TL;DR:
- COVID impacted our students in different ways.
- Find ways in the classroom to be authentic when it comes to supporting students’ social-emotional learning.
We’ve all heard it.
Within the last two years, educators have been focusing on the health of the social-emotional learner. In a previous blog, I wrote about the SEL of an educator. In order to be present for our students, we must first be able to be there for ourselves. This will help us be the advocate for them. It’s important that we take the time to focus on our own mental health so that we are in the right frame of mind to help those who need it.
My twelve-year-old son (eleven at the time) went through a mental block this past summer. He has always excelled in school, is not a behavior problem, and is able to make friends on his own. It wasn’t a concern until COVID created this division in his mental health. I never thought his mental health would be affected.
My son was in football when the governor decided to close down all youth sports. Before this, he was excited to be in his second year of tackle football. That year he was only allowed to play one game before it was taken away from him. That same year basketball was canceled as well as other sports at the time. He gave up.
My husband and I started to see changes in him. He quit the things he loved to do. He started to play by himself, and he didn’t view life as he did before. To a parent, this is heart-wrenching to see. With the fear of the virus, other kids his age didn’t come over or go outside to play. He truly believed that he did something wrong.
I did not see this coming; there is not an instructional manual explaining how to handle mental health.
I knew that if this was happening to my son, it is happening to other students across the nation.
While we cannot be the ones to change how a student feels, we can definitely be the first line of defense in helping them see their potential. Click To TweetCurrently, I have a class of 144 students in five classes. My students are in their last year of high school ready to “take on the world” with the skills they learn and now can apply in their lives. BUT there is still some hesitancy in believing that what they are learning is important to them.
I cannot lie; I know from experience that what I learned through education does not connect to life after high school. My students know that I am honest with them and will not lead them in the wrong direction. So how do we change how students view what they are learning in school to acknowledge the importance of the skills? Sometimes the questions are easier than the answers. However, if we do not ask the hard questions, we may not find the correct answers.
A student’s mental health is not based on one pandemic alone. We cannot place blame on this as a student’s social-emotional well-being has been around for decades. The way we, as educators, speak to students has a way of altering how a student views education. A teacher’s tone that accompanies what we say adds to the culture and climate of the classroom as well as a student’s mental health.
The social-emotional learning of a student cannot be forced upon them. It cannot be a planned lesson that we teach. Students are well aware of planned lessons versus impromptu ones as they need to be natural throughout teaching. We can incorporate the SEL approach in any and every lesson as long as it is natural. While we may not believe the students know the difference, they do. Being real with the students encourages them to self-advocate.
Creating simple assignments where students can choose their own group is a step in the right direction of social-emotional learning. While we cannot be the ones to change how a student feels, we can definitely be the first line of defense in helping them see their potential.
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After discussing next semester’s research component, my students were able to see research in a different way. Research is one of the best lessons I teach my students. The importance of understanding how to cross-reference sources and information benefits them by fostering critical thinking skills. The look on their faces when mentioning the word research was priceless. But I did mention that topics were their choice to make. Censoring certain topics that are school-appropriate generates a negative environment in education. I want students to feel like they are a part of the class instead of just a student in a seat.
Students can be experiencing different emotions at different times throughout their life. I have to admit that what I learned in school is quite different from what we are teaching today. There are times I forget about this as I am focusing on them being successful rather than anything else, including their social-emotional health. Even as an educator, we are continuing to learn as we grow.
Writer’s Disclaimer: Everyone has his/her own views on the effects of COVID on children with the political views that accompany it. To avoid any controversy regarding the effects of COVID, I am only stating what I saw in my son and how it affected him.
About Kristen Koppers
Kristen is an educator, Edumatch author, blogger, and presenter. She teaches ELA in secondary education as well as an adjunct professor at a local junior college. Kristen has been teaching for twenty years and has a Master of Arts in English (M.A.) and a Master of Education in Administration (MA. Ed.). She was certified as a National Board Certified Teacher in 2009 and completed her recertification in 2019.
Kristen is the author of Differentiated Instruction in the Teaching Profession (2019) #DITeaching and The Perfect Puppy (2020) #ThePerfectPuppyEdu. Find out more information about Kristen at: www.kristenkoppers.wix.com/kop
