As our name implies, Self Development Academies (SDA) and Preschools are extremely concerned about the unseen social and emotional consequences of an uncontrolled pandemic. Thus, we have developed a systematic way to address the varying social and emotional needs of our students as we prepare for schools to reopen, to provide education in small group settings, and to deliver online instruction.
We will address them as a call and response conversation between our health protocol and our social emotional learning response for onsite, hybrid, or online models.
Emotional Needs in the Classroom
Wearing masks severely limits a teacher’s ability to communicate to her students the emotions in the classroom. Children take their cues about the safety of an environment from adults. How adults display their emotions tells the child whether the room is safe, or if there is something they should be worried about.
By intentionally practicing the discussion of positive emotions, you can counterbalance the deficit of assurance children can feel. SDA is responding to this Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) challenge in a variety of ways.
Frequently Verbalize Positive Emotions: We are training staff to actively use the emotions that they are experiencing by focusing on the positive ones. Despite the fact that more than 60 percent of communication is non-verbal, our words can override an ambivalent seeming face. If we frequently talk about the positive emotions that we are experiencing, it will go a long way to assuring students that their classroom environment is safe, warm, and inviting.
Positive Reinforcement — Teachers will describe how positive performance or scores made them feel in addition to praising the thinking.
Since only the bottom half of the face is covered, teachers are being trained on how to smile more with their eyes! You can tell a fake smile by looking to see if they are smiling with their eyes. People that naturally smile with their eyes are perceived as more trustworthy.
Daily Gratitude Lists — Another helpful tool is a classroom piggy bank of small pieces of gratitude, the less significant the better. Students can spend two minutes a day noticing mundane things that give them happiness: I am grateful that I am seeing this color blue on that book, I like it more than others and find it gives me happiness.
Discussing Emotions of Others: Resilience, one of our Four R’s, is indelibly linked to emotional intelligence. Why? Having an understanding of the complexities of emotional experience also teaches them what helps. Easy examples: Feeling lonely? Reach out to a friend. Angry at someone for something hurtful? Address it.
However, what if you are angry because you were rejected and now you feel lonely and vengeful? Our Language Arts program and Creative Writing programs provide students with unparalleled access to discussing difficult emotions (every story must have some type of conflict).
Courageous Faces: Creating a nurturing, welcoming home environment for children is crucial for SDA. First-grade students walking through a school, where every behavior is regulated, can cripple children with a generalized anxiety. To combat this, SDA is creating a series of face masks that have pictures of animals known for being courageous. We will make it clear that when the students are putting their masks on, they are putting on the bravery of a lion or the bravery of a dog.
Restricted Movement
To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, we are following CDC and state guidelines: keeping students in their classrooms all day, serving lunch inside, and removing recess and PE. However, as an educator, I have to agree with most students who say that their favorite subject is Recess. Recess is actually extremely important. Giving children time for unstructured play serves important purposes in growth and development.
SDA is committed to providing opportunities for unstructured play while maintaining social distancing. Unstructured play allows children to discover who they are, how they respond to others, where their boundaries are, and what they enjoy doing. Recess is a time when students learn how to be social beings. To develop highly skilled students in social emotional intelligence, students need to navigate the waters on their own. They need to make up rules to games, break them and learn the consequences. Fairness, justice, turn taking — play is a time where students learn how to operate orderly in the chaos of life.
Online Schooling
Yes, SDA is opening an online school and yes, we are responding to the concerns expressed by education and developmental psychologists. Brief isolation from real life interactions with teachers and students can have deleterious effects on the emotional growth of the students.
For those very reasons, our online program is rich with activities that combat the loneliness and isolation students may experience from being away from other students. The format of the online program necessitates active engagement by the students with the teacher and other students.
A strong, vibrant community is highly prized. One activity involves SDA creating ongoing Self Development Academy network-wide games where different campuses compete with other campuses. Group cohesion increases when there is a sense of external competition, and since the games are lighthearted, students feel connected not only to their teammates but also the entire SDA community.
SDA’s online program improves upon the teacher-student relationship initially developed at brick and mortar sites and, in fact, provides more personal interaction. Each online student is matched with a student academic advisor who provides them a unique learning experience, tailoring their learning material and trajectory to the unique gifts and interests of the student. These advisors are mentors that provide encouragement and guidance as the student works their way through challenging material. Resilience and determination are learned as high expectations are communicated, but unconditional support is always provided.
Triumph, resilience, and restitution — the highlights of the human experience — require challenging periods. These are turbulent times, certainly. Every person will tell you that their connections with family have grown, deepened, and has been a source of support and strength. With its community of students, parents, and faculty, SDA is truly a family.
We bring our hearts into our work. We have our academics down. However, what is most important right now, is that educators find the smiling face behind your child’s mask and give it reasons to widen every day. Eventually, we become one smiling collective symbol of hope.
For more information, please contact Self Development Academy at (480) 641-2640.