This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 133 of the Cult of Pedagogy

Podcast. In this episode we are going to learn about a high school maker space

that's been designed to meet students, social, and emotional needs.

Most teachers instinctively know that if students' emotions are off-kilter in

any way, if their stress levels are high or their social lives are a mess, they

won't be able to concentrate on academics. And yes, schools usually hire

guidance counselors to support students with these issues, but most of the time

they can barely squeeze this work in between all the other things they're

responsible for. Research is telling us that children and teens are experiencing

more anxiety and depression than ever before, and those numbers keep going up.

So clearly the need for social emotional support in schools is growing. Many of

us do what we can to pay attention to tune into our students' emotional needs,

build relationships with them, create safe spaces in our classrooms, and weave

lessons about communication, anger management, self-advocacy, and mindfulness

into our academic content. Still, we're pretty sure this isn't enough. Some

schools are tackling this issue by providing mental health services as part

of larger wraparound programs. Other schools are adding on separate SEL

curricula, doing book studies, and giving extra SEL training to their teachers.

Another creative approach, which we will look at today, is to designate a space

in school that can meet some of these needs. But in this case, we're not talking

about a counseling center or meditation room, although these would be welcome

additions to any school. This space does not appear to have anything to do with

...