Trinity focuses on students' social-emotional needs

Ms. P reads Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall to students. This book is about thinking positively and confronting a challenge.

Please refer to the following for additional information on the resources that support this article.

• Caron, Christina. “It’s Not Just Adults Who Are Stressed. Kids Are, Too.” New York Times, Nov 3, 2020. www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/parenting/kids-anxiety-stress-coping-pandemic.html. • CDC Violence Prevention, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) online resource: www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html • Goleman, Daniel. “What Makes A Leader.” Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec (1998): 93-102.

Trinity focuses on students’ social-emotional needs

By Erica Pendleton, LPC, School Counselor

As an elementary-only school, Trinity has the unique opportunity to address the needs of the whole young child. For a child to be truly successful, social and emotional growth must be fostered with the same intention as academic growth. In fact, research shows that high emotional intelligence is at least as important as IQ for longterm success. According to Oxford Languages, emotional intelligence is “the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.” Trinity’s mission and Program and Pedagogy Pillars anchor the School’s focus on students’ social and emotional well-being along with their academic development. “Cherishing childhood” is not just something we say, it’s something that is lived out in every decision we make. To cherish childhood, we must guard and guide the social and emotional development of our young learners, which Trinity Teachers and staff do throughout every school day. Each day begins with a Morning Meeting, which is an intentional time for relationship building and interpersonal connection. Our Trinity traditions, from Pre-K Olympics to Sixth Grade Capstone Projects, are opportunities for our students to fi nd their own voice and self-confi dence. Recess is child directed because we know that children learn about creativity, fairness, reciprocal relationships, confl ict resolution, and more through play. Our students learn to collaborate as they work in table groups. The word “yet” is a powerful part of our vocabulary to show that we embrace a growth mindset. The need to focus on children’s mental well-being has come to the forefront, now more than ever. The global pandemic, our political climate, and uprisings against racial injustice have caused stress and disruption for adults and children alike. Some of the diffi culties that children have experienced include social isolation, routine changes, and the observation of parental stress. Due to children’s stage of development, it is unlikely for them to adequately voice their feelings. Instead, they demonstrate their worries through changes in sleep or eating habits; regressive behavior, including toileting accidents and increased separation anxiety; an increase of inattentive or perfectionistic behaviors; and becoming irritable or withdrawn. In early August, Trinity prepared for the return of students with a workshop for teachers that included the basics of trauma-informed care and Psychological First Aid. These frameworks highlight the need to build a sense of safety and security, provide space for learning about feelings and asking questions, teach coping and regulation skills, and fi nd ways for students to develop their own agency or sense of control. You may be wondering why an approach including “trauma” would be considered a best practice for our students. Research shows that long-term, unmitigated stress can turn into “traumatic stress,” which has lasting eff ects on emotional and physical health. At Trinity, we use best practices to ensure that our students learn how to work through the current challenges and not endure lasting eff ects. For children, safety and security is established with structure and routine. Extra time at the beginning of the school year was devoted to establishing new routines and again when we returned to in-person learning in January. Trinity has always been a place where children are truly known and loved. This year, even more time has been devoted to developing relationships. The adults in the building work closely together to identify students who need a little more time and attention from me. I schedule sessions with those students, and we read stories, draw, and play games together. We work hard to normalize these visits to the counselor’s offi ce. Hearing one Kindergartner tell his mother that he enjoys visiting with me as much as going to the playground was thrilling and affi rmed that we are doing a very good job. In the fall, Trinity’s consulting psychologist, Dr. Carli Reis, and I presented a webinar to educate parents about stress in their children. One important takeaway was that children are very intuitive. They react to their environment based largely on the way that the adults around them react. They know when we are stressed, and they know when we are not telling the truth. One of the best ways that we can help children cope is to learn to manage challenges ourselves. It is also important to allow space for children to ask questions and to give them answers in direct, developmentally appropriate ways. Children often admit to overhearing what the grownups are saying or watching on TV. When children do not open up to their trusted adult(s), they are left to draw their own conclusions about what is happening. For children who already lean toward worry and stress, their conclusions are often frightening. A time for conversation and reassurance is often all that they need. Our Trinity students are fortunate to have loving and nurturing environments both at home and at school. I believe that our students are doing so well, even during these diffi cult times, due to all our eff orts, at school and at home, to focus on their social and emotional well-being.