How to Teach Online So All Students Feel Like They Belong

Social and emotional safety is created by supporting students in exploring, discovering, and defining their identities; refuting negative stereotypes; and giving them a voice within the classroom. This is hard enough to do with students who are sitting right in front of us, but the guiding principles of identity safety can still support educators to serve students of all backgrounds, even if it’s not always clear how to do that.

They encompass everything that makes them unique, including characteristics of their home and school social groups: ethnicity, race, talents, culture, gender, and more. In the real world and online, educators can help students examine and develop different aspects of their social identities and discover their unique voices, which is an essential component of identity safety.