A socially emotionally healthy classroom is an equitable one. As students are exposed to the issue of racism through media, daily experience, and history, they need adult guidance to navigate all of the information.
Students need avenues of discussion and information that are factual, compassionate, open, and safe. Youth’s resilience and resistance to systemic oppression can be increased by creating an environment that acknowledges the role of systemic racism inside and outside of school, and how that is perpetuated by intergenerational poverty, current community unrest, and intentional targeting of young people of color by those in power.
A culturally responsive SEL curriculum provides opportunities to research and present these truths in ways that give students power to tell their own story, and explore their role in our cultural history. Assignments that encourage creative presentations, or that highlight heroes of color that were ignored from history books, are some examples of equitable, culturally response SEL.
We can also give students leadership roles in equity discussion groups. Now more than ever, we need student voices in group work around racial injustice, such as Diversity and Equity task Forces.