| | DECEMBER - 20228IN MY OPINION By Nick Yoder, PhD, Sr. Director, Whole Child & Adult Center, Harmony SEL, National UniversitySOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES IN DIGITAL SPACESNick YoderWhen we think of good teaching and learning, we often think of the brick-and-mortar building, with educators and students working together, and at times, using technology as means to expand student learning experiences. Although the pandemic and virtual instruction taught us a lot of things, four central learnings occurred for us at Harmony SEL and Inspire, a relationship-driven social and emotional learning (SEL) organization. The four learnings include: (1) students need meaningful relationships with their peers, with their educators, and with their community to mitigate effects of trauma and stressful events; (2) student learning occurs in multiple places and spaces that require diverse set of social and emotional competencies (e.g., collaboration, communication, and problem-solving) needed for in-person and digital learning; (3) relationships -- in-person and digitally-- as well as nurturing social and emotional competencies are two critical ingredients in supporting student mental health and wellness; and (4) educator social and emotional competencies and well-being require our attention and support as they are our first responders to our student social, emotional and academic well-being.In 2020, when educators and students moved to teaching and learning remotely, we quickly recognized that educators who focused on relationships as a core piece to their academic instruction were able to pivot more quickly with their students as they built a trusting relationship that helped navigate the disruption to learning. To continue to build relationships and support students, thousands of educators turned to SEL programs, like Harmony, to identify strategies to maintain their relationships in a virtual space. Educators had to figure out how to continue to support individual students, get to know who their students were, and find opportunities to have those quick, meaningful relationships that they develop with students--and that students develop with each other--during instruction. Educators found that to build relationships with their students, they also had to
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