Blog

Last month, we reached the one-year mark of distance learning — a year which forced a generation of students and adults to re-examine what we thought we knew about school and proved that how we learn and how we feel are deeply interconnected. The past year provided insight into how we must rebuild our education system better, which was even reflected in the theme of Social and Emotional Learning Day 2021: “Building bonds, reimagining community.” The idea of “building back better” has been...

When we imagine a caregiver, we often picture a woman: a mother caring for young children, spouse, and the daily household chores, a daughter nursing a father with disabilities, or a female child care provider. Historically, women have been expected to serve as primary providers of “caretaking” work, whether it’s parenting or caring for an aging family member or paid work in positions typically associated with women such as child-care providers, nurses, or health aide. Alternativley, men are...

When schools shuttered suddenly more than a year ago, teachers and staff scrambled to recreate their school communities as best they could in a virtual environment. And while teaching and learning is a central component, not to be overlooked are the other, auxiliary experiences: the relationships forged, the support services provided, the social-emotional needs met. As schools sought to provide high-quality instruction to their students during the pandemic, they also wrestled with how best...

When parents take their children to a pediatrician for a wellness check, they expect to get reports on their children’s healthy development—if they’re growing properly, eating and sleeping well, or in need of vaccines. They probably don’t expect to get a prescription for kindness. But at Senders Pediatrics, a private practice in Cleveland, Ohio, and one of the Greater Good Science Center’s 16 Parenting Initiative grantees, this is exactly what parents are getting. The clinic’s parent...

Since he first began studying the brain in stroke patients using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, cognitive neuroscientist Damien Fair has become a star in the field of pediatric and adolescent brain development. His work has led to a greater understanding of mental health disorders and the impact of trauma, including intergenerational trauma, on the young brain. Last fall, Fair was named as one of the 2020 MacArthur “genius” award winners for his work in mapping network...

Belonging is often characterized as an emotional need we all have to feel seen and connected. While this is true, as educators it’s important to expand and contextualize our understanding of what belonging truly means, especially as our nation faces a deep sense of polarization. True belonging calls upon us to cultivate an expansive, compassionate quality where we enlarge our circles of concern and interrogate all the ways in which we consciously and unconsciously engage in acts of othering.

School counselors are “shouldering the tremendous responsibility of helping young people heal from the momentous events of the past year and ongoing traumas,” write Justina Schlund and Amanda Fitzgerald for ASCD’s In Service blog , and school leaders, they say, should prioritize counselors’ wellbeing. But there’s no doubt that the stress of this disrupted school year is impacting all educators, and even under more normal circumstances, teachers are besieged by stressful, taxing conditions...

Dallas-area children and teenagers are struggling with their social-emotional skills more since the pandemic started, but summer programs gave some a chance to connect with others their age, according to a new report. The finding was among several in a new report by the nonprofit Big Thought and Southern Methodist University that gave insight into how students are feeling during the public health crisis as the two examined the impact of their Dallas City of Learning initiative in summer...

Regardless of which virtual circles I may be in, ranging from LinkedIn groups and Lives to webinars and Clubhouse rooms, one thing is so crystal clear: Our energy and tone of voice introduce every single one of us before we even get the chance to share our full profile, photo or video. The big question is, what are we broadcasting about ourselves to others individually and collectively? How we play or interact with others can quickly tell us, especially we human behavioralists and others in...

Over 80% of students feel disconnected from schools (official) and 100% of support staff are overwhelmed and exhausted (unofficial). Emote is launching a free app aimed at facilitating closer connections between schools and students - making it easier for staff and teachers to understand and support students' emotional needs. [Learn More] We worked with a team of high schoolers and interventionists to build the only check-in tool that actively supports students and you. Emote Connect works...

We all know that what happens outside school impacts a student’s academic performance. Never before have the two been so closely intermingled. School closures and remote learning have upended classrooms, relationships and support systems, putting students at higher risk of developing anxiety and depression. I teach at the Pioneer Charter School of Science in Everett, Massachusetts, a city just north of Boston. The pandemic that sent us home nearly a year ago has become our new way of life.

Dive Brief: K-12 schools saw a 66% jump in the number of overall safety incidents during the first three months of the 2020-21 school year when compared to the same time last school year, according to a report from Gaggle , a security management system used by districts to monitor student activity, that pulled data from 4.5 million students and 3 billion items within school accounts. Specifically, the increases were spread across four kinds of incidents: suicide and self harm (83%), violence...