As a district, we have focused on socioemotional learning (SEL) for quite some time, and there are several new tools that can support this! Technology is a great way to facilitate emotional check-ins and teach students to track their own emotional regulation.
For primary grades, Kahoot has partnered with Microsoft Reflect to create SEL lessons. Intermediate classrooms that are using Teams have the option to utilize the embedded SEL check-in function in the “Reflect” channel. Read on for more about these tools.
Microsoft Reflect in Teams for Grades 3-5
Microsoft Reflect is a new component built into Teams that allows for virtual SEL check-ins with students. Using the Microsoft “feeling monsters,” students select visuals to communicate to their teacher how they are feeling. If desired, they can select an adjective to go with their chosen feeling monster image. Reflect is automatically added as a channel to any class team, so there is no need for teachers to do anything other than set up a check-in.
Want to preview the “feeling monsters?” Click here!
Once in the habit of using the check-ins, students can see their SEL data over time. Powerful! Below, you can see the student view and the teacher view.
Student View:
Teacher View:
To learn more about Microsoft Reflect, click here!
Kahoot SEL Lessons for Grades K-2
For younger students, and classrooms that aren’t using Teams, Kahoot has partnered with Microsoft to bring the “feeling monsters” to life through a series of short, interactive lessons! Kahoot is a game-based learning platform using multiple-choice quizzes to engage students. Lesson topics include: uncomfortable emotions, gratitude, empathy in the classroom, managing stress, and setting goals.
The Kahoot includes a series of ten activities. Each of the activities features approximately 10-15 slides. Several of these are slides with content for students (for example, defining empathy or anger). Interspersed with the content slides are interactive quizzes and polls to keep students engaged, help them process information, and aid discussion.
To access these public Kahoot lessons, click here!
If you’d like further support with any of these tools, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Ed Tech TOSA!