SEL at a Distance: Supporting Students Online (Social and Emotional Learning Solutions)

Book excerpt: How to foster social and emotional learning, even when teaching remotely. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic posed multiple dilemmas for educators; the most immediate one, when schools closed their physical doors, was how to switch nimbly from classroom instruction to emergency remote teaching. But educators also face a related, ongoing challenge: how to meet the social and emotional needs of their learners when separated by distance, whether in the middle of a traumatic event or on an unremarkable day of schooling. In this essential volume of the SEL Solutions Series, online learning expert Stephanie Louise Moore shows how teachers can seamlessly integrate effective SEL practices into their online instruction, beginning with the all-important creation of a social learning community. Strategies and resources are provided throughout to help with every step, including: understanding the individual needs of diverse distanced learners; developing students’ navigational and focusing skills in the digital learning environment; increasing the level of interaction in online lessons; building in flexibility and choice; and assessing learning in a remote context.