Silver Spring, MD (Friday, March 11, 2022) — Discovery Education and leading social impact partners are offering engaging, high quality digital learning resources to students, teachers, and families to support Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day nationwide. Established in 2019 by SEL4US and the Urban Assembly, SEL Day empowers communities to celebrate the importance of social-emotional learning. Discovery Education is the worldwide EdTech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.
SEL is often described as the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Research reveals that SEL programs provide students the ability to manage stress and depression, improves self-esteem and school behavior.
Observed this year on March 11th with theme “Finding Common Ground, Pursuing Common Good.” SEL Day helps connect students, educators, and families to resources learn about and integration social emotional wellness into all aspects of life. In support of this theme, Discovery Education is providing educators and students access to hundreds of digital resources tailored for any learning environment through its dynamic K-12 learning platform. Among the resources created in collaboration with leading social impact partners are:
Virtual Field Trips
Happiness in Action Virtual Field Trip
Grade Bands: 6-12
This Virtual Field Trip teaches students that happiness isn’t a fleeting, occasional sensation, it’s a state-of-mind and way of life which students can maintain through practice, no matter what challenges they face. Students discover the Six Sustainable Happiness Skills: mindfulness, human connection, positive outlook, purpose, generosity, and gratitude.
The Happiness in Action Virtual Field Trip is part of Discover Your Happy, a collaborative effort between Discovery Education and LG Electronics USA – and extension of LG’s signature social impact initiative, “Life’s Good: Experience Happiness” – providing educators, parents, and students with free hands-on resources that help students recognize that they can achieve sustainable happiness.
Body Confidence Virtual Field Trip
Grade Bands: 3-5
In this Virtual Field Trip, students learn from their peers how to get smarter about images they see online, build strategies to fight weight-based bullying and teasing and learn how to be kinder to themselves and each other in this Virtual Field Trip! Accompanying before, during, and after standards-aligned resources empower educators with ready-to-go content in English or Spanish.
This Virtual Field Trip is part of Amazing Me – an initiative from Dove Self-Esteem Project and Discovery Education. Amazing Me delivers the best in social-emotional learning, health, and confidence-building content to educators at no cost.
Professional Development Content
Educators can strengthen their social-emotional learning and teaching skills with free professional learning videos and companion guides focused on empowering students with emotional and social intelligence. This content is available from Soar with Wings: Social Emotional Skills for School & Life, a program from Discovery Education, Wings for Kids, and The Allstate Foundation.
Deepen educator support around SEL and its application to a variety of learning environments with professional learning resources from the Social-Emotional Learning Coalition, a network of partners committed to bringing critical, culturally relevant social-emotional learning resources into core instruction to support educators and students nationwide.
Create a SEL-focused teaching strategy with on-demand e-learning modules designed to strengthen understanding of trauma-informed educational practices and policies that foster a student-centered learning environment from Ready, Set, RISE! – a unique educational initiative from Kaiser Permanente, Alliance for a Healthier Generation (Healthier Generation), and Discovery Education.
Event
A Candid Conversation on SEL
On March 22 at 3PM ET, join Discovery Education and a panel of education and corporate leaders for a candid conversation candid conversation that explores the challenges and paths needed to prepare future talent with both the technical skills and emotional capacity to thrive in today’s and tomorrow’s workforce. Learn more and register here.
“Supporting my students’ mental and emotional wellness is increasingly becoming more central to my teaching strategy. I find that happy students are successful students,” said Kimberly Castner, a Fourth Grade Teacher at Stallings Elementary of the Union County Public Schools. “With curated resources from Discovery Education and their partners, including professional development content I can use, I know that with each lesson I’m helping my students be better and do better.”
Educators and students can find these and more resources in the SEL Center located within the Discovery Education K-12 learning platform. The Social-Emotional Learning Center created by the SEL Coalition presents a curated collection of hundreds of resources designed to support educators as they integrate SEL into core instruction and to help students develop social and emotional competencies. The SEL Center includes resources focused on educator professional development and school culture including microlearnings, instructional strategies and ready-to-use slide shows. Designed for all K-12 students and educators, the Center features multi-modal, student-facing digital content aligned to the five SEL competencies from Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and includes Virtual Field Trips, videos, podcasts, mindfulness exercises, songs, and reading passages.
The SEL Center is made possible in part through The Allstate Foundation, the National AfterSchool Association, and Ask, Listen, Learn. The SEL Center resources feature Discovery Education original content, content from trusted partners like CASEL, Inner Explorer, and Everyday Speech, as well as content created in partnership with The Allstate Foundation, Ask, Listen, Learn, LG Electronics USA and Wings for Kids.
“Research and experience shows us the importance of supporting students’ and educators’ social and emotional health,” said Lori McFarling, Discovery Education’s President of Social Impact. “This SEL Day, we are proud to offer educators worldwide – at no cost – a powerful set of digital resources created in partnership with our social impact partners. With these resources, teachers have a set of foundational materials they can use to support the social and emotional learning of their students.”
For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.
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About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education currently serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at DiscoveryEducation.com.
Contacts
Grace Maliska | Discovery Education | gmaliska@discoveryed.com