Emotional Literacy
A Great Start to a New Year
Two years ago, our school embarked on the journey of creating an emotionally literate community.
It began in the fall of 2008, when all of our teachers attended introductory emotional literacy training. All teachers learned about five key emotional literacy skills: namely, the ability to recognize, understand, label, express, and regulate emotions. They learned how to apply these skills in their classrooms to promote student learning and development. The 5th and 6th grade English Language Arts (ELA) teachers also attended advanced emotional literacy training, where they learned how to teach the Feeling Words Curriculum to their students and did so for the following year in their ELA classes. Parents of these students may remember their child bringing home assignments to discuss certain feeling words at home as part of this program.
In the fall of 2009, all of our teachers attended an additional training where they learned to use the four Anchor Tools:
1. The Charter helps students to create a shared vision for how they want to feel in class;
2. The Mood Meter helps students to understand their feelings and the feelings of characters in books and literature;
3. The Blueprint teaches students how to handle conflict constructively; and
4. Meta-Moments helps students handle emotional triggers in effective ways.
After this training, all grade levels developed Charters for their classrooms, and teachers began using the Mood Meter and Blueprint in their classrooms. They have been very successful so far. Here's what one 5th grade teacher from Brooklyn said about using these Anchor Tools: It's a good feeling when you're able to share on some type of a personal level with students about things that you're experiencing - It adds a nice touch to the classroom environment - the students are more open with me. It opened up the lines of communication a lot.
In January, 2010, the 7th and 8th grade ELA teachers learned to teach the Feeling Words Curriculum, and for the last several months, all students in grades 5 through 8 have been learning emotional literacy this way.
This year, the kindergarten through 4th grade teachers will be trained on the Feeling Words Curriculum and all students in our school will be learning emotional literacy.
In addition, we have been integrating emotional literacy into all aspects of our school community. All faculty, staff, and students will start off this year by developing a Charter. We will use Mood Meters and Blueprints in staff meetings, and most of our rooms and hallways will feature Mood Meter and Blueprint posters as constant reminders to stay aware of our emotions and how they are affecting us and those around us. We will continue to use the Blueprint school-wide to encourage positive behavior that reflects care and concern for others and for oneself. We will make it a point to discuss and be aware of each others' feelings and communicate openly. Through our dedication to emotional literacy over the last couple years and ongoing commitment to it this year, we are steadily becoming an emotionally literate community!
