Teachers Using Social Emotional Learning: Meeting Student Needs during COVID-19

Unique challenges arose for teachers during COVID-19 to be effective not just academically, but also in providing social-emotional support. Through a case study of 23 novice teachers prepared by our college we examined teachers’ perception about the use of social-emotional learning (SEL) in their teaching, strategies for impacting student learning and development, and challenges faced due to online or hybrid teaching modalities. Results indicated that teachers felt a great need to focus on fostering supporting relationships with students, building trust, creating a positive classroom climate, acknowledging the trauma students had been through, and building strong home-school connections. Their biggest concern was increasing student engagement and motivation and reducing stress in the academic setting. Fostering a sense of classroom community and peer interactions was especially important when more than half the class was online. Teachers incorporated interactive methods and hands-on learning to make instruction engaging for students, focused on soft skills, and used formative assessments to address student learning needs. The study showed that SEL is critically important in the context of COVID-19 to include trauma-informed pedagogies, teacher self-care, and need for SEL related professional development.