I love the elementary school aesthetic. Primary colors, tempura paint, jewelry made of macaroni “beads”—I love it all. But cheerful decor (and Instagram posts) not withstanding, school isn’t always the safe, uplifting place teachers and students would like it to be. Sometimes, despite everyone’s best intentions, it’s the opposite. Ever witnessed a shouting match unfurl in front of an adorable bulletin board? Yeah, me too.
Teachers and students spend a big chunk of their lives at school, and classrooms are the site of a lot of negative emotion. Consider this:
- According to Gallup, nearly half of teachers report high levels of stress at work. They are tied with nurses for the highest rate.
- Gallup also reports that 1 in 2 teachers is actively or passively looking for a new job.
- In 2017 the New Teacher Center found that teachers were stressed, overwhelmed or frustrated 70% of the time.
- According to Permission to Feel, American youths have stress levels that surpass those of adults.
- Again according to Permission to Feel, about 30% of elementary and middle school students seek regular counseling and 60% of kids in economically disadvantaged schools seek regular counseling.
The picture is probably familiar—stressed teachers teaching stressed students. Students and teachers are burdened with negative emotion, and they aren’t always sure how to cope. What can be done? In his book Permission to Feel, Marc Brackett suggests that developing emotional intelligence can lighten the burden for teachers and students. I recently read his book and have been inspired to create emotional learning resources for the classroom, and share some of Brackett’s ideas here on the blog.
First of all, why do we need emotional intelligence?
How Teachers Benefit from Emotional Intelligence
- Only emotionally intelligent teachers can help students develop emotional intelligence.
- Teaching is difficult work, and teachers carry around a heavy burden. Learning to appropriately regulate their emotions helps teachers rise to the challenge of teaching.
- The teacher sets the tone for her students—an emotionally intelligent teacher creates an environment where students’ emotions are valued.
- Emotionally intelligent teachers possess a vocabulary for understanding outbursts, violence, shut down and other difficult behaviors.
- As a teacher, you’re always interacting with emotions—your emotions, your student’s emotions, etc. An emotionally intelligent teacher has the tools to do this well.
How Students Benefit from Emotional Intelligence
- Many students are under immense pressure in school and at home. An emotionally intelligent student will have more tools to deal with these pressures in a productive and safe way.
- Students can’t pay attention or engage with academic content while they are drowning in negative emotion.
- Students have the challenging task of getting along with 20-30 peers plus adults in a classroom each day. Emotional intelligence helps them build healthy relationships, navigate conflict, and work as a member of a team.
- In short, life is difficult for students and school can be too. In order to engage productively, students need skills to cope with the emotions they experience in and out of the classroom.
Do I have to?
There’s no such thing as an un-busy teacher, and you’re probably already stretched thin. So is this worth making time for? I say yes, and here’s why: You spend a lot of your day dealing with emotions anyway.
Think about all the arbitration you do between students (or other teachers), the consoling, the chastising, etc. You can ignore emotions, but you never really avoid them—they just show up in unhealthy ways. When you spend classroom time developing emotional intelligence, you help students regulate their own emotions. The better students are at regulating their own emotions, the less they’ll need you to do it for them.
How have you tried to create an emotionally intelligent classroom?
