SENGinar: Supporting Social & Emotional Learning at a Distance

Being gifted isn’t easy. Our current world situation isn’t easy. Supporting at-home learning and especially social and emotional needs in a digital platform isn’t easy. 

Let’s be real, gifted children struggle with peer relationships, self-imposed perfection pressure and do battle with depression, anxiety, and even panic attacks. As teachers, we daily recognize that our passion and focus in the classroom must include the social and emotional development of all students. We understand this aspect of giftedness is paramount to be addressed. If the social-emotional needs of a gifted child are not met, they will never be able to perform to their full potential academically.

Yet, in today’s swift transformation from face-to-face content delivery and daily relationships to distance teaching and individual learning, how do we support the social and emotional needs of our students? 

In this presentation, we will discuss the many traits of gifted children that create social-emotional issues including asynchronous development. We will provide simple strategies to incorporate into your digital classroom to strengthen the community and address the social-emotional needs of gifted children. We will also explore resources that support social and emotional learning in a distance learning format. 

About the Presenters: 

Randi Posner is a gifted specialist for the Paradise Valley   Unified School District. Randi   facilitates and teaches a variety of professional development courses for   gifted teachers throughout Arizona. She has presented at the National Association for Gifted   Children, Arizona Association for   Gifted and Talented, and SENG Mini-conference. Randi believes that a   teacher’s influence goes beyond the curriculum that they teach. She is passionate about educating the whole   child. In her classroom, she focuses on the social-emotional needs of her   students as well as academic needs.

ElizaBeth Warner is the Gifted Program Mentor for the Paradise Valley Unified School   District in Phoenix, Arizona. In this capacity, she coaches and mentors   educators to provide daily differentiated instruction that accommodates   advanced learners, including twice-exceptional students. Warner is a National   Board Certified Teacher.