March 2022 At the SECD Lab

New Jersey Mask Mandate Lifted!

ABC7 News Update

It was at the start of this month that the governor of New Jersey made the conscious decision to lift the NJ school mask mandate! Governor Phil Murphy was cognizant of the continuously declining numbers in the Tri-state area following the omicron surge. 

"We are not going to manage COVID to zero, we have to learn how to live with COVID as we move from a pandemic to an endemic phase of this virus," (Gov. Phil Murphy)

Our very own Dr. Elias joined ABC7 News to discuss the ongoing debate over the mask mandates. To hear his discussion, refer to the video (on the right).

SEL Day In Review

March 11th, 2022 marked the third International Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day. Please go browse the listed resources and explore how you might be able to host common ground and common good within the classroom.

To see more information on our lab’s participation in SEL Day 2022, please visit this page!

National Reading Month

Graphic created by Erika Tan.

In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, March has been coined as National Reading Month – a month to inspire individuals (of all ages!) to read every day. Reading is a key component of education and professional development; it also has immediate and long lasting health benefits such as increased cognitive function, memory, vocabulary and empathy!

To help promote reading within your classrooms, we’ve provided you with some resources below. Reading shouldn’t just happen in the month of March! Utilize these resources in the classroom for lesson plans, activities and guides for homework to help encourage your students and kids to read more.

National Education Association’s Read Across America — a website that contains events and ideas to use for celebrating reading and Reading Across America day (which occurs March 2nd!)

American Library Association — resources for teachers, parents, and students including promotional reading materials, and links to many other websites

Children’s Book Council — a website that includes links to authors, publishers, and parent information

National Council for Social Studies — Notable Social Studies Books that can be of use for classroom material and at home

National Science Teachers Association

National Council of Teachers of English — a website that includes numerous resources for teachers along with lists for Notable Children’s Books

Internet School Library Media Center — Contains a list of major book and non-book awards of interest to K-12 school educators

Another way to help promote reading across the nation is by working with and collaborating with organizations that advocate for such values. Reading is Fundamental is a great example of a charity that is committed to creating a literate nation and inspiring a passion for reading among all children. They are the nation’s largest children’s literacy non-profit! If you are interested in donating or want to learn more about their mission and vision, please go visit their website!

National Women’s History Month

Graphic created by Erika Tan.

Happy National Women’s History Month! This month is about commemorating the vital role of women in our American history. To learn more about the month or to find ways in which you can incorporate teachings into your classrooms (beyond March), please browse the following resources below!

https://womenshistorymonth.gov/ 

TeachingHistory.org Resources

Online Exhibits From the National Women’s History Museum

EDSITEMENT Women’s History Resources

For STEM Field related: Science NetLinks Women’s History Collection

ReadWriteThink’s Women’s History

SECD on Social Media

Our Instagram Page

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Our Twitter Page

As we reflect on important women in history, watch this short video about the value of dedicated safe spaces for reflection in classrooms. https://t.co/JLnbixhrYm#sel #education #womenshistorymonth #safespace #reflection

— Social-Emotional & Character Development Lab (@SECDLab) March 25, 2022

Our Pinterest Page

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SOME REMINDERS

New STAT Book Available for Pre-Order

A new book containing the teaching strategies of the STAT curriculum is now available for pre-order from ASCD.

Pre-order here: New STAT Book Now Available for Pre-Order! — Rutgers SECD Lab

Stay Connected with Us!

To keep up to date with our lab on a day to day basis, please go follow our social media accounts! We are on Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Facebook, and Pinterest. We also have a podcast titled, SECD On Demand! Check it out wherever you may listen to your podcasts! Below you will find our most recent episode.

A Reflection of SEL Day 2022

On March 11th, 2022, we celebrated our third International Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day. During this day, educators and communities world-wide pledge their dedication to the development of children’s social-emotional well-being and the skills they need to properly engage in collaborative civic engagement. This year’s theme for SEL Day was “Common Ground and Common Good”.

Here is a brief review of what Rutgers SECD Lab had prepared and created for the celebration and honor of SEL Day.

An Op-Ed by Dr. Maurice J. Elias

On SEL Day, our lab’s Director, Dr. Maurice J. Elias, published this Op-Ed piece discussing this year’s theme, “Common Ground and Common Good” . To read more about his work as well as the theme from this past year’s SEL Day celebration, please visit this page.

View this post on Instagram

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Our Instagram Page

Members of the SECD DSCM team worked diligently to create graphics to help spread awareness and advocate for and support SEL. Below you will find the instagram post that we posted to have distributed by our viewers on our instagram page.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SECD Lab (@secd_lab)

Our Pinterest Page

In preparation for SEL Day, members of DSCM team created and posted this graphic on our Pinterest page to help spread the message about what the day of celebration entails as well as discussion on the theme for this year.

Our Twitter Page

Members of our DSCM team participated in the #SELDay movement on twitter. The hashtag was successful in gaining traction as it was on the trending page during March 11th!

#SEL is important to because it creates the most welcoming environment for students and educators to be their best selves. #SELday

— Social-Emotional & Character Development Lab (@SECDLab) March 11, 2022

Additional Resources

To learn more about SEL Day and what Social Emotional Learning is, please refer to the following resources below!

#SELday

SEL Day - Celebrate Social Emotional Learning!

Toolkits for SEL Day

Social Emotional Learning Alliance for New Jersey

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SOME REMINDERS

New STAT Book Available for Pre-Order

A new book containing the teaching strategies of the STAT curriculum is now available for pre-order from ASCD.

Pre-order here: New STAT Book Now Available for Pre-Order! — Rutgers SECD Lab

Stay Connected with Us!

To keep up to date with our lab on a day to day basis, please go follow our social media accounts! We are on Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Facebook, and Pinterest. We also have a podcast titled, SECD On Demand! Check it out wherever you may listen to your podcasts!

Updated Statement of Lab Commitments

The Social-Emotional and Character Development (SECD) Lab focuses on social justice, equity, empowerment, and developmental rights since its inception over three decades ago.  Along with many colleagues in related fields such as social-emotional learning, character education, and school culture and climate, we affirm the worth of every child. Our Lab strives to offer all children the opportunity to make positive contributions to the world around them and to be cherished by all peoples and communities.  

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor,  and many others like them- before and since- continue to serve as sobering reminders that we, as a society, still have a lot of work to do. As a Lab, we study and work to mitigate the insidious effects of poverty, discrimination, and neglect on children, and we have recognized that the combination of racial bias and poverty is a kind of social imprisonment from which far too few young people are able to escape.  The tragic murders of Black, Indigenous, and people of color at the hands of vigilantes and state-sanctioned agents are not revelations. That individuals harbor hatred based on racial/ethnic/cultural difference has been true since the beginning of recorded history; hatred that is organized around notions of inherent supremacy, disdain, and subjugation of “the other,” has been documented as leading to the fall of civilizations. The pervasiveness and continuation of such actions in the present-- and the recognition of the adverse impact of hatred and racism on so many people’s daily lives-- have only deepened our Lab’s commitment to action.

However, what has become undeniable and unavoidable in the death of George Floyd is its stark reminder of the words of Rabbi Joachim Prinz, spoken at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Speaking of his experiences as a Jew under the Hitler regime, he said he learned that:

The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.

We will not be silent. Silence in the face of injustice perpetuates injustice, just as the officers who were silent during and after George Floyd’s murder were complicit in that crime.  Rabbi Prinz’s call is a call to witnessing, a call to speaking, and a call to acting.  Furthermore, Rabbi Prinz warned us against complacency and against evaluating the state of the world through the lens you happen to have. At every moment, we must ask ourselves, “How might the others involved be feeling?”; “How would I be feeling if that were me?”; “How would I be feeling if that was one of my loved ones?”. Perspective-taking and empathy are not just two “skills”; they are markers for our interdependence as human beings, an interdependence that has been given new clarity and significance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The SECD Lab renews its pledge to advocate for and continue to illuminate the importance of processes supporting the social, emotional, and character development of all young people in America and worldwide.  We affirm that diversity and equity are intertwined and that our own Lab’s diversity will contribute greatly to our effectiveness. We will begin by continuously reviewing our own procedures and plans. We will continue to seek feedback from collaborators and community leaders with whom we work, and we will listen with humility and gratitude, in a spirit of continuous improvement.  We will determine where we can be most effective and where we best can lend our efforts and support to the work of others. We will continue to use empathy and honesty as operating principles in all of our work. We pledge to not keep silent about the impact of racism, social injustice, and economic inequality.  And we pledge to match our words with actions.

Onward!

A Wrap Up of our February Highlights

As we are now in the third month of the year, we want to take the time to reflect on the celebration of Black History Month which was this past month of February. Part of celebrating Black History Month is taking the opportunity to highlight the work of important Black leaders and milestones in racial justice movements.

As mentors and educators, we want to acknowledge and emphasize that Black history plays an integral role in all American history and should be taught, learned, and presented as such in schools, media, and institutions all year-round. By taking the time to teach the history to our students, we are further emphasizing the importance of social-emotional skills such as self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills. 

To ensure that we are reserving more than just this month to recognize Black history, we have enumerated some additional resources that can be incorporated as activities or into lesson plans that will allow students to continue learning about all American history. These resources will encourage students to become more culturally and socially aware – beyond the classroom!

• https://www.learningforjustice.org/ 

• Teaching Black History Month in schools

• The Complete History

Intersectionality is another aspect that we here at SECD Lab would like to emphasize as important in understanding the entirety of history. This is the interconnectedness of social categorizations such as race, class, gender as they may apply to a given individual or group. Essentially, it is the overlapping of interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. To learn more about it and to incorporate it into lesson plans, we have provided this article that could be of interest to you!

• How to teach in elementary schools

In the article, "5 Teaching Tools to Honor Black History Month in the Classroom," Social Studies Content Expert Geraldine Stevens highlights how using biographies of important Black figures can be used to enforce SEL in the classrooms. Included in the graphic is a short list of powerful biographies that can be used, but there are so many important people to learn about. Click on the graphic to be redirected to our Pinterest page!

While February is also known for being the month of love, SECD Lab wanted to emphasize self-love and self-love practices. Rebecca Wu also created this visual for our instagram post and listed some ways that we can all incorporate self-love practices into our daily lives! In order to love others properly, we must first love ourselves! For more information regard this instagram post, please go to our instagram page.

Our team at SECD Lab strives to inspire everyone to spread positivity to all members of their community, and to be more mindful of the present. In honor and celebration of Black History Month, Rebecca Wu created this visual for our Instagram page. For more information regarding this post, please go check out and follow our instagram page!

It's important for everyone to practice self-love and self-care. Learning these healthy habits in the classroom from an early age can help guide students towards a better lifestyle as they get older. This article by The Social Emotional Teacher explains ways to plant the seeds of self-love for students and teachers in the classroom.

Graphic made by Alexa Ruperti.

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SOME REMINDERS

New STAT Book Available for Pre-Order

A new book containing the teaching strategies of the STAT curriculum is now available for pre-order from ASCD.

Pre-order here: 

New STAT Book Now Available for Pre-Order! — Rutgers SECD Lab

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Stay Connected with Us!

To keep up to date with our lab on a day to day basis, please go follow our social media accounts! We are on Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, Facebook, and Pinterest. We also have a podcast titled, SECD On Demand! Check it out wherever you may listen to your podcasts!

New STAT Book Now Available for Order!

A new book containing the teaching strategies of the STAT (Students Taking Action Together) curriculum is now available for order from ASCD!

About the Book

We often hear that a key purpose of schooling is to prepare students for informed and active citizenship. But what does this look like in practice? How do teachers pursue this goal amid other pressing priorities, including student mastery of both academic content and social-emotional competencies? Students Taking Action Together, based on a program of the same name developed at Rutgers University, clarifies that the way to prepare young people for life in a democracy is by intentionally rehearsing democratic behaviors in the classroom.

This field-tested program ("STAT" for short) is built on five research-backed teaching strategies that work with existing social studies, English language arts, and history curriculum in the upper-elementary, middle, and high school levels. Incorporating these strategies into your lessons is a way to meet students' natural desire to be heard with skill-building that empowers them to

• Adhere to norms of civil conversation, even when topics are controversial and emotions are high;

• Speak confidently and listen actively;

• Engage in respectful debate aimed at understanding issues rather than winning points;

• Target communication to different audiences, needs, and contexts; and

• Examine problems from many sides, considering potential solutions, drawing up action plans, and evaluating these plans' effectiveness against historical examples.

In addition to vignettes that show the five STAT strategies in action, you'll find practical teaching tips and sample STAT lesson plans. For school leaders, there is a road map for schoolwide STAT implementation and guidance on communicating the program's value to stakeholders.

Are you ready to help students understand complex content, confront pressing social issues, and engage with the structures of power to advocate for change? This book is for you.

December 2021- Wrapping Up the Fall Semester with the SECD Lab

Human Rights Month

In celebration of December being Human Rights Month, Alexa Ruperti (RU ‘22) created a visual for an Edutopia article written by the SECD Lab’s Dr. Maurice Elias. The article discusses how SEL and culturally responsive teaching can build a positive learning environment for all students. Click above for the lesson!

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SEL and the Arts

Rebecca Wu (MAP) created a visual for Instagram to highlight an Edutopia article about teaching SEL with the arts. Click the image above for the full lesson! 

Sign Up for SEL Day 2022 Today!

Cassidy West (RU ‘23) promoted the upcoming SEL Day 2022 on March 11 using the Lab’s Twitter page to encourage people to start signing up to take part in SEL Day activities. This theme of SEL Day 2022 is Finding Common Ground, Pursuing Common Good as we continue to navigate through the challenges of the global pandemic. Click the image above to learn more about SEL Day 2022 and sign up to participate yourself!

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#Studywithme on Tik Tok

Charles Gravina (Ru ‘22) used the trending hashtag #studywithme on Tik Tok to discuss some study tips that are sure to bring success! View the video above.

Moving Forward: November at the SECD Lab

School Psychology Week

Rebecca Wu (MAP) used Instagram to celebrate the second week of November (Nov. 8 - Nov. 12) being designated as National School Psychology Week by the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy. School psychologists are an integral part of society and should be celebrated as such. Click the photo above to see the complete post and ways to celebrate.

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SEL Day 2022

Cassidy West (RU ‘23) shared a New Jersey Education Association article written by the Lab’s Dr. Maurice Elias and Jenny Ly of SEL4NJ. SEL Day is celebrated every March, and SEL Day 2022 is not too far away to start making plans on how you plan on celebrating! Click on the post above for more information regarding SEL Day.

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SEL Skill of the Week

In the latest installment of the Lab’s “SEL Skill of the Week”, Charles Gravina (RU ‘22) created a video to discuss ways to promote SEL and Self-Love for students. View the video above!

Thanksgiving with the SECD Lab

Alexa Ruperti (RU ‘22) brought SEL to Thanksgiving with a Pinterest post featuring lessons that teachers can use to bring SEL skills to the classroom. Click on the photo above for the full post.

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SECD On Demand

Malika Verghese (RU ‘22) has been busy producing and promoting our series of podcasts on Spotify titled ‘SECD On Demand”. Speakers Dr. Samuel Nayman and Zaire Ali are our latest guests that joined us in discussing all things SEL. Click the pictures above to bring you to our Spotify page to access the podcasts!

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National Education Support Professionals Day

November 17 is designated as Support Professionals Day by the National Education Association. Cassidy West (RU ‘23) took to Twitter to share an Edutopia article about strategies to support the emotional well-being of staff. Click the image above to access the article.

October 2021 at the SECD Lab

The Latest and Greatest from the SECD Lab

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SEL and Anti-Bullying

Rebecca Wu, a first-year graduate student at the Rutgers Masters of Applied Psychology (MAP), of the SECD Lab created a visual on Instagram to discuss how social and emotional learning competencies can be related to anti-bullying efforts!

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Spooky SEL: SEL Skills for Halloween!

To celebrate Halloween with the SECD Lab, Charles Gravina (RU’22) created a Tik Tok with fun Halloween activities teachers can use in their classroom to build skills of SEL while celebrating the holiday. The activities highlighted the use of collaboration and cooperation to bridge SEL and halloween fun. Click the image above to be directed to the video!

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Hispanic Heritage Month and Implicit Bias

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the SECD Lab devoted time to discuss positive ways to embrace other cultures. One source of discussion came from Dr. Lorea Martinez - founder of Heart in Mind Consulting- who shares “A Different Way to Celebrate Spanish History Month” using her personal experiences as an immigrant facing challenges of navigating new social and cultural contexts. She encourages schools to intentionally build connections with Hispanic/LatinX groups and the perceptions that others hold around them by conducting interviews and writing short stories about these communities. “When we take the time to know more about Hispanics or any other racial and ethnic group in our community, we are increasing our racial awareness, modeling for children how to nurture bonds with others and planting the seeds to reduce discrimination" (Lorea Martinez).

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SECD Labs Latest Spotify Podcast

Laura Bond and Lauren Fullmer join co-hosts Mallika Verghese (Ru ‘22) and Rebecca Wu (MAP) in a Podcast to discuss the many projects they collaborate on as senior research associates and consulting field experts in the SECD Lab, especially regarding STAT teaching strategies for SEL.

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Introducing “SEL Skill of the Week” on Tik Tok

Charles Gravina (RU ‘22) of the SECD Lab initiated a series on Tik Tok titled “SEL Skill of the Week” in which the lab tackles a new topic of SEL every week and discusses the implications of that skill both in and out of the classroom! Highlighted here are the lessons on implicit bias and building a positive school climate. Promoting these behaviors in the classroom is sure to strengthen classroom relationships and promote academic learning. Click on either of the two images above to bring you to the SECD Lab’s Tik Tok to view the series!

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Tune into the Upcoming Harvard Conference featuring SECD Lab’s Dr. Elias!

“The presence of social-emotional and character development (SEL) in our schools is a matter of “how,” not “if.””

— SMARTS

Dr. Elias is set to present at the upcoming annual executive functioning conference where he will present a review of the connection between SEL and executive function, and their connection to resilience and equity.

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Down Syndrome Awareness Month

In recognition of Down Syndrome Awareness month, Alexa Ruperti (RU ‘22) informs our labs Pinterest audience on how to guide children with DS to strengthen their emotional intelligence skills.

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LGBTQ History Month

Rebecca Wu (MAP) used Instagram to write about a few ways educators can create an inclusive classroom for LGBT+ students:

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Keeping Everyone Up to Date with the Latest SEL Skills and Competencies are of our Utmost Importance at the SECD Lab.

Special Shoutout: Polina Poliakova

The SECD Lab is pleased to dedicate this post to highlight Polina Poliakova, our Multi-Project Research Coordinator, who is ending her time at the lab and moving on to a new chapter to pursue her master’s degree. Polina graduated from Rutgers University in 2020 with a degree in psychology, and has played a major role in her leadership position within the lab. She was in charge of multiple projects and ran many different aspects of the lab during her position as Multi-Project Research Coordinator. Her leadership and passion for SEL and the SECD Lab is always celebrated by SECD Lab members and her work will continue to support our purpose to guide social-emotional learning and character development in students. 

Polina’s passion for social emotional learning in youth has led her on this path in raising awareness on mental health issues and promoting effective communication and coping skills. Some of her research interests have been around creating positive psycho-social development in students with a bigger goal to improve educational experience for the younger generation.

Some words from Polina:

“I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the SECD lab as an undergraduate and post-graduate. Not only have I been a part of many ongoing projects, papers and evaluations, but I also feel like I have been a part of a really amazing community of individuals, who have helped me grow in many ways beyond academics. I am so lucky to have been involved in such a caring, supportive and positive team and I am excited to see what the lab will continue to achieve!

I am especially thankful to the leadership team and Dr Elias who took me into the lab and have really supported and shaped me into becoming the researcher that I am today. As sad as it is to be leaving my position, I know that my work in SEL is not yet done and I will treasure not only the relationships that I have formed, but also the importance that SEL holds in everyday life and hope to spread that knowledge wherever I go.” 

Thank you, Polina! We look forward to hearing about your amazing accomplishments and next steps!

Welcome SECD On Demand!

The SECD Lab is moving forward this summer with our podcast which can be found on Spotify. Currently, the podcast consists of one episode interviewing Dr. Maurice Elias, the SECD Lab director. The future episodes will include various guests from different backgrounds and careers who will be interviewed on numerous topics related to social-emotional learning. SECD On Demand will not only share some of the research done within the lab but serves to inform the audience on mental health, anti-racism, lesson planning strategies for students, and more. 

SECD On Demand hopes to highlight each of our guest speakers on every episode. The second guest speaker who will be featured on the next episode is Scott Edgar, an associate professor of music at Lake Forest College and author of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning: The Heart of Teaching Music. In the upcoming episode, we will discuss the contents of this book and the importance of including music education in schools to improve students’ social and emotional learning.

SECD On Demand will continue releasing new episodes with featured guests in the SEL and SECD community. The podcast will explore topics around social-emotional learning in depth and share the work and opinions of our guests. Find us and listen on Spotify! 

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Morning Classroom Conversations

As schools quickly transition back from the pandemic to back-to-school, how students adjust to the classroom environment has become more important than ever. The beginning of the school day is an important time for students to reinforce social and communication skills. It is an essential time to prepare them to not only learn academically, but learn more about themselves as well as their peers. Holding morning classroom conversations not only gives students a sense of community but also empowers students with a sense of agency as they grow and develop their social and emotional skills.

Coming out in September, Morning Classroom Conversations by By Maurice Elias, Nina Murphy, and Kellie McClain was written to help build students’ social-emotional, communication, and character skills in their transition back to school. The authors encourage teachers and educators to intwine daily conversations with students in order to create a safe space and to make time for practicing social-emotional skills. Some of these skills include practicing critical and creative thinking, building active listening skills, learning to respectfully disagree with others, and strengthening relationships among students. All of these skills are not only essential in becoming a well-rounded and developed person, but are also necessary to improve the overall classroom environment and to foster better relationships between peers. 

Morning Classroom Conversations includes hundreds of prompts and themes, sample scripts for teachers to follow, and an overview of the structure and end goals of these conversations. These discussions are essential to strengthen the learning environment and to allow students to feel not only heard but understood by both teachers and peers. 

Morning messages and meetings are already a big part of many teacher’s routines in the classroom.

These conversations before starting the school day encourages dynamic discussions and the development of students’ social, emotional, and character development. Morning meetings improve communication skills and grow opportunities for children to evolve into mature and well-rounded adults.

SECD Lab on Anti-Racism

The SECD Lab is committed to combating racism, especially in these recent times. With the current events we have been experiencing as a society, as well as the many new anti-racism movements, members and collaborators of the SECD Lab are determined to take action within our community. Past webinars in the SECD lab have encouraged conversations about how to deal with racism and brought awareness to different resources and platforms. One recent webinar emphasized how SEL skills can be used to start educating others on these important issues, and to help better understand victims of racism.

Linked below is a list of resources from the webinar : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GgsvqperF9frTdn3kpKEhpedCpquyJ_K5-RMJN52cIo/edit

SEL and Racism

The SECD Lab members will hold our own book club discussing The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together written by Heather McGhee. All members of the Lab are invited to join discussions that will take place on June 23, July 22, and August 18 over Zoom. 

On June 23, SECD Lab members held the first book club meeting over Zoom!

Social-emotional learning comes hand-in-hand with conversations about racism. The content of this discussion lies around the idea that racist systems are detrimental to the social and emotional well-being of students. Schools must acknowledge this, using SEL as a way to combat racism and teach students proper social and emotional skills. Social-emotional learning in schools will teach children and young people to have increased self-awareness, relationship-building skills, and feel empathy for others- all skills which are necessary to combat racism.

The SECD Lab Leadership Team is leading an antiracism book club this Summer 2021. All members of the Lab, collaborators, and alumni are encouraged to read at least one book related to this topic of racism or social justice, and are invited to share individual thoughts and opinions through providing reflections or “Revelations, Emotional Reactions, and Questions” (REQs). This book club welcomes discussions of different viewpoints and invites everyone to share their personal experiences with one another. Through this experience, the SECD Lab hopes to open up more discussions on anti-racism in our community and work towards recognizing our privileges. We honor the different experiences of all people and continue to expand our anti-racism work within our lab and community. 

SECD Lab Class of 2021 - Senior Awards

See Below the SECD Lab’s Senior Awards to Celebrate the Class of 2021

Dr. Maurice Elias talks about the importance of Arts Education, The Unwind Webinar, and more!

The Latest from Dr. Elias!

Recently featured for faculty excellence, Dr. Maurice Elias of the SECD Lab talks to Chalkbeat about the mental strain students are under, how teachers can help and the power of arts education in this Q&A. Click to read the full story!

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Highlights on SECD’s latest webinar titled “Unwind Webinar: De-stress Not Distress”

Unwind Webinar poster created by John Khalil (RU ‘21).

Above is the poster for our recent webinar, titled "Unwind Webinar: De-Stress, Not Distress” aimed to ease the stress of finals. The webinar took place on Tuesday 5/4 from 6:30-7:30 pm EST and was hosted by John Khalil (RU ‘21) and Kriti Jain (RU ‘21).

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SECD Lab’s Mallika Verghese (RU’22) ran an activity to increase Self-Awareness by allowing attendees to examine their own forms of privilege. Click here to access the privilege worksheet that was used.

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Got Mindfulness?

Lead by SECD lab’s Sofia Madrid (RU '21), the webinar also featured a 5 minute guided meditation to showcase the SEL skill of Self-Management!

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Stay Updated with Members of the SECD Lab

Above are some highlights of Samuel Nayman’s dissertation defense titled “Beyond-the-Self Purpose in Early Adolescents From Low-Income, Racial and Ethnic Minority Backgrounds: The Role of Emotions.” Sam is a Ph.D student in the Rutgers University Clinical Psychology program, currently at the Yale School of Medicine for his clinical internship, and the former Students Taking Action Together (STAT) Project Director in the SECD Lab.

Featured in our recent “Unwind Webinar”, the above activity (Created by Charles Gravina RU‘22) aimed to teach the 5 core competencies of SEL through scenes in movies!

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How to Combat Racism

Our webinar also highlighted forms of microaggressions and implicit biases, as well as how to have educational conversations about them in an empathetic manner, by using key SEL skills Social Awareness and Relationship Skills.

Click here for some anti-racism and mental health resources that were shared during the webinar!

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GUEST SPEAKER

HENRY ZHANG

Henry Zhang, GSAPP school psychology doctoral student and professional self-defense trainer, was featured as a guest speaker on our Unwind Webinar to educate others on how to practice Responsible Decision Making to preemptively avoid violent situations; he also gave a brief demonstration of self-defense techniques to defend against potential attacks and threats.

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Above is a screenshot from The School of Arts and Sciences Interdisciplinary Conference presentation featuring Saidy Cedano (RU ‘22), Simon Daniel (RU ‘22), Julia Sanowska, and Jonathan Vargese’s (RU ‘21) presentation titled “Building the STAT Curriculum: Promoting More Civic Engagement and Social Change through SEL Skills”. Their project examined the status of social justice discussions in the online/hybrid classroom, and aimed to design guidelines for STAT modules to facilitate discussion.

Also featured at the conference was Yenny Tavarez’s (RU ‘21) senior Honors Thesis titled "Classroom Instructional Studies: The Influence of Social and Emotional Learning”. Click here to learn more about the interdisciplinary honors thesis program, and here to learn about the Interdisciplinary Research Teams.

SECD Lab SEL Day - SPECIAL EDITION!

SEL Day Banner created by Burcu Vardarli (RU’21).

On March 26, 2021, the SECD Lab celebrated the second International Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day.

The aim of each year’s annual International SEL Day is to mobilize educators, practitioners, researchers, and students to spread awareness about the benefits of SEL to people around the world, and provided the SECD Lab with an opportunity to showcase important strategies to help build positive school climate and social-emotional skills in students.

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Where did International SEL Day come from?

SEL Day is an international social media campaign led by Urban Assembly and The Social Emotional Learning Alliance (SEL4US). In its first year (2020), International SEL Day raised awareness for SEL with two million people in five hundred schools, districts, and organizations across all 50 U.S. states and 35 countries. This year, #SELday did even better - reaching even more people, and was the #8 trending hashtag on Twitter!

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Click the above image to check out an inspiring Youth Nation blog post by Deja Bonney (UA Bronx Academy of Letters, Class of '21), portraying a positive narrative for the graduating class of 2021!

Teamwork and Talent from the SECD Lab

This year, many members of the SECD Lab team worked together to make the 2021 #SELday a huge success, with representation from multiple projects and with many creative efforts and skillsets, including posting on social media, videography, translation into different languages, blogging, Twitter chats, and even podcast creation!

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Dr. Maurice Elias joins Mallika Verghese (RU’22) and John Khalil (RU’21) from the SECD Lab social media team to promote International SEL Day by highlighting the importance of implementing SECD skills in schools. Click the picture above to listen to our SEL Day podcast!

Reaching Wider Audiences

The SECD Lab acknowledges that utilizing different forms of media increases our dissemination efforts; therefore, this year, the team created a podcast, and started a new initiative of translating posts into Spanish to reach a larger audience. However, we know that the importance of social-emotional learning does not end with SEL Day, and will continue to work hard to improve the lives of students using our platforms the other 364 days of the year (until SEL Day 2022!)

““The reason these children are ultimately going to want to learn SEL skills is because they believe they can do good in the world...””

— Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D.

The SECD Lab uses platforms such as TikTok (created by Charles Gravina, RU’22), to highlight important SEL skills for relationship building - such as active listening, communication, and conflict resolution through emulation!

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Click the above image to view the SECD Lab 2021 SEL Day Video!

Kriti Jain (RU’21) of the SECD Lab prepared an amazing video illustrating CASEL’s 5 core SEL competencies: Self Awareness, Social Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making!

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(Instagram post and Twitter chat images by Alexa Santana Ruperti, RU’22.)

In honor of SEL Day, the SECD Lab also participated in several Twitter chats. Check out some of our posts below!

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2021 SEL Day Recognized by US Congress

Congressman @timryanoh and his hard working team has recognized International #SELDay in the Congressional Record!

Check out our SEL Day posts available in both English and Spanish (Created by Charles Gravina, RU’22; translated by Sofia Madrid, RU’21).

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SEL Day 2021 shows us that even a single action can make a difference. We would like to thank the collective energy and enthusiasm of our wonderful team and collaborators in helping to showcase, promote, advocate, and support SEL. Sign up below to receive future SECD Lab updates and highlights!

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Dr. Maurice Elias receives the 2021 Jane Bostrum Service to School Psychology Award from NJASP

We congratulate Dr. Maurice Elias on receiving the 2021 Jane Bostrum Service to
School Psychology Award from the NJ Association of School Psychologists, in recognition for his work on improving the lives of children and youth through his research and service in areas such as social-emotional character development, emotional intelligence, and evidence-based school interventions!

The Importance of SEL and Mindfulness with Dr. Maurice Elias: Podcast

In these unsettling times, it's nice to know you have a friend to go to who understands the importance of not only helping others identify and share their own feelings, but the freedom that comes from asking for support when needed. On our very special walk, Dr. Maurice Elias shares how this applies not only to the field of education but our every day lives and overall mental health.

Listen Here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1060147/7179079

Rutgers Student Spotlight - Yenny Tavarez

The SECD Lab proudly wishes to recognize our Senior RA, Yenny Tavarez , who has been featured in the Rutgers Student Spotlight article for the Douglas Residential College.

Yenny is currently working as a part of our Interdisciplinary Research Team in the SECD Lab, in addition to being a member of the Douglass Global Village and a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ambassador. Yenny also successfully completed a prestigious Cooper Fellowship this past summer, granted by the Psychology Department.

With all of the work that Yenny does in and outside of the SECD lab, she serves as a role model for all; and we wish her the warmest congratulations and best wishes for her future success!

Read the article here: https://douglass.rutgers.edu/spotlight/student-spotlight-yenny-tavarez-drc21

NEW! SEL-Based Leadership Lesson Plans for Empowering Student Learning

The SECD Lab has adapted some of its materials for remote learning to provide SEL-related lessons to help empower youth at the start of school and get them involved in making themselves, their school, and their communities and the world better.

They have an SECD focus, building both skills and associated virtues. These lessons are derived from our larger and longer MOSAIC materials and the CASEL SELect Social Decision Making/Social Problem Solving curriculum and can be used  by teachers, advisors, counselors, psychologists with or without prior SEL experience.  They are in PDF format so you can see how they are supposed to look and easily get the projector displays/screen sharing pages, but they also are in WORD so they can be tailored and updated as desired!

Click the HERE to see more!

A Statement of Commitments

The Social-Emotional and Character Development (SECD) Lab has been focused on social justice, equity, empowerment, and developmental rights since its inception over three decades ago.  Along with many colleagues in related fields such as social-emotional learning, character education, school culture and climate, we have affirmed the worth of every child and the imperative to offer all children the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the world around them, to be resources and blessings to their loved ones, their communities, and the world.

Any illusions we have had about the adequacy of our efforts and the degree of progress along the trajectory of change that we all have collectively achieved have been shattered by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  We have studied and tried to reverse the insidious affects of poverty on hundreds of thousands of children, and we have recognized that the combination of racial bias and poverty is a kind of social imprisonment from which far too few young people are able to escape.  The tragic deaths of people of color at the hands of vigilantes and state-sanctioned agents are not revelations.  That individuals harbor baseless hatred has been true since biblical times and this hatred has been documented as leading to the fall of civilizations.  

However, what has become undeniable and unavoidable in the death of George Floyd is its stark reminder of the words of Rabbi Joachim Prinz, spoken at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Speaking of his experiences as a Jew under the Hitler regime, he said he learned: 

The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.

No less atrocious than the act of George Floyd’s murder was the complicity of the officers around him.  Rabbi Prinz’s call is a call to witnessing, a call to speaking, and a call to acting.  Further, Rabbi Prinz warns us against complacency and against evaluating the state of the world through the lens you happen to have. At every moment, we must ask ourselves, “How might the others involved be feeling?”; “How would I be feeling if that were me?”; “How would I be feeling if that was one of my loved ones?”.  Perspective taking and empathy are not just two “skills”; they are hallmarks of humanity.

The SECD Lab renews it pledge to talk the talk, and walk the talk, of equity and developmental rights for all young people in America and worldwide.  We affirm that diversity and equity are intertwined and that our own Lab’s diversity will be directly proportional to our effectiveness. We will begin by reviewing our own procedures and plans. We will continue to seek feedback from collaborators and communities with whom we work, and we will listen with humility and gratitude., in a spirit of continuous improvement.  We will determine where we can be most effective and where we can lend our efforts and support to the work of others. We will continue to use empathy as an operating principle in all of our work. We pledge to not keep silent about the impact of racism and economic inequality.  And we pledge to match our words, and indeed, where we can, exceed our words, with deeds.

Onward!