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Drawing from his experiences as both a student and educator, Crouse argues that now, more than ever, due to the COVID-19 crisis, we need SEL in the classroom. He recommends teachers utilize technology to first better themselves for the sake of their students. Presenting the CASEL-5 as a resource, he suggests teachers educate themselves about SEL in order to best meet the needs of the whole child. Some suggestions for unifying tech and SEL in the classroom include leveraging social media as a tool for learning and practicing mindfulness in STEM lessons. 

Rodney G. Crouse, currently a fourth grade teacher, has 18 years of experience teaching in North Carolina. While his resources were limited primarily to his own experiences, the article does site a research study by Common Sense and presents the CASEL-5 as a resource. I found this article to be helpful to my practice because it offered practical advice on creating a climate of wellbeing in my classroom. 

Krause begins this article by drawing on her personal experiences using technology to build connection in the classroom. She then recounts her experiences at the 2019 ISTE conference, noting that there has been a shift in education with the embedding of SEL competencies and edtech. Throughout the article Krause focuses heavily on the concept that SEL and academics naturally align, and she highlights various tech tools educators can use in the classroom. She ends the article with a focus on new, improved measures of success in the classroom that include SEL and academics. 

The author, Caitlyn Krause, is the author of two books: Mindful by Design (2019) and Designing Wonder (2020). She is the founder of MindWise consultancy and teaches about technology and wellbeing at Stanford University. She has more than a decade of teaching experience at both the middle- and high-school level. While the article did not specifically interview experts in the field, Krause did mention case studies and referenced the CASEL-5 in her work; she also featured several companies present at the 2019 ISTE conference. This article appealed to me because of the rationale it provided in bringing SEL and academics together in the classroom. It is clear after reading this article that both are united and stronger together. 

 

Zitter’s article begins with a look at the negative emotions students may be facing during the COVID-19 crisis. She interviews a variety of experts in the field of technology to determine products and ideas that teachers with access to one-to-one devices can use to bridge standards and SEL competencies. Zitter divides the article into two categories: technology to promote collaborative learning and technology to monitor students’ well-being. 

This article was written by Leah Zitter, a technical writer with a Ph.D. in psychology research and a master’s in philosophy and advanced logic. Despite her background in psychology research, this article focused more heavily on products and services than the science behind SEL. Interviews were conducted with executives from companies such as GoGuardian, Microsoft, and Aperture Education. This article piqued my interest because of my school’s one-to-one program and my desire to meet SEL competencies while teaching Common Core Standards. 

Kassie Roberts starts by defining social-emotional learning and identifying these skills allow students to understand and communicate emotions to better function in relationships. The need for SEL is expressed through statistics on increasing anxiety and depression; the Pew Research Center reported 70% of teens suffer from anxiety and 20% from depression. These emotional needs have only increased since the disruption in our normal routine from COVID with 50% of students identifying a need for emotional support since schools first closed. These difficult emotions are easier to process when students have the tools SEL provides them. Artificial Intelligence can be one avenue for providing instruction and works well for students with autism in providing communication instruction in a risk-free environment. Common Sense Education was recommended in providing games and applications for teaching soft skills to students of various ages. Finally, LearnSafe was promoted in a way to monitor and address student behavior on computers.

This article was rather brief and obviously written to promote the reader to look further into LearnSafe. I have heard the recommendation for teaching students with autism to communicate through robots or other technology previously and suggested this to my friend whose son is on the spectrum. Within my last course, Future-Ready Classroom, we learned about the need for teaching soft skills to prepare students for their future endeavors and explored the Common Sense Education website. I bookmarked the lessons on Digital Citizenship to use with my students who are learning how to access online content with a braille notetaker, screen reader, or screen magnifier. 

-Michelle Whitehouse

Amy Curletto points out although kids love technology, without instruction it can often hinder communication rather than improve it. However, when implemented properly technology can make SEL more engaging and help students work on several skills at a time. Five tools are suggested between classroom hardware, applications, and online resources. Microphones and audio systems are recommended to teach students public speaking and active listening skills. Robots are suggested to provide communication skills in a less threatening, patient, and consistent manner. The Circles Social Skills Utility application provides instruction in the different levels of relationships and appropriate touch, talk, and trust allotted to each. Classroom management applications, such as Class Dojo and Bloomz, provide rewards for behavior and track progress allowing a teacher to reflect upon classroom social-emotional needs, build a community, and communicate or share information with parents. Finally, Google Classroom allows for students to collaborate on projects and hold discussions in an academic context.

This article includes suggestions commonly noted throughout other articles on using technology in providing SEL, such as robots for students with autism, Class Dojo, and Google Classroom for project collaboration. However, it is the first time I have read about the use of microphones and speakers for students to practice public speaking. I feel as though it is a wonderful and often overlooked idea. Typically, I hear teachers telling quiet students to speak up, but public speaking is much more than talking louder. It makes sense to provide them with a tool to increase the volume of their voice and allow them to build other speaking skills while increasing the opportunity for the rest of the class to hear the speaker and work on their active listening skills. I am also very intrigued by the Circles Curriculum, since I currently have a student who is legally blind and does not understand appropriate levels of touch. Everything in her world is accessed by touch and this would greatly help her to understand the social expectations for increasing distance with people she is not close to.

-Michelle Whitehouse

Erin Werra notes the demand in education for increases in technology and social emotional skills and suggests the two can be intertwined to support each other. Technology can support social-emotional learning through assessment and measurement of skills. The process of completing group projects can be documented through technology and allow for students to reflect and (digitally) discuss their strengths and weaknesses, thus reducing the need for teacher praise, which can have a negative impact on the amount of effort teenagers put into their work. SEL content can be customized and personalized through technology along with the presentation and pace to meet individual learning styles and needs. Often technology provides a more comfortable, risk-free environment for students with special needs to practice social skills and allows students to work on self-directed projects, increasing their ownership and motivation in the learning process. Digital citizenship lessons can provide students with instruction in appropriate etiquette for online platforms, which translates to their social media life at home. Teachers can schedule video chats with students from across the globe to help their class build empathy and cultural understanding. Finally, wearable SEL technology is available that tracks responses to stress and emotion to increase self-awareness and emotion management. 

This article makes a valid point, that often when teenagers are provided with praise (especially vague praise) in front of peers, it can cause them to withdraw and decrease their effort. Even with my younger students, if I provide praise it can go in one ear and out the other, but showing students their progress has a drastic effect. The article suggests similar ideas such as customization to needs, judgement free environment, and digital citizenship, but I enjoy the suggestion of self-directed projects. During the Ownership of Learning course, we discussed in depth the idea of self-directed projects; I struggled greatly with this idea at first. However, it definitely helped my student increase her motivation and would never have been possible without technology. As for the wearable SEL technology, I know my Halo band can collect data on my voice to determine how well I express my emotions, but I feel this may be too invasive for students, as I do not want it turned on for my own device.

-Michelle Whitehouse

 

The article was able to show the importance of integrating SEL into other areas of the curriculum.  If students have solid “soft skills” they will ultimately be more successful in school in general. Readers are given just a few examples that were presented at ISTE to integrate technology and SEL.  ClassCatalyst is one that is given, and it allows students to log how they are feeling each day.  It seems like a simple way to do a quick check-in with students daily and allows teachers to see how they are feeling.  The article closes and tells us that if done correctly this should feel completely natural, as a teacher I know that we would all appreciate something that does not require adding one more item to my plate.
Lisa Rundle

The article is focused on using technology to help students ease the transition to in-person learning after the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers two different ways that teachers can use technology to boost social-emotional learning.  One is focused on collaborative learning, while the other looks at students’ well-being. Suggestions are given to use technology to foster collaborative learning with programs such as Pear Deck or Microsoft Teams.  Another suggestion is given to use Google Slides to create escape rooms.  They would help students to work together with a goal in mind.  Regarding students’ well-being, the article disuses a program called Beacon.  This program monitors students’ activity online and alerts staff if there is a concern for a student’s safety or well-being, other programs discussed are GoGuardian Teacher, which allows teachers to check in with students virtually, and DESSA Student Self-Report.  DESSA Student Self-Report allows students to explore SEL in a game-like setting.

The suggestions given to help students ease the transition back to in-person learning were well thought out and helped touch on students as a group and ad individuals.  I can see how the programs listed would be very beneficial for students’ well-being. Having the ability to flag someone that there may be a concern for their safety is huge.  I can see it being used in upper elementary and middle and high school. Any type of program that has students playing a game, while learning at the same time is a win-win for all.  While the purpose of this article was to highlight ways to make the return to the classroom easier, the suggestions that were given and easily be continued well beyond the pandemic.

Lisa Rundle

The article discusses ways to develop solid SEL skills with the use of technology.  Erin Werra, the author begins by telling us ways that we can use technology to measure SEL.  Beyond using it to measure skills, students can use technology to work collaboratively as well as to reflect. They can perform self-reflection along with group reflection. Technology can be used with special needs to have explicit practice with social skills in a less threatening environment. Self-directed projects can help to motivate students and help to provide them with a sense of ownership. Another way to incorporate technology and SEL is to arrange video conferencing with individuals in different parts of the world.  It would allow students to see how others live and learn empathy for other cultures. The article concludes by discussing hardware that promotes SEL that is being developed. One is robot companions, as advanced as it may seem it is unlikely that a robot is able to show true empathy.  Finally, Werra details wearable SEL technology, one being a watch that has the potential to always record the wearer’s emotional state.

 

The article provides the reader with a variety of ways that technology and SEL can be integrated. Working collaboratively with peers is an important skill that many adults use in the workplace, having students work on this skill while still completing academics is a great way to intertwine both needs.  An earlier class I took emphasized the importance of students having ownership of their work to increase their motivation.  Having self-directed assignments allows them to take ownership of their learning, if a self-reflection component is added, it again helps to weave the skills together. I also thought the suggestion of video conference with individuals in different parts of the world would be a brilliant way for students to not only learn about other’s cultures but develop empathy for those that may not live with the advantages that they may have. It could be set up as a one-time event or even like a pen pal for students to make connections.

Lisa Rundle

This article discusses how to build SEL skills using technology, specifically to cultivate digital wellness. Nick Woolf begins with explaining what SEL is and research as to why it has such a positive impact on student outcomes. For example, improved mental health. He continues to explain how technology has expanded student’s access to a whole new world of learning. Woolf then answers the question on what digital wellness is. Digital wellness is the idea that technology and media build digital environments to help the well-being of the whole child. One example he gives is for students to build social awareness skills through communicating online. Through digital citizenship lessons, students can identify and combat cyberbullying and learn how to be responsible with their online identity. The last part of the article discusses how parents can use technology to build their child’s SEL skills at home. The author states that research shows that when SEL skills are modeled and reinforced at home, that it can accelerate student’s social-emotional development. 

This article was helpful in that it had resources at the end that could be shared with families to help guide them in reinforcing social-emotional skills at home. I feel like this was another way to encourage teachers to make caregivers a part of their child’s SEL instruction. It's so important to have a home to school connection and the resources included would be very beneficial for me to send home with my students. I feel that a major takeaway from the article was that in using technology to teach SEL skills that it gives students a “safe place” to practice what they are learning in regard to SEL instruction.

Kerianne Kuebler

This article made a good point in that some students are most comfortable collaborating and interacting with others through technology. This is especially true for students coming out of online learning. I liked how the article had a wide range of tools for teachers to use in their classrooms. I feel like my students would enjoy the Class Catalyst website the most and I also liked how there was a way for administrators and parents to be involved. Being an emotional support teacher, my students really thrive on earning and getting rewards so I also feel that Classcraft would be useful to me in the classroom. I especially liked how the games meet the students where they are and adapts as they play. 

Kerianne Kuebler

The author made a good point in saying that technology is incredibly useful for students who learn visually and kinetically. We are told as teachers to modify and differentiate curriculum to meet student needs and that statement provided me with a moment of reflection. It was worrisome to see all the statistics that were reported from students regarding their mental health in particular the percentage of students that stated they have strong feelings of anxiety and depression. I feel that the Robots4Autism would be so beneficial to teachers. I think it’s particularly important to be mindful that all students need to be taught SEL skills, especially those with special needs. I feel that the last sentence of the article I felt summed it up nicely; “There is no doubt that SEL can enhance not only a learning experience but a student’s overall life experience as well.” (Roberts, 2020, para. 4) It's important to remember that we as teachers need to teach students the skills they need to be successful, not just academics.

Kerianne Kuebler