Educator Toolbox

Anxiety and Worry 

Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This resource provides tips for educators as they support students and families during the COVID-19 closures.

Classroom Accommodations for Anxiety

This resource provides educators with practical accommodations to support students who may be experiencing anxiety. Tips for providing emotional support, classroom scheduled, setup, routines, giving instruction, assignments, and introducing new concepts.

Minnesota Mental Health Fact

Minnesota Mental Health Fact sheets provide educators with an increased understanding of anxiety disorders, signs to look for in the school setting and accommodations.

Helping Traumatized Children Learn Vol.1 and Vol.2

Helping Traumatized Children Learn provides school leadership with a flexible framework to help create trauma-informed learning environments.

Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators

The Child Trauma Toolkit is a comprehensive guide for Educators. It provides educators with an understanding of what trauma may ‘look like’ in the school settings and actions to help students feel safe.

Tips to Manage Anxiety and Stress

This resource from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America provides educators with practical strategies to cope with anxiety.

A Compassionate Guide to Managing Anxiety vol.2

This resource from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America provides educators with practical strategies and supports to cope with anxiety.

SEL 3 Signature Practices PlayBook- CASEL

The SEL Signature Practices provides educators with explicit guidance on how to leverage and embed three core SEL practices (opening classroom engaging, and closing). These strategies can be used in both fact to face and virtual learning settings.

Autism

Autism Society COVID-19 Toolkit by Topic

Supporting Individuals with Autism through Uncertain Times

Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic: Yale’s Guide for Families with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Covid-19 Virtual Outreach Series

Grief

When Your World is already Turned Upside Down: Supporting Grieving Children and Teens

This resource from the National Center for Grieving Children and Families provides guidance on how to support children and adolescents experiencing grief.

Crisis Response Team

Central Rivers AEA Crisis Response team developed this resource to support districts as they navigate crisis situations.

Helping Children with Traumatic Separation or Traumatic Grief-Related to COVID-19

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network developed these resources to provide educators, parents, and families, suggestions when supporting children and adolescents experiencing traumatic separation and/or grief

Through Virtual Learning

School/LEA Staff Resources

During times of stress it is important that educators take time to engage in self-care. This provides strategies and resources to help educators take care of themselves.

What to look for: Identifying signs of distress and mental health/well-being through virtually learning

The COVID-19 pandemic has created several new stressors for educators and students. This resource is designed to help educators identify students who may need additional support when 

providing virtual learning

Relationship Mapping-Harvard Making Caring Common ProjectTeaching Routines in Virtual Learning. Staying connected to schools whether during both face to face and virtual learning. This resource provides a Resource Mapping strategy to support districts as they continue to connect with students.

Extending Classroom Management Online-Edutopia

This resource provides practical behavior management strategies for educators engaging in online/virtual learning.

Iowa Return to Learn SEBH

Developed through a collaboration between Iowa AEAs and the Department of Education, this resource provides resources to support educators, students, and families.

Tools for Supporting Educator Well-Being

8 Steps to Cope with the Current Reality-Acceptance

We are struggling with accepting what is going on and the reality of not having a clear picture of what will happen next. This can create significant distress that is harmful to our well-being. This resource provides an eight-step process to help as you cope with the here and now and worry about the unknown.

Tips for Taking Care of Yourself

Self-care is important, especially in times of distress. This resource from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network provides educators with practice self-care strategies to increase well-being.

Care for the Caregiver

Provides school staff with guidance to identify when a colleague is in distress and identifies practical self-care strategies that can be implemented to increase well-being.

National Association of School Psychologists COVID-19 Resources

This resource provides comprehensive information for educators, parents, and families as they attempt to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and provide social, emotional, behavioral, mental health and suicide prevention support face to face and virtually.

Suicide

Preventing Youth Suicide: Tips for Parents and Educators

This resource provides parents and educators with an understanding of suicide risk factors, warning signs, and guidance of what to do if a child or adolescent is at risk for suicide.