When our school district transitioned to distance learning in March of 2020, my SEAL (Social, Emotional and Academic Learning) team and I created a professional development (PD) program to ensure that the 53,000 students and 2,400 staff in our district were all educated on the importance of SEL in all areas of education. We have also included non-teaching staff and even invited other Inland Empire educators to attend our trainings. Thus far, our training segments have been titled “Emotions Matter part 1 and part 2”, and “SEL In Action”. The first two trainings covered the 5 CASEL competencies and gave explicit examples, strategies and lessons for each competency. “SEL In Action”, built upon the two former trainings and was focused on supporting SEL in Distance Learning. Emotional Literacy is emphasized as a major objective in our PD. Equity, Social Justice and the current events of our nation were discussed to emphasize the incredible need, now more than ever, for SEL. We received very positive feedback on all trainings and have learned that the Riverside County Office of Education has incorporated our content in recent countywide programming.
Check out the “SEL In Action” training here.
