I’m sure that the ability to manage stress and control impulses is very important towards learning in school and success in real life. However, I just can’t imagine how an average school district could teach these skills in a meaningful manner.
3 thoughts on “Teaching Emotional Intelligence”
Comments are closed.
Apt. 11d 
I don’t know if there are established practices for children once they reach K-12 but there are ones for early childhood like Tools of the Mind. Emotional regulation (executive function, or, good old fashioned self control) has been the hot research topic in the field of early childhood research for awhile now so I’m not surprised that it is catching on in K-12 education as well (usually it’s the other way around and practices filter down, or are forced down, to early childhood). There is a growing body of research that shows that the development of emotional regulation is one of the main determinants between the outcomes of middle class children and their at-risk peers.
This research hasn’t really been accepted enough to impact public policy. The general push has been to make early childhood more like K-12, more academic, in the hopes that it will close the achievement gap between at-risk children and their low-risk peers even though there’s very little research to support an academic approach to early childhood education.
LikeLike
There are actually many programs out there, but the key is, like most things, starting early, being consistent, and getting proper training for teachers. Mark Brackett heads the center at Yale and his program is really focused on how to teach Emotional Intelligence and self-modulation.
http://therulerapproach.org/
LikeLike
My son’s fancy day care worked a lot on emotions and dealing with peers (such as using words rather then biting or hitting). And his play therapy is mostly about recognizing and expressing emotions.
His 1st grade teacher just sent home information about the Second Step curriculum, include the first two lessons’ homework activities for parents to do with the child, so our district seems to be on the SEL bandwagon this year. I don’t know how meaningful the teaching will turn out to be.
The first lessons are about paying attention and focusing. The part of the homework that involved learning the techniques the kids were working on and suggestions for taking advantage of them at home seemed helpful. The section that had an activity where the kid had to write or draw something seemed like someone had to try too hard to come up with a parent-child exercise that produced something to hand in for every single unit of the curriculum.
They used rock-paper-scissors at camp. I didn’t know it was an official SEL technique, but it seemed like a good way to manage the group.
LikeLike