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Gale helps CCSD integrate social-emotional learning and diversity and inclusion in the classroom and at home

Everyday Healthy Tips With mental health issues and racial injustices drawing significant attention and discussion, Gale, a Cengage company, is helping the Charleston County School District (CCSD) provide its students and school staff with authoritative digital resources to support social and emotional learning (SEL) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The district is using professional learning and student collections on Gale eBooks to help educators and learners strengthen their understanding and provide guidance for mental health and racial equity to create more supportive and inclusive learning environments.

According to a recent EdWeek MarketBrief survey, 53 percent of administrators and teachers believe helping students cope with anxiety, depression, stress management, and other mental illnesses will be major needs as schools reopen during COVID-19. Additionally, 47 percent said that social-emotional support for teachers is a top priority as well.  

“With the ongoing pandemic and civil unrest that our nation is currently experiencing, the need to support our students and teachers’ well-being is greater than ever,” said Christy James, library and media services coordinator for CCSD. “The materials in Gale’s SEL and DEI collections are timely and very relevant for what students and teachers need inside and outside of the classroom and equips them with the right trauma-informed approaches and culturally-responsive tools to meet their needs.”

As the second-largest school system in South Carolina, approximately 50,000 students and 3,500 teachers across 87 schools and programs can privately access the collections from the district’s library website, at any time from any location or device.

CSSD’s Gale eBooks collections include:

For Students

  • Cameron’s Collection: One in five teens suffers from mental health challenges—and more than 75 percent don’t seek help at all. Helping students cope with everyday stressors and stay in the present moment are at the core of this collection. More than 90 digital titles span a wide range of topics including: ADD, ADHD, alcohol, anorexia, anxiety, bulimia, caregiving, cutting, depression, divorce, drugs, eating disorders, homelessness, OCD, self-injury, stress, and suicide. Created in partnership with the Cameron K. Gallagher Foundation, this collection aims to inspire students affected by mental illness to seek help.
  • Cameron’s Camp for Wellness: More than 100 eBooks provide targeted guidance on sensitive issues for K-5 students, teachers, and counselors with topics on managing emotions, teamwork, problem-solving, family issues, staying positive, being safe, and much more. Helping students recognize and manage emotions, social skills, safety, and more are the core foundations of this collection.

For Educators

  • SEL and DEI Collection: Creating a sense of unity, even in the most diverse communities, impacts student achievement, and inspires positive change. This online collection is two-fold, with 57 titles specific to SEL and DEI. Topics support culturally responsive teaching, trauma-informed and mindful practices, self-management, empathy, differentiation, and more.
  • Administrator and Teacher Self-Care Collection: Teachers SEL is just as important as their students, yet meeting these needs can be challenging, especially in an evolving virtual environment. This digital collection of 26 titles is focused on the teachers as well as administrators in areas of self-care, mindfulness, stress-busting strategies, time management, and more. 

“The impact of the pandemic coupled with the recent racial injustices has left many school districts scrambling to figure out how to support students and educators as they deal with the trauma, making social-emotional well-being and instruction more important than ever,” said Paul Gazzolo, senior vice president and general manager at Gale. “Gale eBooks SEL and DEI collections help learners develop the critical skills they need to cope with everyday challenges to improve academic achievement while providing educators with the teaching tools to help them succeed – in school or at home.”

For more information, visit the Gale’s SEL webpage.