New courses on providing integrated student support during a pandemic

The pandemic has underscored what we’ve always known at City Connects: The best way to help children is to be systematic and intentional about providing comprehensive supports – even in the face of global instability. 

To do this work, we’ve had to adapt, and we’ve had to work harder than we had ever imagined.

The pandemic “forced us to develop the best online training we’ve ever had for City Connects,” Mary Walsh, City Connects’ Executive Director said recently of new courses that City Connects has developed on providing integrated student support during a pandemic.

To share this knowledge more broadly, we are offering the courses for free to elementary school teachers and counselors across the country as, Walsh says, a “gift during this horrible COVID time.”

The four courses are online and self-paced. They were initially offered in August and sold out in hours. Now, by popular demand, a second run of the courses is available until Friday, October 16, 2020. Participants also have the option of signing up for an accompanying synchronous Zoom session. 

The courses, which focus on individuals and systems, are: 

• Counseling The Whole Child: Supporting Students During COVID

Counselors learn about the range of responses children might have in the new school year and how to support teachers, administrators, and other staff. 

• Counseling The Whole Child: Systemic Approaches To Student Support During COVID

This course covers how counselors can take a school-level approach to understanding and responding to students’ strengths and needs.

• Teaching The Whole Child: Supporting Students During COVID

Teachers learn to identify and respond to children’s feelings, beliefs, and behaviors because of the pandemic, and

• Teaching The Whole Child: Systemic Approaches To Student Support During COVID

Teachers learn about the systems and processes they can use to respond to students’ and families’ pandemic related needs

Participants can receive professional development points for the courses, which are being hosted online by the Boston College Center for Optimized Student Support.

The courses’ most important lesson?

Do not succumb to despair. 

Schools do face daunting challenges. But these challenges can be met with evidence-based systems of support that help children, families, and educators navigate the pandemic — and thrive in the post-pandemic future.

 To learn more about future professional development offerings, sign up here.