We begin 2023 wishing you, your families, and students a happy, healthy, and hopeful New Year!
Thank you to those of you who took a minute to complete our holiday connection activity in the December newsletter in lieu of an SSN meeting. We hope you enjoy the word cloud below!
We thank you for sharing your stories at our coffee chats and look forward to continuing to come together as a professional community of sharing through the spring - we hope to see you all at one of our School Support Network meetings or coffee chats in the coming weeks!
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The School Culture and Climate Initiative offers one-on-one or small group coaching for educators who are interested in honing their skills in incorporating social-emotional learning and creating positive climates in their schools and classrooms. Educators and our coaches form strong coaching partnerships and collaboratively identify personal development goals. Coaches provide modeling, observation and feedback, and spend quality time with educators, ideally, across a full academic year.
What We Offer:
Whether you are interested in supporting new teachers, fostering teacher leaders as mentors, or training your whole staff in a set of SEL skills, our coaching supports include:
- Co-planning
- Goal-setting
- Co-teaching
- Modeling (can be for an individual teacher or group of teachers)
- Observation and feedback
Teachers benefit by:
- Receiving specific feedback that allows for skill development and growth
- Setting personal goals that allow each teacher to maximize their full potential
- Cultivating classrooms where the learning environment is positive and engaging
- Developing and managing nurturing relationships with their students
Administrators benefit by:
- Receiving tools to help staff better collaborate, manage stress, and maintain their overall well-being
- Collaborating with the coach regularly to ensure positive outcomes in the larger school community.
To learn more about SEL coaching, contact Liz Warner, Co-Director of the School Culture and Climate Initiative.
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"4 strategies for unlocking the value of SEL"
By Stephanie Parry
Contentious rhetoric from a minority of people has put educators and experts on the defense about the long-established benefits of social-emotional learning. After months of political football on the topic, and with heightened national concern about student well-being and learning loss, it’s time to get back to the discussion about what states, districts and schools should do to ensure students are developing the competencies necessary to promote learning and development. Read more
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Uplifting Hearts, Connecting Minds
March 10, 2023
It is a wonderful, fun way to celebrate all the great work happening in NJ schools! Sign up today to showcase, promote, advocate for, and support SEL (broadly defined) in your school and community. All you need to do is create an artifact and send it out on social media with the hashtag #SELday on March 10th.
The goal is to have #SELday trending worldwide!
If you create an artifact (which many NJ schools did last year for SEL Day!), it would be wonderful if you could send a copy of your artifact (video, photos, blogs, podcasts, etc.) with the theme of your artifact included in the subject line to SEL4NJ (i deally one or two words...for example kindness, connection, staff morale, student voice, respect). We of course will be sure to tweet and share the artifact on SEL Day.
We are so excited to showcase and highlight the amazing SEL work taking place in schools throughout New Jersey!
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School Support Network (SSN) meetings are free and everyone is welcome to attend. Share with your colleagues! |
February 15 (virtual)
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET
"The Extraordinary School: Insights into What Fuels Connection and Belonging in the Workplace"
Presented by: Amy Moritz, Learning and Development Strategist, Moritz Consulting
As an educator, you will spend at least a third of your adult life at school or focused on school-related activities. So, it’s no wonder that we truly care about the culture in the one place where we spend most of our time. The pandemic has exacerbated challenges that already existed – when people feel disconnected from one another and without solid relationships in our schools, a sense of belonging and purpose begins to decline. Over thirty years of research has repeatedly shown that relationships with our colleagues is foundational for productivity and engagement. And the culture of the school determines whether positive relationships can naturally develop and thrive. So, whose job is it to tend to organizational culture? You guessed it – it’s everyone’s job. We all play a role in creating the kind of culture that ensures that the Sunday night blues are a thing of the past. This workshop will introduce some basic strategies for enhancing relationships and building trust amongst staff – those “intangibles” that impact school culture more than we think.
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SAVE THE DATE
March 22
In-person at Saint Elizabeth University
8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. ET
Presented by: Patrick Fennell
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Coffee chats are virtual gatherings that allow schools to connect with one another. Participants have shared successes, challenges, and ideas with their colleagues during our past coffee chats. Coffee chats are held from 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. ET and are open for all to attend.
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These are coffee chats where we bring together educators in similar roles. While collaborating with colleagues in diverse roles has its advantages, gathering with those in the same professional role allows you to explore more in-depth job-specific concerns, issues and potential strategies. These coffee chats are held from 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. ET.
Administrator Coffee Chat
School Counselor Coffee Chat
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"Planning for Sustainability of SEL from the Start: Lessons from the Field"
Presented by: Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University
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Professional Development, Webinars, and Resources |
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Rutgers University Upcoming SEL Webinars
Click here to access Rutgers webinar page.
- SEL and Equity 101: A Practical Approach
- Academy Overview: How and Why to Obtain a Certificate in SEL Instruction and/or SEL School Leadership
- How to Integrate SEL into Social Studies/Civics/History and other Academic Areas via Students Taking Action Together (STAT), and into Tier 2 Interventions via the Social-Emotional Learning Lab (SEL Lab)
- How to Instruct Students in ANY SEL/Character Program Effectively
- Leading SEL Implementation in Schools
- Principles of Staff Development for Expertise in SEL/Character Instruction
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CASEL Webinar "State of the Field 2023: SEL at a Crossroads"
January 27 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET
This past year, social and emotional learning garnered media and political attention like never before. For better and worse, SEL was a top priority for district leaders, an election-year talking point, and a household name across the country. What does this mean for SEL and where the field goes next? And most importantly, how will the next chapter of SEL continue to bring together families and educators to better serve every child?
Join Dr. Aaliyah Samuel and Dr. Timothy Shriver in a fireside chat as they reflect on a year of politics, policy, and promising practices — and begin building the agenda for the new year.
Recommended for: education organization leaders, community partners, policy influencers, and district and school leaders. Register here
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CASEL WATER COOLER
2022 Social and Emotional Learning Year in Review
2022 was a year with midterm elections, where education and parent voice became a major part of the political dialogue. It was a year of countless headlines on the issues facing our students and educators—school safety, mental health crises, significant declines in academic scores, and widening opportunity gaps. And it was a year that highlighted the power of relationships across our schools, communities, and lives.
Through it all, the vitality of social and emotional learning (SEL) was clearer than ever. Young people, educators, families, business leaders, policymakers, and others focused on the critical skills and environments needed not only for academic success, but also for healthy relationships, overall well-being, and brighter futures.
As we reach the end of 2022, we reflect on how the headlines, data, and voices of the past year have shaped the field of SEL, and what it means for our work at CASEL. Read more
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"3 Ways to Integrate SEL Into the Curriculum"
To ensure that social and emotional learning has the greatest impact on learning, embed SEL in academic instruction. Read more
"Using Toys to Comfort Young Students"
By Maurice J. Elias
Teachers can use stuffed animals and animatronics to help students regulate their emotions and prepare for learning. Read more
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Raising Good Kids - National Survey of Parents by Character.org
Character.org wanted to understand how parents feel about raising good kids in the Digital Age, particularly when our nation is experiencing growing division on topics ranging from education and health care to respect and civility.
Learn what they found out after surveying a nationally representative sample of parents with children between the ages of 6 and 18.
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What Does SEL Mean Anyway? 7 Experts Break It Down
Immerse yourself in the world of social-emotional learning, and one thing quickly becomes clear: What, exactly, social-emotional learning is can be hard to pin down, and people often resort to analogies and examples to explain it. The ample amount of jargon in the SEL field (and, to be fair, all of education) doesn’t help.
To help clear some of this confusion, Education Week reached out to researchers and practitioners in the field to ask them to define social-emotional learning and compiled their answers here. Read more
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Navigating SEL From the Inside Out: Looking Inside & Across 18 Leading SEL Programs: A Practical Resource for Schools and OST Providers—Middle & High School Focus
This guide offers detailed information on 18 middle and high school social and emotional learning programs. Download the report.
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In Loving Memory of Dr. Myrna Shure |
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We would like to honor the life of Dr. Myrna Shure who passed away earlier this month.
Myrna B. Shure, PhD, was the creator of the I Can Problem Solve (ICPS) program—a school-based social and emotional learning/violence prevention program published by Research Press. The ICPS program has been recognized for research and service by numerous national organizations, including the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP); the U. S. Department of Education; and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).
Dr. Shure is author of the Raising a Thinking Child Workbook, an ICPS program for families, also published by Research Press, with recognition by the Strengthening America’s Families Project and NASP. She has been recognized by the American Psychological Association’s Psychology Matters initiative for research relating to schools and families resulting in valuable applications that make a difference in people’s lives.
For her research and prevention programs, Dr. Shure was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Counseling Psychology–Prevention Section of the American Psychological Association. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Promotion of Social-Emotional Learning (CPSEL) in 2021. Her books for parents, Raising a Thinking Child and Raising a Thinking Preteen are both Parent Choice Award winners.
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School Culture and Climate Initiative
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