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As educators responsible for the academic development of the students in our care, we must meet the needs of every young person, whether we personally identify with them or not. The first step is to frame social and emotional learning (SEL) from an antiracist lens that prioritizes community building, belongingness, and identity safety.
Antiracist SEL centers the personal identity of each student in each teacher's care. It is not a tool to deny white students identity safety but rather to offer that safety to everyone, including the children of color to whom it has long been denied.
Centering the personal identity of each student does not mean the teacher creates a separate lesson plan for every student. It means the teacher uses differentiation, accommodations, and modifications of expectations to understand how to coexist with and support a student who has not yet reached a developmental stage to be in community with their peers.
I liken this differentiated method of SEL to the differentiation a reading teacher leverages to move all students to grade level by the end of the year or the differentiation a math teacher engages to teach new concepts and hold space for knowledge gaps that might prevent a student from succeeding.
SEL through an antiracist lens uses welcoming and closing practices that invite students to cocreate...