Teachers in the U.S.A
According to Edutopia, a review of 2023’s major themes revealed that educators find "dysregulation" or "disequilibrium" in students to be a significant issue. “The primary challenge we face is behavior. We have students who are so dysregulated that they become the priority, making it impossible to teach,” said one teacher. Matt Eicheldinger, a teacher and author, adds, “The cadence has changed, and I can’t find the rhythm.”
Teachers in Greece
In Greece, the situation is quite similar. Today's students are often hyperactive, hypersensitive, and hyper-aggressive. Teachers regularly face anger outbursts, conflicts, and even violent incidents. They are doing their best to apply classroom management strategies but often to no avail. In the post-COVID era, we are dealing with behaviors that have emerged after the pandemic and the resulting isolation. As if that weren't enough, students are bombarded daily with information from social media, and with rapid technological advancements, including AI, it's hard to predict how they—or we—will handle these changes. Add in the economic, climate, and family crises, and it becomes clear that now, more than ever, we need to focus on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
A Short History of Emotional Intelligence in Education
The history of SEL in education dates back to the mid-1960s when Karen Stone-McCown introduced the Emotional Intelligence curriculum at Nueva School. Self-Science, first published in 1978, was one of the pioneering approaches to SEL and was later referenced in Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book Emotional Intelligence.
In 2000, Marc Brackett, a Yale psychologist, wrote Permission to Feel, where he introduced the Mood Meter, a tool to build emotional awareness. He also developed RULER (Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions), which supports whole school communities in understanding the value of emotions and creating a positive school climate.
The Erasmus+ Project T.E.A.M.I
For the past two years, I’ve been involved in the Erasmus+ project T.E.A.M.I (Training Emotional Intelligent and Acceptant Mindsets). First as a trainee, then as a trainer, I’ve applied SEL techniques in my classrooms and observed the results. Some of the conclusions I’ve drawn include:
Teachers are increasingly interested in SEL.
Students enjoy SEL once they feel safe in their environment.
Both students and teachers experience improved communication and empathy.
How to Integrate Emotional Intelligence into Your Curriculum
Books like Crying is Like the Rain by Heather Hawk Feinberg can help introduce discussions about emotions. Films such as Inside Out and the Alfred and Shadow short films are excellent for helping students explore emotions in depth.
The Mood Meter is an effective tool for emotional literacy, and activities like brain breaks or mindfulness exercises from platforms like GoNoodle or the Kikori App can further support emotional regulation.
By focusing first on self-awareness and self-regulation, students can gradually work on empathy and social skills, key aspects of emotional intelligence.
https://vlachopouloumaria.blogspot.com/2023/08/well-begun-is-half-done-aristotle.ht ml
General references
https://www.edutopia.org/article/2023-in-review-from-your-point-of-view/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297470103_Key_lessons_from_35_years_of
_social-emotional_education_How_Self-Science_builds_self-awareness_positive_rela tionships_and_healthy_decision-making
https://www.6seconds.org/2020/05/24/self-science-emotional-intelligence-education/
https://archive.org/details/selfscienceemoti0000unse/mode/2up
https://marcbrackett.com/
https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/services/community-and-schools-programs/cente r-for-emotional-intelligence/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-components-emotional-intelligence-jacob-morgan- 1c/
https://vlachopouloumaria.blogspot.com/2023/08/well-begun-is-half-done-aristotle.ht ml
Films/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@annehildevassbhagen7146/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shel f_id=0
https://www.alike.es/
Tools
www.gonoodle.com
https://www.moodmeterapp.com/
https://www.kikoriapp.com/
