I love the month of September!  Our staff, students, and schools are establishing routines…and it's great to see our students excited about their learning in the classroom!  This month, we are celebrating the social-emotional learning concept of Inclusion.  In Oakwood Schools, we believe in the importance of ensuring each student feels included in our classrooms and schools by feeling welcome, safe, invited, and challenged.  Schools across the country translate the need for students to feel included through a “sense of belonging”.  Hundreds of studies involving more than one million students worldwide across PreK-12 offer consistent evidence that schools that focus on promoting social-emotional learning, including a student’s sense of belonging, have a positive impact on students’ academic achievement.  There’s no question that when students feel included, they are more apt to learn.  

While we utilize many resources and strategies in our work to promote inclusive classrooms and schools, a framework that is a standard for work across schools is from the Collaborative for Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).  The CASEL Framework, also known as the Wheel, begins with promoting skills for students to develop internally before building out to the classroom, schools, and beyond.  Helping students to build skills in the five areas around the inner wheel helps them to communicate and connect with others in real and meaningful ways.

A foundational premise in creating a sense of belonging to promote inclusion is valuing each student’s backgrounds, experiences, and cultures to help them to be seen.  Through this premise, we create intentional strategies with each student by getting to know them, their family, their hopes, and their dreams.  Then, we create structures integrated in our lessons and school activities that allow students to build rapport and connect with others.  

My hope for each student in Oakwood Schools to be able to identify at least one trusted adult and be able to connect with a group of students through a classroom, activity, sport, or club that fosters excitement, anticipation for the day, and a place to thrive!  We can go farther together!

#OneOakwood