worse and worse, as if discouraged by their own success-or-failure mindset.

It gets better - or worse, depending on how we look at it: The most unsettling finding came after the IQ questions were completed, when the researchers asked the kids to write private letters to their peers relaying the experience, including a space for reporting their scores on the problems. To Dweck's devastation, the most toxic byproduct of the fixed mindset turned out to be dishonesty: Forty percent of the ability-praised kids lied about their scores, inflating them to look more successful. She laments:

In the fixed mindset, imperfections are shameful - especially if you're talented - so they lied them away. What's so alarming is that we took ordinary children and made them into liars, simply by telling them they were smart.

This illustrates the key difference between the two mindsets - for those with a growth one, "personal success is when you work your hardest to become your best," whereas for those with a fixed one, "success is about establishing their superiority, pure and simple. Being that somebody who is worthier than the nobodies." For the latter, setbacks are a sentence and a label. For the former, they're motivating, informative input - a wakeup call.

But one of the most profound applications of this insight has to do not with business or education but with love. Dweck found that people exhibited the same dichotomy of dispositions in their personal relationships: Those with a fixed mindset believed their ideal mate would put them on a pedestal and make them feel perfect, like "the god of a one-person religion," whereas those with the growth mindset preferred a partner who would recognize their faults and lovingly help improve them, someone who would encourage them to learn new things and become a better person. The fixed mindset, it turns out, is at the root of many of our most toxic cultural myths about "true love." Dweck writes:

The growth mindset says all of these things can be developed. All - you, your partner, and the relationship - are capable of growth and change.

In the fixed mindset, the ideal is instant, perfect, and perpetual compatibility. Like it was meant to be. Like riding off into the sunset. Like "they lived happily ever after."

[...]

One problem is that people with the fixed mindset expect everything good to happen automatically. It's not that the partners will work to help each other solve their problems or gain skills. It's that this will magically occur through their love, sort of the way it happened to Sleeping Beauty, whose coma was cured by her prince's kiss, or to Cinderella, whose miserable life was suddenly transformed by her prince.

This also applies to the myth of mind-reading, where the fixed mindset believes that an ideal couple should be able to read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences. She cites a study that invited people to talk about their relationships:

Those with the fixed mindset felt threatened and hostile after talking about even minor discrepancies in how they and their partner saw their relationship. Even a minor discrepancy threatened their belief that they shared all of each other's views.

But most destructive of all relationship myths is the belief that if it requires work, something is terribly wrong and that any discrepancy of opinions or preferences is indicative of character flaws on behalf of one's partner. Dweck offers a reality check:

Just as there are no great achievements without setbacks, there are no great relationships without conflicts and problems along the way.

When people with a fixed mindset talk about their conflicts, they assign blame. Sometimes they blame themselves, but often they blame their partner. And they assign blame to a trait - a character flaw.

But it doesn't end there. When people blame their partner's personality for the problem, they feel anger and disgust toward them.

And it barrels on: Since the problem comes from fixed traits, it can't be solved. So once people with the fixed mindset see flaws in their partners, they become contemptuous of them and dissatisfied with the whole relationship.

Those with the growth mindset, on the other hand, can acknowledge their partners' imperfections, without assigning blame, and still feel that they have a fulfilling relationship. They see conflicts as problems of communication, not of personality or character. This dynamic holds true as much in romantic partnerships as in friendship and even in people's relationships with their parents. Dweck summarizes her findings:

When people embark on a relationship, they encounter a partner who is different from them, and they haven't learned how to deal with the differences. In a good relationship, people develop these skills and, as they do, both partners grow and the relationship deepens. But for this to happen, people need to feel they're on the same side. . . . As an atmosphere of trust developed, they [become] vitally interested in each other's development.

What it all comes down to is that a mindset is an interpretative process that tells us what is going on around us. In the fixed mindset, that process is scored by an internal monologue of constant judging and evaluation, using every piece of information as evidence either for or against such assessments as whether you're a good person, whether your partner is selfish, or whether you are better than the person next to you. In a growth mindset, on the other hand, the internal monologue is not one of judgment but one of voracious appetite for learning, constantly seeking out the kind of input that you can metabolize into learning and constructive action.

In the rest of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck goes on to explore how these fundamental mindsets form, what their defining characteristics are in different contexts of life, and how we can rewire our cognitive habits to adopt the much more fruitful and nourishing growth mindset.
Public domain photographs via Flickr Commons

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Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives

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"If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve," Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: "Do what you love, and don't stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities..."

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Can growth mindset play a part in the social emotional needs of ELL students and the way the teacher perceives them in the classroom, what are some strategies to promote growth mindset amongst ELLs in the classroom?

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I wanted to delve deeper in how teachers can integrate and move past any biases or stereotypes to put forth a growth mindset within the classroom, and influence ELL students to also feel motivated and encouraged in their successes through looking through the lens of growth mindset

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Image via Reid Wilson
As regular readers know, I'm a big proponent of helping our students learn about a growth mindset (see The Best Resources On Helping Our Students Develop A "Growth Mindset").

One of my most popular posts this year was about a growth mindset lesson I did with my IB Theory of Knowledge students (see I Did My Best Job Teaching A "Growth Mindset" Today - Here's The Lesson Plan and Here's What My Students Think Of A Growth Mindset).

This week, my colleague and co-author Katie Hull (see our new book, Navigating The Common Core With English Language Learners) and I decided to modify it substantially and teach it to our English Language Learners.

Katie had used adapted a growth mindset lesson from one of my three student motivation books earlier in the year with her advanced ELL class. However, I had not yet figured out a good way to teach it to my Beginner/Early Intermediate class. We decided we could spend three days doing a lesson that would refresh her students' memory, introduce the concept to my students, and provide excellent English language-learning opportunities to everybody.

Here's what we did:
MONDAY
Katie reminded her students about the growth mindset concept by introducing the graphic at the top of this post and which you can print out at Reid Wilson's blog. Students reviewed it and then each wrote a short story about when they applied a growth mindset to their lives. She explained that they would help my students the next day learn about a growth mindset, share their stories, and help them write their own. She assigned each of her students to be a teacher to one of the students in my class.
TUESDAY
I brought my students over to Katie's room. They entered one-by-one and were welcomed by their "teacher" to a seat next to them. I then quickly introduced the growth mindset by saying - in English and Spanish:
"Growth mindset means you look at life in a positive way - you look at problems as opportunities to learn and grow and not as obstacles. You also believe that you are not born with a fixed intelligence - that you can be what you want through effort."
I then explained that we would watch three short videos that would demonstrate an element of a growth mindset. My students job would be to write down what those elements were, and their "teachers" would help them write in English.

The videos were the same I used in my IB lesson:

We paused after each one, asked my students to share (with the help of her students), and Katie wrote down these responses:

Katie then shared the growth mindset graphic at the top of this post and explained the differences to the entire class, with her students helping mine to understand them. She then asked each of her students to share the story they had written about when they had applied a growth mindset in their lives. She asked my students to think about, and tell their "teachers" about a similar incident in their lives. She further explained that they would write about it the next day.

To wrap up the day, I then distributed this positive self-talk sheet that can be found in our ELL and the Common Core book, which the advanced ELLs helped my students to complete and practice.
WEDNESDAY
My students spent twenty minutes in my classroom working on drawing and writing about the story they had told their student "teachers" the previous day. I then brought them over to Katie's class where their teachers helped them complete writing their story. As students completed them, I would bring them down to the computer lab where they would type them in a Word document.

Here's a photo of some of them working together:

After school that day, I tweeted about an interaction I had with one of my students:

Saw stdnt after-schl & said I appreciated that he did activity in class that he clearly didn't want 2 do.His response:"Growth mindset, Mr.F"

- Larry Ferlazzo (@Larryferlazzo) April 20, 2016

THURSDAY
Today, both classes when to the library where they copied and pasted their stories into the comments section of our class blog. In addition, Katie's students helped my students leave comments about the stories shared there. You can read all of them here (a few students still have to complete posting them).

It went very, very well. In fact, it went so well that Katie and I are planning to do similar lessons where her advanced ELLs teacher mine every other week. We're kicking ourselves about not doing this earlier in the year but - better late than never!

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We Did A Great 'Growth Mindset' Lesson With Our ELLs This Week - Here's The Lesson Plan

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Image via Reid Wilson As regular readers know, I'm a big proponent of helping our students learn about a growth mindset (see The Best Resources On Helping Our Students Develop A "Growth Mindset").

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World of Better Learning | Cambridge University Press

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Let It Grow! Growth Mindset In An EFL Classroom | WoBL

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Marcin Lewandowski looks at fostering enabling beliefs about intelligence and ability in an EFL classroom, including tips for cultivating the growth mindset

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Posted on 02/02/2018 at 02:15 PM by Blog Experts

We hear a lot about the concept of a growth mindset in education today. This type of mindset is beneficial for both students and educators alike. Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, is most synonymous with the buzz around Growth and Fixed mindsets. Dweck cautions educators of "false growth mindset" - leading some educators to think growth mindset development is simpler than it actually is. A few resources are listed at the end of this post including an article where Dweck addresses this misunderstanding.

So, what does mindset have to do with the teaching multi-lingual students? When we, as educators are faced with a challenge it is important for us to pay attention to our own mindsets. This infographic, recently tweeted by @ValentinaESL, a professional development specialist in Texas, sums up a few mindset shifts we can create and encourage in our schools. She shares other helpful infographics and resources on her website.

When our own mindsets shift from what our EL student are not able to do yet, we open up the possibilities to be open to try new ways of reaching our students. As you notice in the infographic above, the mindset shifts start with the teacher and school setting.

Here are a few resources to assist in your journey. Also, do not hesitate to reach out to the EL Consultants at Northwest AEA.
Resources about Mindset in general: Resources about Growth Mindset with English Learners (for educator and student mindsets):

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Posted on 02/02/2018 at 02:15 PM by Blog Experts We hear a lot about the concept of a growth mindset in education today. This type of mindset is beneficial for both students and educators alike. Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, is most synonymous with the buzz around Growth and Fixed mindsets.

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How can educators implement/integrate effective SEL (social emotional learning) strategies through an online platform to better support ELLs in the virtual classroom?

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I was curious now with schools and teachers taking an online approach to learning how this would effect ELLs in terms of the social emotional learning they'd receive and how this would look like

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Reviewed By: Dr. Maurice J. Elias,
Director, Rutgers University Social-Emotional
and Character Development Lab

Social-emotional learning (SEL), for the uninitiated, is a behavioral framework that encompasses several skills affecting academic and life success. The model has proven effective in K-12 classrooms over the last two decades, with benefits including better academic performance, fewer disciplinary incidents and greater awareness and understanding for students about how to handle their emotions. A 2015 study in the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis determined that for every $1 spent on an SEL program, an $11 benefit emerges - an encouraging selling point for schools looking to improve their curricula but struggling to make the case for more spending. The following guide explains social-emotional learning, outlines its benefits and highlights how other schools have implemented the framework. It also includes two interviews from SEL experts.

What is Social-Emotional Learning?

"Social-emotional learning is a broad term referring to how students regulate their emotions, communicate with others, use compassion and empathy to understand the needs of other people, build relationships and make good decisions," says licensed psychologist Jennifer B. Rhodes. Although concepts informing social-emotional learning have been written about since the days of Plato, the phrase first came into usage in the early 1990s when the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) was founded to bring together educators, psychologists, child well-being advocates and researchers to expand the term and create school and community curricula. It was also during this pivotal time that Daniel Goleman's pioneering work, "Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ," was released and widened the awareness among researchers, scientists, parents and teachers.

CASEL continues to be a leader in the field of social-emotional learning. It has identified five competencies that comprise the concept:

Self-awareness

Self-management

Social awareness

Relationship skills

Responsible decision-making

The reason for emphasizing these core tenets, explains Pam McNall, a social-emotional learning curriculum developer, is to develop patterns in children's brain functions that instill empathy and healthy emotions. "Our brain development depends on neurons and synapses being engaged and building memories," says McNall.

While social-emotional learning is important in all contexts, the lessons learned are incredibly valuable in the 21st century.

Does research support the effectiveness of the emphasis on these five tenets? In short, the answer is a resounding yes. A study by CASEL published in the peer-reviewed journal, Child Development, analyzed 213 schools with social-emotional learning programs in kindergarten through high school and found that participants in at least two years of systematic SEL made substantial behavioral improvements. A separate 2015 study by the American Journal of Public Health determined that implementing social-emotional learning curricula at the kindergarten level was connected to favorable outcomes in young adulthood, including lessened criminal activity, educational achievement, employability and good mental health.

According to Rhodes, it's important that SEL methods be applied early. "Social-emotional learning starts in early childhood (birth to age 3), when young children learn how to regulate their emotions from the interactions of their parents," she notes. "Students with emotionally attentive and perceptive parents learn how to regulate their emotions more effectively."

Conversely, students with parents who are less emotionally stable may battle with these concepts as they grow older. "Some students struggle with self-regulation due to a parent's depression or other flavor of emotional unavailability," she says. "They may also find it difficult if [the child] has a neurological condition (such as ADHD, learning disabilities or executive dysfunction) that makes learning these skills more difficult."

As elementary schools move away from incorporating curricula that help children learn these skills, Rhodes says, failure often follows. "Children are now graduating and going to college completely unprepared for regulating their emotions and instead expecting other people to do it for them," she says. "With a heavy focus on math, sciences and technology, students are not getting regular feedback about social skills and how to take different perspectives, manage disappointment, be happy for others or otherwise learn how to use good social skills to build healthy relationships."

The Impacts of SEL

Social-emotional learning affects the lives of students, teachers, parents and the larger community in meaningful ways that improve relationships and societies as a whole. SEL doesn't happen overnight, but schools and parents that stick with the principles have identified numerous positive outcomes that arise over time.

Academic improvement
A 2011 analysis of 213 studies that surveyed more than 270,000 learners found that, on average, students who took part in SEL-informed curricula saw an 11 percent jump in academic achievement when compared to learners who didn't participate.

Greater results for students with early-identified problems
The same CASEL study found that for students who had already been identified as having problems, the use of SEL principles for early interventions led to a reduction of conduct problems, better attitudes toward themselves and others, fewer outbreaks due to emotional distress and overall enhanced academic performance.

Better social interactions
As evidenced by the reports of teachers, fellow students, friends, families and community members, SEL curricula help encourage positive behavior across the lifespan. For students to have good role models when considering how they should behave, it is important that teachers and parents display empathy, conscientiousness, thoughtfulness and kindness.

Improved classroom behavior
The same study mentioned above also found that students who took part in SEL curricula exhibited improved behavior in the classroom, a greater ability to properly manage stress and depression and healthier opinions of themselves and others.

Ability to care for themselves
A 2015 study in the American Journal of Public Health found that students who learned pro-social skills at an early age were far less likely to ever live in public housing, use public assistance, interact with the police while still minors or find themselves in detention facilities.

Less aggressive and/or disruptive behavior
An article by Options for Youth notes that students taking part in SEL programs have long-term improvement in areas of aggression and disruption. A study found that students who engaged in SEL at either the elementary or secondary level still saw a 10 percent reduction in behavioral, psychological and substance abuse problems by the age of 25.

How to Implement SEL in Your Classroom

Implementing social-emotional learning techniques into a classroom may at first seem overwhelming to teachers, who are already used to not having enough time in the day to get through material. Though it may take a few extra minutes throughout the class in the beginning, the benefits of instilling these behaviors in students early on more than
makes up for the hard work at the beginning. Ideas for implementing these concepts into your classroom
include:

Innovative intervention programs:
"These have been used in middle school; infants are brought into the classroom with an explanation of child development and social feedback, to work on middle schoolers' empathy skills," says Rhodes. "These programs have had big successes in getting teens to move past their self-entitled behaviors to begin to think about their whole community." CASEL provides listings of evidence-based programs on its website.

Positive encouragement:
"On the smaller, everyday scale, classrooms can institute good social-emotional skills by creating positive 'rules' and validating pro-social behavior," Rhodes notes. "An example would be saying, 'Johnny, I love how you supported Mary in finding the answer to that problem,' to encourage teamwork and cooperation."

Focus on process:
Rhodes says that by encouraging problem solving, innovation and critical thinking rather than just the search for the right answer, teachers help students understand that process is just as important as - if not more than - the outcome. It's a message that isn't emphasized enough in today's classrooms, where there often can be too much focus on standardized test scores.

Student check-ins at the start of class:
Even if it's just an individual warm welcome to each child, making that eye contact and face-to-face connection and calling students by name helps them realize they are known and seen by those around them. This awareness creates a culture of kindness and support while also reminding students that people are watching and they can't get away with poor behavior.

Materials that encourage SEL:
No matter the grade level, reading materials exist that instill social-emotional learning and can be read aloud to (or by) the students. We Are Teachers provides a great list of 50 books that teach social and emotional skills.

Emphasis on working together:
It may seem straightforward enough to break students into groups and tell them to work together, but far too often, learners haven't figured out how to do this successfully. The job of the teacher in this instance is to help each student find his or her role and ensure the student knows how to fulfill the duties of that role. The blog Math=Love provides helpful printouts of the various group project roles to help students learn what they bring to the team.

Buy-in from school:
It's one thing to teach your homeroom or content-area students about the tenets of social-emotional learning, but this work is far more effective when the entire school is on the same page. After testing the waters of social-emotional learning on a small scale, speak to the administrators of the school about broadening the scope. Options may include setting up an SEL task force, holding an SEL workshop for parents or developing an expanded curriculum for more classrooms. At Edutopia.org, you can find many guidelines for all aspects of SEL implementation, including about buy-in.

Q: How can social-emotional learning be used to reduce bullying?

Rhodes: Social-emotional learning helps kids learn why others bully and begin developing the grit necessary to learn not to take such behavior personally and develop positive coping skills (ignoring, knowing when to tell a grown up and when to escalate a report to other adults). Too many kids haven't learned the self-regulation skills necessary to cope with this kind of stress, which would lead to depression and, possibly, suicidal thoughts. The bully stands to learn that real leadership may come from another source. Depending on the reason for bullying (and how antisocial the bully really is), such focus on social-emotional skills throughout a child's development may be able to thwart a bully from escalating his or her behavior over time.

McNall: You've got to get in their heads, and the way to do that is through the heart. Think about it. You're trying to teach compassion, and for them to cognitively recognize empathy, you've got to build up that right side of the brain where empathy and compassion live. You do that through creative play and storytelling. To teach compassion, your storytelling needs to hit home, hit them in the heart with relatable pains and hurts and "I get it" moments. The proverb to walk in someone else's shoes wields power.

Our Think Before You Send: Cyberbullying Is Cruel module uses the true-life story of David Molak. After students visualize losing a personal dear friend from suicide due to bullying, we have them research their own state's bullying laws and then teach them formal letter-writing skills to write their state senators and representatives about how to improve state law. And, yes, even the bullies in a school get to look up the legal punishment and then ask state reps to increase said punishment.

Q: Why don't more schools implement social-emotional learning programs?

Rhodes: Our schools are overrun with standards-based testing. Good teachers already know that social-emotional development is the key to a child's success. However, if a teacher's job is connected to students' test scores, there is very little time to do this type of teaching. We are, unfortunately, creating a less creative generation of students who may have more trouble with social-emotional skills. I think the consequence of this is seen in higher levels of anxiety, depression and the increased request for students to take gap years between high school and college.

McNall: Fear, time, stress and money. Fear that if administrators admit to a problem, they're setting themselves up for criticism or, worse, a lawsuit. Time, because by prioritizing standardized testing back in 2001, we tilted the delicate balance of teaching both EQ and IQ, which I address in this blog about the pink elephant in the classroom. Stress - spend a day at your local school and you'll see just how difficult it is to get anything done. And money - a stressed-out school is more likely to spend the rest of its budget at the end of the year on stockpiling office supplies than finding a quality SEL curriculum and training educators. It takes time, effort and money to teach SEL, and I fear the stress of today's modern school day is at fault. It certainly isn't the hardworking educators and administrators. They are heroes for working so hard to help kids. It's the red tape of the education industry.

Q: What are the drawbacks (if any) of social-emotional learning?

Rhodes: Doing it right requires a teacher and other adults who also have good social-emotional skills. It is not a didactic lesson plan but rather taught in those moments of connection. Real relationships with students teach more about social-emotional skills than a lesson plan does. Our teachers need more relational support for their own social-emotional well-being to do this justice. I think all schools struggle to figure out how to balance all the demands in a curriculum and still find time to teach these skills.

McNall: What a question! I've never been asked this. Perhaps a cruel child could use some of the shared stories and experiences the classroom indulged in against another child. I would hope the lesson learned would overtake the temptation to be cruel, but that's why we have Respectful Signage as the wingman in every classroom, hallway and common area. It's not just for educators to use as a classroom management tool; students can point out signs and remind other students, "Hey! Be kind," or, "Hey! Be the change!"

Q: Is there any existing research on this topic? Does data bear out its effectiveness?

Rhodes: The research from the field of infant mental health over decades has demonstrated the importance of relationships for the development of good emotion-regulation skills, which are foundational skills needed for overall good emotional and social development. In a groundbreaking, randomized control study that investigated how to fix the orphanage system in Romania, researchers found out that children's cognitive, social and emotional health could be completely restored if the child was adopted prior to age 2 into a foster family that had good social-emotional and relationship skills training. High-quality foster care vis-à-vis relationship skills actually changes children's brains.

McNall: We in the SEL industry scream from the hills about proof of effectiveness. Because of the red tape to get programming into schools, data is our Norma Rae. We in the industry often think in terms of "our children are our future," and so we address corporations and their need for disciplined, competent workers. One of our most powerful and popular blogs quotes eight different sites substantiating SEL effectiveness.

Q: How can parents best support children whose schools implement these ideas?

Rhodes: The best way is to implement these skills in your own family environment. It means prioritizing the health of your relationships in your home over having your child finish homework to simply get an A. When kids learn how to regulate their emotions and stress by watching their parents, they learn invaluable lessons. They also learn via watching their parents have healthy relationships with each other and other adults.

McNall: Parents are busy and just as stressed as the educators and kids. They need help to support their children's social and emotional learning. SEL programs need to assist parents with effective tools and incentives to make the connection happen! A child cannot learn proper behavior in a vacuum at school, only to go home and forget all of what's been learned or, worse yet, witness less-than-helpful behavior. We are a communal society. We love community. Parents need a place like a monitored discussion forum via the school's website so they can ask questions and add ideas.

Q: Where can students and parents find more information about the effects of social-emotional learning? Do you have some favorite websites on this topic?

Rhodes: Some of my favorite resources include:

McNall: We often quote , CASEL, the largest think tank in the EQ industry. I've worked with SEL4MA in Massachusetts and SEL4CA in California - an alliance of amazing networks whose mission is to advocate at the legislative level to make social and emotional learning a priority. The day that alliance becomes 50 states strong is the day our society will be a kinder, better, more productive place.

Q: Where can educators who want to introduce these ideas into their classrooms find resources?

Rhodes: Every school usually has access to a school psychologist. Teachers are encouraged to reach out to these professionals for help in their individual schools. Other helpful resources include:

McNall: Teachers Pay Teachers is a great resource for educators to pick and choose digital posters, signs and curricula. And, shameless plug here, Respectful Ways offers digital curricula, posters, signage and Let's Chat conversation cards all based on social-emotional learning. If a school has a specific behavioral issue, we can build curriculum to its exact needs. It's the magic of a web-based SEL product!

SEL Programs in Action

Though social-emotional learning programs have gradually taken root in K-12 schools over the last two decades, their placement in colleges and universities, along with workplaces, is still curiously absent. With so much research in elementary and secondary school settings demonstrating the benefits of helping students learn how to cope with their emotions and engage in healthy relationships, why haven't other academic and professional settings gotten the message?

This question becomes all the more poignant when considering the growing mental health needs of higher education students. Because 75 percent of all mental health issues present themselves before the age of 25, ensuring students continue to receive social-emotional learning support throughout college is critical. According to studies by the American College Health Association, approximately 80 percent of college students reported feeling overwhelmed by all their responsibilities, while 45 percent stated they either currently or in the past had felt things were hopeless. While increased academic responsibilities and pressures contribute to these feelings, college students are not immune to issues stemming from a lack of self-confidence, an inability to self-manage, poor decision-making, lack of social awareness and underdeveloped relationship skills.

While very few colleges currently have any type of formalized plan for social-emotional learning, research does show that students who received this type of training at the elementary and secondary school levels experience ongoing benefits in both college and the workplace. In an article in The Atlantic called "When Social and Emotional Learning is Key to College Success," the author shares the story of Perspectives Charter School, an educational facility in Chicago's South Side that emphasizes SEL. A mandated class known as A Disciplined Life requires all students to learn 26 core principles known to help them live better, happier, more successful lives. Some of these principles include compassion, empathy, kindness, generosity and peaceful conflict resolution.

A former Perspectives student and current senior at Trinity College, Ronald Brown spoke specifically about how the SEL education he received in high school prepared him for the rigors of college. "Perspectives prepared me," he told The Atlantic. "Be open-minded, try new things, challenge each other and yourself intellectually, time management, all that came easy."

The principles of social-emotional learning also extend seamlessly to the workplace, helping employers and employees alike manage relationships and avoid pointless conflict. "Corporations now have an expectation that their future workforce be able to communicate effectively, control frustrations and get along with other people," notes McNall. "It's part of life, and in this day and age, social skills and emotional intelligence take training." She goes on to address some of the issues that have the potential to crop up when SEL training isn't present. "The imbalance of too much screen time can make it difficult for some people to efficiently and comfortably connect with others," she says. "Soft skills, verbal skills, decision-making skills - these attributes are what companies are looking for in the 21st century."

Within professional contexts, SEL tenets are often referred to as "soft skills" or even "21st century skills," meaning they can't simply be learned by studying a professional subject such as business, mathematics or finance. A report commissioned by the World Economic Forum and The Boston Consulting Group found that jobs requiring social skills and emotional literacy have been on the uptick since 1980, with even careers in financial management requiring some level of empathy and self-awareness. Within the previously mentioned report, scientists found the key for increasing SEL competencies among professionals in the workplace who are unfamiliar with the concepts is to emphasize educational technology.

Because so many professions and careers prioritize continuing education and ongoing learning, the use of educational technology to instill the skills and tenets of SEL has real potential across many industries and sectors - even when a company can't afford to hire a professional trainer for the whole staff.

2018 Spotlight: Schools Promoting Social-Emotional Learning

Looking to see social-emotional learning programs in action? The following list of schools highlights some of the ways teachers, parents, administrators and community members are working to graduate well-rounded learners.

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Why Social-Emotional Learning Matters | Resources and Expert Advice

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Reviewed By: Dr. Maurice J. Elias, Director, Rutgers University Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab Social-emotional learning (SEL), for the uninitiated, is a behavioral framework that encompasses several skills affecting academic and life success.

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Teaching online is like traveling to a new country. You're not really sure where anything is, you are afraid to try new things because you might be embarrassed, and you miss the ease of your old daily life and the ability to connect seamlessly with others.

On the other hand, it can be very exciting to see student learning in new and different ways, you can take pride in the growth you experience while learning new instructional strategies, and you will make connections that sometimes can be even more meaningful because you have the opportunity for one-on-one interactions.

This article will give you some ideas on how to navigate this journey as you plan instruction for your English language learners (ELLs) through distance learning.

Needs Assessment

It's important to start your planning by looking more closely at the factors that will impact the success of your students' experiences with distance learning. You can use this downloadable needs assessment for planning ELLs' distance learning, which includes considerations for both offline and online learning.

The tools covers multiple topics; you may wish to read through them all to see which are most relevant to your work or complete the tool as part of a team. The questions can be used by individuals or teams. I also recommend ELL teachers work with grade level and/or content area teams to review these questions so all educators are on the same page when considering how to deliver instruction and what supports should be in place for students and families.

Once the team has reviewed tool, they can determine their priorities and where to put their energy for planning instruction.

District planning examples

Here are some ELL district planning documents that we have used in Roseville, MN:

Distance Learning Strategies

Survey: Distance Learning & ELLs

What does distance learning look like for ELLs in your district? Tell us in this brief survey.

Note: This section refers to some specific platforms by name, although your district may use other approved platforms. It's critical to understand online security risks for children and take measures to protect students' privacy as part of your planning.

1. Get to know your tools.

Take a look at our needs assessment and the section on tools for instruction. Depending on what Learning Management System (LMS) your district uses, there may be tutorials to help you learn how to use these instructional tools.

Keep in mind that:

the focus should be on how the tools can best support teaching and learning goals rather than on the tools themselves

it's best not to introduce too many new tools - otherwise students will spend their time learning the tools rather than learning the content

your district may have a list of approved and vetted platforms for distance learning.

See more in 4 Buckets Manage ALL Our Virtual School Tech by Tan Huynh.

2. Establish a structured learning environment.

This is a lot like arranging your classroom at the beginning of the year - without the inspiring posters! Decide what tools you want students to use regularly (only pick a few) and set up the dashboard or learning activity page. For example, you may want to have a calendar with assignments, announcements, discussion board, and a chat room. Students will know what to do every week because the lesson structure repeats with different content.

For example:

open with a video greeting that you have recorded

do two readings

comment on the discussion board

connect with a partner

write or record (audio or video) a short discussion of your take-aways from the learning, etc.

See more ideas in Five Structures for Virtual School from Tan Huynh's Empowering ELLs blog.

3. Emphasize language production.

Remember to keep the focus on academic learning and to avoid providing only skills-based activities, even if your primary activity is content review. If students are isolated in their homes, they are not likely to have much English language exposure. While this is a valuable time for students to deepen their native language skills with family members, it is critical that teachers build in activities that require students to share their thinking in English.

Look for ways to build interaction, even if you aren't using video. For example, students can post messages via writing, audio, and video and respond to each other. Recordings should be short - three to five minutes in general. If you want to try out sharing your own tips on distance learning for ELs, post to this Flipgrid!

Another strategy is to create videos that students can watch at their convenience and review multiple times for practice. (Some teachers have noted that their ELLs are struggling to keep up with "live" instruction and would benefit from videos they can review multiple times.) You may wish to share greetings, lessons, and important information this way.

See additional ideas in these posts:

4. Scaffold supports.

Differentiate instruction and activities to accommodate different English language proficiency levels. This may mean that you have different sections and tasks for identified students. If you have mainstream students performing closer to grade level, they may interact with the content tasks with minimal support.

For beginning level English learners, however, you will need to analyze the instruction, readings, and activities to provide accommodations such as:

native language or simple English explanations through video

more visuals

native language or leveled English text

an activity completed in a small group rather than independently.

Pairs and groups can be assigned in online learning platforms and it can be helpful for students to collaborate on learning just like in the classroom. Online learning doesn't mean everything has to be done in isolation - many young people are used to connecting with each other through electronic platforms and this is no different.

5. Get those creative juices flowing. (We all have them!)

Many teachers are not going to love online teaching and may grieve the lack of daily interaction with students. It is important to keep a sense of fun and personalization in the online environment. This is an opportunity to reconnect with the creative juices that might be dormant!

Students like it when teachers share little personal stories or pictures. They will also enjoy doing more creative projects and sharing them online. This could be a VoiceThread or Adobe Spark presentation, which allows students to create a slideshow and explain each slide verbally. Their classmates can respond on each slide with a text or verbal response. It's also a good opportunity for a project presentation video or graphic design/artwork assignment.

Give students choices of how to demonstrate their learning - they may surprise you with the creative work they share. My son had a talent for creating music playlists and he created a themed playlist for an assignment explaining how each song related to his insights in a novel. He also dressed up as Arthur Dent for a creative book review and I could not figure out for four months where my ratty green bathrobe had gone...until we cleaned his locker at the end of the year!

6. Look for ways to support social-emotional learning.

Many teachers have shared that their ELLs are valuing the chance to connect with them and their peers as well as continue their education through distance learning. Look for ways to help provide positive encouragement, continue building relationships, and offer support during a time of anxiety and stress. This is especially important for students who may have experienced trauma and a lot of upheaval, like refugees or students with interrupted education - particularly given the abrupt nature of many of the national school shutdowns.

For some great ideas, take a look at:

You can also look for ways to connect content to students' experiences and cultures through culturally relevant instruction.

Online Activities for ELLs

Here are some examples of activities for ELLs, with a focus on oral language development and content development.

1. Students can upload videos of themselves reading their favorite books.

2. Students can write and draw responses to a prompt (for example, "What is one way you can be helpful to your family at home?") and then students can leave questions or comments for each other.

3. Students can film themselves solving a math problem or record themselves explaining how they solved the problem, and the teacher can provide feedback.

4. Students can interview someone in their family that is important to them and create a presentation to share. They can present in both English and native language and include photos or short videos with quotes from their important person. Other students can leave written or verbal comments on slides in English or the students native language.

5. Teacher can create a presentation with slides and voice narration on a platform like VoiceThread. Students can respond orally or in writing to questions posed in the VoiceThread.

6. Teacher can provide a slideshow with visuals on a content topic and resource links for students to learn about the topic. Different students are assigned a few slides to narrate for their classmates to learn about the topic. A variation of this is for students to each get a different topic related to the unit (after learning about it from the teacher) and have them create a group presentation on that topic to share with the class.

Activity: Pass the Paper

Post a short text or image as a prompt to start the discussion.

Round 1: Everyone posts a word, phrase, or short comment about the prompt (depending on age/proficiency levels) via written response, audio, or video.

Round 2: Everyone adds a question related to a classmate's round 1 post.

Round 3: Everyone adds an answer to a classmate's question from round 2.

Round 4: Students review all questions and answers on the grid and use the information to help them write (or record) a reflection that they send to the teacher.

Planning Instruction

Once you have a sense of your goals and what tools you will use for distance learning, you can focus on developing a unit of lessons. A weekly plan as part of a learning unit can help you maintain the same structure and learning activities each week. If students get used to the structure of the online learning course or the materials they receive weekly, they can use their mental energy on language and content learning.

An example of a weekly online instructional schedule might look like this for secondary English learners:

Lesson Launch:

Introduce topic w/ video and essential question

Students interact on a discussion board and share one take-away and one question regarding each reading.

Assign group project to students related to the learning objective. (Students work in Google docs or Padlet) to create a visual to upload and share with the class.

1/2 page written reflection is submitted.

Written reflections are evaluated and feedback comments are shared in writing.

Assign two readings.

Assign 1/2 page written reflection on the essential question using evidence from text to support claims. Due Thursday.

Teacher shares link to recorded video mini-lecture on the topic.

Teacher meets with the students to have a class / small group discussion on the essential question. Teacher can share sentence stems.

Teacher shares snippets of quality written responses to the essential question through messages or class discussions and discusses what makes the response a quality example.

An example online instruction schedule might look like this for elementary English learners:

Lesson Launch:

Introduce topic w/ video and essential question

Students read aloud from books that have been sent home or available online via Epic (free to school closure) or RAZ Kids (fee based).

Assign two independent student learning activities related to the learning objective.

1/2 page written reflection is submitted by returning a packet or taking a photo of response and submitting it.

Written reflections are evaluated and feedback comments are shared in writing.

Assign two student learning activities such as a game or learning app.

Teacher introduces by video the academic language structures needed to share their thinking about essential video.

Students write 1/2 page response to the essential question using sentence frames. For beginning ELs, provide scaffolded support such as a graphic organizer with pictures and key vocabulary.

Teacher meets with the students to have a class / small group discussion on the essential question. Teacher can share sentence stems.

Teacher shares snippets of quality written responses to the essential question through messages or class discussions and discusses what makes the response a quality example.

Sample lesson: An online lesson for ELLs

An online lesson plan takes into account the asynchronous (not in real time) learning environment and need for active learning in different ways. It is unlikely that a teacher and students will be able to meet live every day at the same time, so the lesson will be prepared and shared online for students and families to work with according to their own schedule and access to a device or Wi-Fi. The lesson, which is part of a larger unit, will include certain elements such as student engagement, language production, demonstrating content learning, critical thinking tasks, scaffolded supports and an assessment.

Here is a sample lesson plan for a 3rd grade EL level 2 student group. The lesson will be delivered with SeeSaw. Here is the EL Distance Learning Lesson Plan fillable template.

Standard: 4-ESS2-1

Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

Content Objective:

I can observe the impact of erosion.

I can give evidence to support my explanation of my observation.

Language Objective:

I can explain the impact of erosion using observation evidence in a sentence frame, "I observed that when ________ then ___________."

Introduction:

"Today we will learn about erosion. Erosion is when earth or rocks are worn away by water or wind. You will do a home experiment to learn about erosion and explain your observation on SeeSaw."

Modeling:

Show students how to set up the experiment using the materials listed in the lesson. Introduce the sentence frame and any key vocabulary by stating an example sentence for the students. "I observed that erosion happened when I poured a lot of water on the dirt."

Activity/assignment:

For your experiment you will put dirt in a small tub and put the tub at an angle or slope. Make some holes in an empty pop bottle then fill it with water and hold it over the dirt. What happens if you try different things?
1. If the dirt tub is at a higher slope?
2. If the dirt tub is flat?
3. If you have a little water come out?
4. If you have a lot of water come out?

Reflection: After students have seen each other's video explanations of the experiment, they will write an exit ticket on Padlet to state one thing they know about erosion and one thing they liked from the activity.

Teacher reflection: From the exit tickets, I can see that the students understand that more erosion happens when the slope is higher and there is more water. Next time I will think of alternatives to certain materials since not all students had dirt for the experiment.

Scaffolded support for different language proficiencies: (click all that apply in the lesson)

Adapted from Generation Genius: Weathering and Erosion - grades 3 - 5 lesson plan

Online learning tools

Here are three platforms that your district may be using. This is not an endorsement of any one product, but rather a quick guide to some resources teachers have used successfully with ELLs.

You can learn more about the privacy ratings of these and other platforms from the Common Sense Privacy Evaluation program. Please ask for guidance on the most secure ways to use any platform, including those listed below, with a particular eye on protecting personally identifiable information (PII) for ELLs and immigrant students.

Note: Some districts do not permit the use of video or images of students for security reasons. To learn more about protecting student privacy for ELLs and immigrant students, see our related resource section. Keep in mind that some free platforms may sell data to third-party vendors. In addition, Zoom is facing increased scrutiny for security problems.

Seesaw article: Remote Learning for Teachers

Privacy evaluation: Seesaw (Common Sense Media)

Strengths:

1. Focus on oral language production
2. Family connection
3. Ease of use
4. Visual platform
5. Free

Tool: Flipgrid

Flipgrid article: Remote Learning with Flipgrid

Privacy evaluation: Flipgrid (Common Sense Media)

Strengths:
1. Focus on oral language production
2. Student-to-Student connection
3. Ease of use - multiple classes
4. Visual platform
5. Free

Tool: VoiceThread

Website resources: Digital Database of Successful VoiceThread Projects

Privacy evaluation: VoiceThread (Common Sense Media)

1. Content presentation with oral and written language production
2. Student-to-Student connection
3. Ease of use - project based and collaborative
4. Visual platform
5. Free

Assessment and Feedback

Using rubrics

Students need feedback in order to learn. Whatever platform you use, you will need to determine how you will give feedback on their learning. If it is online, students can use rubrics for assignments and receive comments verbally or in writing. Comments can be encouraging and individualized to help them learn how to apply the feedback. In a non-digital system, teachers will need to try other approaches, such as phone calls, to students to review their work and questions.

A clear rubric for content and language production is helpful to guide the students' work. Allow students to revise work because it is about learning, not perfection. It's also highly likely that students will not fully understand what is expected in a task due to the new learning format. Use "second attempts" as an opportunity for them to apply your feedback and demonstrate learning.

The importance of regular feedback

The best feedback will happen frequently in multiple areas of the digital space. It could be on the discussion board, individual assignments or larger projects. Since students can't see you, they need to know you are there through your interaction and encouraging feedback. You may be nervous in this new platform and they are equally (if not more) nervous because they want to do well and they need to hear from you daily so they know they are on the right track.

Remember they do not have the advantage of asking questions in a classroom and getting your feedback as they work, so give them additional opportunities in the digital platform. We are asking learners who rely on a lot of classroom scaffolded supports to be successful to become independent learners overnight. The chart below shows the intersection between language skills and learning - how a student's language abilities impact their independent learning level.
Continuum of Language and Learning

DEPENDENT

INDEPENDENT

READING/ WRITING

Marisa

Tomas

LISTENING/

Tomas

SPEAKING

Marisa

Grading

Keep a grade book online so students know what is due, what grades they received (if grades are being used) and the feedback for assignments. If beginning-level students are attempting assignments in an online platform, teachers may want to advocate for a Pass/No Pass grading system because they will be working very hard in a language they don't fully understand to demonstrate their learning. (Some districts are using Pass/No Pass more broadly.)

Tips for Collaboration

Just as planning instruction for distance learning will take intentional thought and planning, so will collaboration. The good news is that there may be new kinds of opportunities for collaborating as it becomes an even more critical piece of the puzzle during this time of school closures, especially for ELLs. There also may be new kinds of instruction happening, such as project-based learning or more content-specific lessons, that will lend themselves well to collaboration among content-area teachers and EL educators.

Other teachers are also great resources for instructional problem-solving; collaboration between general education and ELL teachers will make lessons engaging and accessible for ELLs.

Here are some ideas on how to collaborate on behalf of ELs at a distance, which can be used among individuals or larger groups. These strategies can also be used for colleagues who have an established partnership, as well as those who are new to collaborating. And remember that it may be much easier to start small - choose just one strategy that fits your schedule and workload, and think about how to use it strategically!

Check in with a colleague to see whether they are in touch with ELLs and their families and if they need suggestions on how to make contact.

Check in with a colleague on whether they need some ideas on how to support EL instruction.

Invite a colleague to co-plan and/or co-teach a lesson.

Ask a colleague to share a question or challenge they would like to address.

Share examples of how you are collaborating more broadly with colleagues (and ask the people who are already partnering with you to do the same).

Send a note to colleagues whom you haven't worked with before introducing yourself, briefly explaining your role, and sharing ideas on how you might work together.

Share examples of student work, successful student activities, or strategies for distance learning/family engagement that seem to working well for ELs in your school or district.

Partner with a team on behalf of a specific student, group of students, or family.

Consider sending out a strategy or resource idea on a regular basis to colleagues.

Final Thoughts

It's okay to feel a range of emotions as you begin this new distance learning adventure. Remember you are making history! Also remember that you are not alone and it's important to develop your own professional learning community around this work. Since the whole world is going through an online teaching revolution due to school closings, there are a myriad (almost too many) of resources available to help with online learning.

To keep from being overwhelmed:

Don't get lost in the weeds of all the choices.

Keep your focus clearly on what you want students to learn.

Think of a creative project.

Use one or two "go to" apps that work for you and your students to adjust to this new learning environment.

Think of e-learning as Emergency Learning - and you are a learner.

Don't forget to take care of yourself.

When the Apollo 13 crew was in danger, great minds got together and solved the seemingly impossible problem of placing a square vent in a round hole. This is our opportunity to bring our great minds together and do what seems impossible - teach all students through distance learning. With creativity, a good team and some extra pots of coffee, you will succeed!

Recommended Resources

For additional resources, see:

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Distance Learning for ELLs: Planning Instruction

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Teaching online is like traveling to a new country. You're not really sure where anything is, you are afraid to try new things because you might be embarrassed, and you miss the ease of your old daily life and the ability to connect seamlessly with others.

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What is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?

If you have ever spent a great deal of time in the college classroom, then you are surely aware of the long-standing jokes concerning "group projects." The trick has always been that the more academically inclined student bears the entire weight of the project while the other students exert little effort but manage to reap the benefits of the harder working student. Perhaps, however, this problem and others like it may find an answer in the "new" classroom environment which relies on SEL methods. In teaching English online, I have found that the SEL method encourages character education and positive skill sets. SEL is an abbreviation for Social and Emotional Learning and according to Collaborative for Academic, Social,and Emotional Learning (CASEL), "is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." ¹ SEL is a powerful learning tool that can prepare students for the workforce and culturally diverse environments. For those teaching English online, SEL skill sets are the most important concepts you can communicate to your students. Your online students encounter the same problems, anxieties, and emotional barriers as those students sitting in a physical classroom. Social Emotional Learning and character education can shape the future of education by creating a new classroom environment that values diversity, management of emotions and empowering students with positive skills that they can return to their workforce and community. Let us turn our attention now to social emotional learning skills you should convey to your students when teaching English online.

Social Emotional Learning and why it Matters in the Online Classroom

According to Kim Gulbrandson, Ph.D., social emotional learning facilitates positive skill sets and encourages, "understanding one's own attitudes and how they contribute to behavior so that one can make responsible decisions." ² In teaching English online, tutors may find that students who embrace social emotional learning also value productivity, empathy and positive learning environments that allow for creativity and risk-taking. Online students appear, at first glance, the most disadvantaged in the classroom because they do not have physical access to their instructor or classmates. However, online students have an advantage in that they are more willing to take risks because of the distance and space which they are free to operate in. For those teaching English online, you have the opportunity to shape your student's attitude and behavior through positive feedback, correction, and social interaction. SEL matters because it can prepare students for life after high school by helping them develop socially, emotionally and intellectually. This type of learning also provides students with cross-cultural skills such as self-esteem, self-efficiency, and sociability. ³ These characteristics are vital skills that students need to succeed in college, the workforce and as an active and productive member of the community.

According to CASEL, social emotional learning must incorporate the SAFE traits: sequenced (which focuses on coordinated activities that encourage skill development), active (interactive learning aimed at mastering new skills and behaviors), focused (which emphasizes the development of interpersonal skills) and explicit (which teaches specific skills related to feelings, managing behavior, and problem solving). ⁴ Moreover, the difference between regular teaching methods and social emotional learning is that rather than focusing on the mere repetition, memorization, and explanation of information and skill sets, SEL focuses on the actual implementation of skill sets and managing emotions. One learning method is passive; the other is active. Social emotional learning is important for those teaching English online because it encourages risk-taking and building self-esteem and respect in the classroom which is vital for student success. According to Amy Eva Ph.D., "if teens feel competent, autonomous, and valued in their community-if they have a sense of high status and respect, in other words-they're likely to be more motivated and engaged." ⁵ In teaching English online, I have found that social emotional learning offers the greatest opportunity for my students to learn respect and how to value the opinions of others. In several of my classes, rather than have my students answer random questions, I ask students questions about what they want to be when they grow up, what classes they enjoy most and what they talk about with their family and friends. This allows me to positively influence my students by shaping their perceptions of behavior, respecting their peers and elders, and managing emotions.

The skills learned are varied and numerous but include skills for everyday success such as cooperation, communication, responsible decision making, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, personal responsibility, relationship skills, empathy, problem solving and assertiveness. In teaching English online, you will find that these skills sets will help your students gain confidence, control their emotions, make responsible decisions and successfully collaborate with other students for positive outcomes (kudos to group projects). Social emotional learning can also help your students manage their emotions by practicing empathy, overcoming anxiety, managing their time and creating a safe learning space by discouraging bullying and encouraging risk-taking. According to one source the impact of social emotional learning includes "...academic improvement, greater results for students with early-identified problems, better social interactions, improved social behavior, ability to care for themselves, and less aggressive and/or disruptive behavior." ⁶ Moreover, social emotional learning matters for those teaching English online because it increases student engagement and performance while developing valuable skill sets that your students will need for the workforce and community relations.

Social Emotional Learning and the New Classroom Environment

Social emotional learning is an invaluable learning tool for tutors teaching English online because it offers a support system that connects students to their teachers and each other. Social emotional learning is all about behavior management and communication. When I am teaching English online, I try to have my students interact with their parents and classmates. In one activity, I had a list of questions that the student had to ask their mother and father and classmates (questions about careers, friends, interests, and leisure). Examples include: What does your mom like to do? What job does your father work? How many friends do you have? What do you talk about with your classmates? This brought the students closer to their parents and their classmates through shared interests and activities. Social emotional learning can serve as an emotional support system as well that gets the student, parents, and community actively involved in learning. According to one source, "...SEL programming fosters students' social-emotional development through establishing safe, caring learning environments involving peer and family initiatives, improved classroom management and teaching practices, and whole-school community-building activities." ⁷ When you are teaching English online, it is important that you employ activities that establish a support system that encourages risk-taking and a safe learning place for mistakes to be made without fear of rejection. Eva suggests utilizing activities and games that recognize a student's strengths and talents such as challenging students to focus on and perform a different character strength every week until it becomes a habit. Accordingly, "...if a student wants to capitalize on kindness as a strength, he might perform a random act of kindness for a peer, write a thank-you note to a teacher, or volunteer to care for abandoned animals at a local shelter over the weekend." ⁸ However, this may be more of a challenge for those teaching English online. For online tutors, it may be easier to have students interact with shy students and make them feel welcome in class or having all the students applaud a fellow student who gets an answer correct. The important thing to remember is that your online classroom should serve as a support system where students can release anxiety, learn to manage their emotions and learn to interact and collaborate with their classmates for positive learning outcomes.

Social emotional learning cannot be memorized; it must be acted out in the classroom whether through action or spoken word. I have found that the only successful way to implement social emotional learning when teaching English online is through activities and games that create support systems. Focusing on character strengths can increase self-esteem and reduce depression especially in teens who suffer the most from performance anxiety and fear of failure. Accordingly, "it's easy for us to focus on our weaknesses and personal challenges, but when we spend time making the most of our positive qualities, we can build greater self-esteem and confidence." ⁹ When I am teaching English online with older students, I try to include activities that encourage students to work toward social change, self-improvement and thinking about career possibilities and their future self. I ask questions such as: What would you do if you saw a classmate cheating on an exam? What would you do if someone were being bullied at your school? What job do you want to work? What should you do if you are angry with someone? These questions can reinforce behavior management and help students understand their strengths, skills, and what they can do to help those around them. When I first started teaching English online, I had a student who was very rude to his classmates. I began to ask him questions about how he would respond if he were being bullied or if his friend was. These questions set him to thinking, and since then his behavior has greatly improved as well as his performance in class.

Moreover, social emotional learning is key to creating a support system where all students are free to learn, explore their strengths and take risks. According to secondstep.org, "children who are socially and emotionally competent have more friends and more connections with positive peers, and are less likely to be rejected, isolated, or bullied." ¹⁰ For those teaching English online, social emotional learning is the best tool you have available to help your students develop their strengths to help serve them in the workforce and their future community. A classroom environment that values diversity, risk-taking and a positive support system will be successful in developing the social emotional learning process.

How can I Apply Social Emotional Learning in the Online Classroom?

For those teaching English online, the task of applying social emotional learning in the classroom may seem impossible. Social emotional learning, however, can be taught in the classroom explicitly through modeled behavior (by the tutor) and activities. Activities can include individual writing, making assignments that the parents and children can work on together and reinforcing ideas through games, questions, and problem-solving. Classroom discussions are your best outlet for applying social emotional learning if you are teaching English online.

Sample discussion questions can include:

Moral questions: What would you do if you saw someone stealing?

Social questions: What can we do to help people in poverty?

Intellectual questions: What job do you want to have someday?

Lifestyle questions: What can you do to be healthy?

Other activities can involve action. When you are teaching English online, encourage your students to engage in positive behaviors and perform random acts of kindness or make responsible lifestyle choices. It is important to remember as you are teaching English online that social emotional learning must be actively taught (or explicit) and not just memorized. According to one source, "...if students are taught what gratitude is, but there is no instruction on skills for expressing gratitude, it is not explicit." ¹¹ Try giving your students scenario problems to solve when you are teaching English online (such as questions about stealing, cheating, or bullying and how to respond to these negative behaviors). Remember, when you are teaching English online, that the best way to implement social emotional learning skills is to model those skills in yourself.

You may wonder how you can assess social emotional learning in your online classroom. You can measure skill development in relation to social emotional learning with the DESSA system or Devereux Students Strengths Assessment. According to Kickboard, "the DESSA System provides a comprehensive, cloud-based system for assessing, informing and improving these social and emotional skills of children both in-school and out-of-school." ¹² It is not necessary to have such a program when you are teaching English online; however, it may provide tutors with the information necessary to track the development of social emotional learning in the online classroom. Katy McWhirter has also provided a valuable list of ways to implement SEL in the classroom such as innovative intervention programs, positive encouragement ( TPR is good for this), emphasis on working together and getting the whole school involved in SEL learning. ¹³ I would add that warm-ups are great outlets for conveying
SEL skills for those who are teaching English online. I like to ask my younger students questions about friendship and how they spend their time with their family. This can reinforce notions about behavior and how to spend one's time wisely. For my older students, I like to ask warm-ups that relate to their social life and their interactions with older people. When you are teaching English online, you must continually remind yourself that SEL offers countless positive outcomes in the classroom. According to Concordia University's College of Education, "...SEL students showed lasting decreases in negative outcomes such as conduct problems, emotional distress, and drug use, compared to control groups." ¹⁴ You must ask yourself what you can do to actively teach SEL skills and behaviors while you are teaching English online.

1 CASEL (n.d.). What is SEL? Retrieved from https://casel.org/what-is-sel/
2 Gulbrandson, Kim. "Character Education and SEL: What You Should Know." Committee for Children. July 31, 2018. Accessed March 07, 2019 https://www.cfchildren.org/blog/2018/07/character-education-and-sel-what-you-should-know/.
3 CASEL (n.d.). What is SEL? Retrieved from https://casel.org/what-is-sel/
4 Gulbrandson, Kim. "Character Education and SEL: What You Should Know."
5 Eva, A. (2019, April 05). Making SEL More Relevant to Teens. Retrieved from
https://www.edutopia.org/article/making-sel-more-relevant-teens
6 McWhirter, K., Rhodes, J. B., & McNall, P. (2018, November 28). Why Social-Emotional Learning Matters | Resources and Expert Advice. Retrieved from https://www.accreditedschoolsonline.org/resources/social-emotional-learning/
7 Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The Impact of Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning:A Meta-Analysis of School Based Universal Interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 407. Retrieved from
http://www.episcenter.psu.edu/sites/default/files/news/Durlak%20et%20al.%20(2011)%20meta%20analysis%20SEL.pdf
8 Eva, A. Making SEL More Relevant to Teens.
9 Eva, A. Making SEL More Relevant to Teens.
10 Second Step. Teach Children the Skills They Need to Thrive. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.secondstep.org/social-emotional-learning
11 Gulbrandson, Kim. "Character Education and SEL: What You Should Know."
12 DESSA System Assessment Tool. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.kickboardforschools.com/solutions/sel-social-emotional-learning/assessment-tool
13 McWhirter, K., Rhodes, J. B., & McNall, P. Why Social-Emotional Learning Matters | Resources and Expert Advice.
14 Why We Really Need SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) Now. (2018, October 23). Retrieved from https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/leaders-link/social-emotional-learning-defined/

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Social Emotional Learning in the Online Classroom

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According to Casel, SEL aka Social and Emotional Learning "is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions."

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"ELLs should be able to participate and interact in ways that make them feel like an integral part of the school community. Teachers can give feedback online each day to ensure communication/check ins are always happening, making the student feel cared for. Messages such as “I like the way you…”, and “I can see you are really trying” can encourage ELLs as they are learning."

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When we have Multilingual Learners (MLs) in our classroom, it is important not only to know their English language proficiency, but also to learn about their prior academic experiences (or lack thereof), cultural and religious traditions, hobbies, personality, family circumstances, and background info about their home community or native country.

This can inform instructional decisions in the classroom. Gathering this information not only opens the doors to better meeting the student's needs and addressing challenges that may arise, but also provides an opportunity to create a welcoming classroom environment, engage the student and family, increase the student's confidence, and create opportunities for classmates to learn from each other.

Teachers can build upon the student's strengths and successes, which is particularly important as students are acclimating to a new classroom and potentially a new country and culture. It also has the potential to improve classroom management and teacher interactions with the student as certain behaviours are explained and understood (e.g., not looking a teacher in the eye out of deference and respect).

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Multilingual Learner (ML) Supports | SELspace

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Education Week - Peter DeWitt's Finding Common Ground

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A long time ago when I was teaching first grade, a parent came to our parent-teacher conference to hear about the progress of her child. She was a Spanish professor at a local university and Spanish was her primary language, and the primary language of her child because he was not born in the US. At the end of the meeting she told me that other children were making unnecessary comments towards her son because he was eating snacks that were a part of his culture.

First graders will make fun of things they don't understand, and I knew that and wanted to do something about it. Later on in that week he came in with grape leaves for a snack and I had already worked out with his mom that she would send in an extra one for me. It definitely beat my carrots and Ranch dressing.

" This is awesome!" " I've never had one of these." " Thanks for introducing me to something I've never eaten before." I tried my best to support his snack that was unfamiliar to his peers. Truth be told, I had never had grape leaves so I was not lying.

When I ate one I said how great it tasted and how lucky he was to be able to have these foods that were a part of his culture. I remarked about how unique the snack was, and how important it is for all of us to try new foods. The students in the class stopped saying mean things about his food, because as first graders they didn't initially realize how hurtful the comments could be, and they saw their teacher respecting his choice of snack rather than make fun of it.

What bothered me the most about the parent-teacher conference that led up to the snack moment was that the parent told me that they only speak Spanish at home, and she seemed worried I would make a judgment. I told her how fortunate her son was to be bilingual, and she remarked that the teacher from the year before had told her speaking Spanish at home was a mistake, because it would confuse the child.
That was the first moment that I saw a deficit model in place for ELL/ENL students.
A Deficit Model
I understand that it's a complicated issue. We have ELL/ENL students who may have moved to our country because they wanted to, and sometimes we have students who come as refugees who didn't want to leave their home country but lacked very little choice. Additionally, we have indigenous populations of students who have been minoritized by those around them, even though they have always lived here.
What all of these populations have in common is that we often treat them with a deficit mindset.
Very often when teachers and leaders talk about ELL/ENL and indigenous students, it seems to come from a deficit model, which only leads to the idea that these groups are minoritized by their peers living in the majority. They focus on what the students cannot do, instead of what they can do. Additionally, they seem to provide these populations with less status than their English speaking peers. We should all brush up on our reading so we can have more of a growth mindset.

Russell Bishop, Merre Berryman, and Janice Wearmouth wrote Te Kotahitanga: Towards Effective Education Reform for Indigenous and Other Minoritized Students (Nzcer Press, 2014), which is also a program used by schools across Australia, New Zealand and Canada to help connect with their indigenous populations. When it comes to the deficit model, Bishop et al focus on the work of Valencia (1997) when they write,

"In effect, if we think that other people have deficiencies, then our actions will tend to follow our thinking and the relationships we develop and the interactions we have with these people will tend to be negative and unproductive."

If you have not read Te Kotahitanga, please get a copy. The book and program focuses on celebrating the diversity we have in our schools, and provides ways in which to best do that. Regardless of whether we are working with ELL/ENL or indigenous populations, we can learn many lessons from the book.

The Possibilities
Recently I visited a school in Melbourne, Australia where around 90% of the student population comes from another country because they have accepted a lot of refugees into their country. Yes, those students have to learn English to get along in school, but the school also highlighted and celebrated the primary language of each student as well. There were many examples of the strengths the students brought from their home country hanging around each and every classroom.

Imagine how scary it is to enter a country and not be able to fully understand the language? Imagine what it's like to have always lived here and be treated as though you are an unwelcomed guest?

When students come to our country we seem to expect them to speak our language and they lack a sense of status until they do. That is flawed and harmful thinking. Our ELL/ENL students will at some point be bilingual, and many of our indigenous students already are, while most of us continue to be monolingual.

When a First Grader Schooled Me
Juyeon entered our first grade classroom in a relatively impoverished city school knowing no English at all. She cried, and sat in her chair hugging the back of it, as if she never wanted to let go. I imagined how scary the moment was for her, and how frightening I must have been, so I called the students to the floor and found a very funny picture book to read.
Juyeon stayed put in her chair. Nothing was moving her from it. It was her new found safety zone.
As I went from page to page, the students laughed at the pictures and content. They laughed at the way I read the book. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Juyeon slowly let go of the chair. Another page with another load of laughter, and Juyeon slowly made her way to the floor with very little fan fair. One more page and Juyeon was laughing with the rest of the class.
Everything changed after that. For her...and for me.
Within a few months she learned English but I saw her strengths through the way she drew in her journal. I will never forget looking over her shoulder and notcing that she drew movement into her characters. That was merely the beginning of what she had to offer.

On the 100 th day she made a long chain of 100 paper cranes of many diverse colors attached together, and I still have it at my home. Her classmates were in awe and supportive. It was one moment that I was proudest of the students.

After school ended her mother invited me to their apartment for dinner and Juyeon played the violin and then the piano. She was gifted. Not a child prodigy but she was gifted. I left dinner absolutely amazed by some of these hidden strengths that I did not see surface through the year. I focused on reading, writing and math, and she excelled, but that didn't scratch the surface of what else she could do.

Typical of all ELL/ENL or indigenous students? Maybe not. But they all have strengths that may be hidden from our view because we only see what we want to see.

In the End
I understand the issue of one student not mastering their primary language before taking on English, and I understand that there is an achievement gap with our indigenous populations, but I worry that we contribute to that gap more than we try to close it.

We shouldn't treat ELL/ENL students as if they are somehow less than their English speaking peers. We put them at a disadvantage by doing that. There are many schools that do a good job at this but other schools treat it as though they are in crisis mode rather than looking at it is an opportunity.
Connect with Peter DeWitt on Twitter.

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Why Do We Have a Deficit Mindset With ELL/ENL Students?

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A long time ago when I was teaching first grade, a parent came to our parent-teacher conference to hear about the progress of her child. She was a Spanish professor at a local university and Spanish was her primary language, and the primary language of her child because he was not born in the US.

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Why is understanding the social emotional needs of ELL students crucial to their learning process and academic achievement?

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Ive heard alot about SEL in terms of its benefits, but was never quite sure how to implement it within a classroom, nor what strategies I could build upon in creating a more safe space for students especially ELLs. Therefore, it made me want to delve deeper into research surrounding how to best implement strategies around it within my practice

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"More positive attitudes toward oneself, others, and tasks including enhanced self-efficacy, confidence, persistence, empathy, connection and commitment to school, and a sense of purpose. More positive social behaviors and relationships with peers and adults. Reduced conduct problems and risk-taking behavior."

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In learning more about SEL through researching its importance within the classroom, and student achievement, its made me realize that ELL students need the most support within this area as they come from many circumstances in which they must adjust and learn a new language, leaving behind their place of origin and friends to now move beyond experiencing a cultural shock. Therefore as a future educator its important for me to implement culturally relevant pedagogy, along with setting in place rules of respect and moments where students can interact with one another to celebrate diversity within the classroom

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Social-Emotional Learning: What Is SEL and Why SEL Matters

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The Impact of Social and Emotional Learning

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5 Keys to Social and Emotional Learning Success

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Mental health in Ontario schools

Mental health is an essential component of overall health. Given that 70% of mental health problems begin in childhood or adolescence, it is important to equip our young people with the knowledge and skills they need to support positive mental health throughout their lives.

As of the 2019-20 school year, learning about mental health in Ontario schools will take place:

through the newly enhanced elementary Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum

across the curriculum, as well as in Kindergarten, and

as a part of students' everyday experience at school

The enhanced HPE curriculum takes a comprehensive approach to learning about mental health. Important new aspects include:

the development of social-emotional learning skills across the curriculum

knowledge and skills related to mental health

more opportunities to understand connections between physical and mental health

Learning about mental health fits naturally in the elementary health and physical education curriculum, where students are learning all about healthy development. In each grade, it is integrated with learning about overall health in a developmentally appropriate way.

Key learning about mental health includes helping students to:

understand that mental health is a part of overall health

understand the relationship among their own thoughts, emotions, and actions

learn ways to care for their own mental health and to be resilient in the face of challenges

recognize the signs and symptoms of stress and of common mental health problems

know about sources of support, and how and where to ask for help

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills

Throughout the curriculum, students also learn to apply SEL skills.

Because these skills are so important to students' mental health and healthy development, SEL is now also a distinct section of the updated curriculum. This new section builds on Living Skills learning from the previous curriculum to help students foster their own overall health and well-being, positive mental health, resilience and ability to learn and thrive. The table below shows what students learn about and why.

identifying and managing emotions

express their feelings and understand the feelings of others

coping with stress
develop resilience

build a sense of hope and the will to keep trying for their goals

building relationships
support healthy relationships and respect diversity

deepening their sense of self

build an understanding of their own identity and feel that they belong

thinking critically and creatively

support decision-making and problem solving

Students apply these everyday skills as part of their learning across the other three parts of the curriculum, and in their experiences at school, at home and in the community.

A few examples of how these skills could be integrated with the other three parts of the curriculum (Active Living, Movement Competence and Healthy Living) are outlined below.

Grade 1: To learn about positive motivation, students practise showing willingness to try out new skills and keep practising. (Movement Competence)

Grade 2: To practise identifying and managing emotions, students try taking a moment to breathe deeply and refocus if they are feeling anxious or upset before starting a physical activity. (Active Living)

Grade 3: To build relationships, students working in small groups practise welcoming everyone and being willing to be a partner with anyone in the group. (Active Living)

Grade 4: As they learn about coping with stress, students explain how knowing about physical and emotional changes that come with puberty can help them handle those changes when they occur. (Healthy Living)

Grade 5: To practise thinking critically and creatively, students make connections between being active, working towards personal fitness goals and mental health. (Active Living)

Grade 6: To deepen their sense of self, students think about how stereotypes affect how they feel about themselves and identify other factors, including acceptance by others, that influence their sense of themselves. (Healthy Living)

Grade 7: As they learn about coping with stress, students explain how to access various sources of support (for example, school staff, family, counselling and medical professionals) when dealing with mental health challenges or issues related to substance use. (Healthy Living)

Grade 8: To practise identifying and managing emotions, students explain how social media can create feelings of stress and describe strategies, such as connecting thoughts, feelings, and actions, that can help maintain balance and perspective. (Healthy Living)

Supporting students

There is strong evidence that developing social-emotional learning skills at school contributes to student well-being and successful academic performance. Learning about mental health can also help to reduce the stigma around problems in this area. When students understand that many people experience mental health difficulties from time to time, and that there is support available when needed, they are more likely to seek help early when problems arise.

As they develop SEL skills, students will also gain "transferable skills" (for example, self-directed learning, collaboration, critical thinking, communication and innovation) and develop "learning skills and work habits" as they learn to set goals, follow through and overcome challenges. These interconnected skills taken together, help foster overall health and well-being, and the ability to learn, build resilience and thrive. Helping students make connections among these skills is key to enhancing their learning experience in school and throughout their lives.

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Mental health is an essential component of overall health. Given that 70% of mental health problems begin in childhood or adolescence, it is important to equip our young people with the knowledge and skills they need to support positive mental health throughout their lives.

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Learning more about this topic of SEL and online learning has really opened up my eyes to the importance it plays during a time like this when students really need our support as educators online, not only in terms of the cognitive but also the social emotional aspect they are missing out on, like interaction with peers and teachers. Therefore, this is personally meaningful to me in terms of keeping this in mind to embed within my instructional practices when teaching ELLs online, and ensuring that when I plan lesson and activities that I’m being mindful of the social components needed to best support the students, looking at the “whole child” rather than only the cognitive.

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"One way to encourage growth mindset in English learners is building stamina in instruction through chunking information for specific amounts of time. For example, students who are easily frustrated during instruction may need shorter time spans at first to digest complex concepts and instruction. Through failure, students learn what does not work or decide on more efficient and effective methods and strategies they can use to develop content and language knowledge and skills. The more explicit we are regarding students' growth over time, the more likely they are to connect the work and effort they are putting in to their success and achievement."

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If learnt that some people believe the key to encouraging a growth mindset in students is to praise effort, rather than providing empty feedback to students through simple praise such as "good job" or "nice work." While effort, and providing students feedback on effort is helpful, it is not the complete picture. English learners in particular may already be working hard, and depending on the instruction they are receiving, they may not be making the progress in content and language that is necessary for success. Ive realized that as an educator I play a vital role in if ELLs create a growth or fixed mindset. In order to students to change their mindset, it starts from the ways in which i change mine when working with an ELL. For example; Instead of saying "my ELLs cant speak English", i need to change that notion to "What languages can my ELLs speak?", also moving from "My ELLs arent able to read on grade level" to "How can i accommodate this text? What resources are available?". Its simple methods like this that truly allow the student to feel capable and motivated by their teacher and to set a growth mindset for themselves