SAVE THE DATE! May 31 is our Student Showcase. A few years ago, we moved away from having an all-school awards ceremony and moved toward a student showcase. Students can choose a product, tool, or way to show something they are proud of from the year. Then, we invite in families to share and celebrate with. If you haven't started this conversation as a team, you will want to start doing some planning so students have enough time to work on their product.
Science of Reading:
You may have noticed that I have been tied up in some Zoom meetings/training lately (Katie has been in these types of sessions all year). As we continue to learn more about the Science of Reading, administrators in the district are participating in LETRS training. Here’s a snippet of information on the Science of Reading that talks about some of the basic information. We will be having more conversations about this in the future. It’s exciting to continue learning about how we can better support all of our readers.One of the best parts of my job is that I have the opportunity to co-teach during morning meetings. This gives me the opportunity to teach necessary social-emotional skills to students on my caseload as well as those in the classroom(s) they are learning in each and every day. It’s no secret that over the last couple of years my skills in teaching regulation have been put to the test. As we entered into this school year I knew I needed to find additional ways to meet the emotional needs of the students I work with (and those in their environments).
We have always used The Zones of Regulation as a way to teach emotions and regulation strategies. After exhausting these lessons and ideas last year, Chelsea and I dabbled in Mood Meter towards the end of the year, as a way to understand emotions in a bigger way. Coming into this year, I knew this was a direction I wanted to explore more. The Zones are fantastic for those just learning about emotions and their impacts, but I needed a way to go more in depth. Enter the Mood Meter once again!
If you want to see a larger version… stop in the 5th grade conference room!
The Mood Meter is another lens to view emotions through. It breaks emotions down into four quadrants. It is also set up on a continuum of how pleasant an emotion is, as well as how much energy the emotion requires. This allows students (and adults) to really hone in on the experience they are having. As I was researching Mood Meter, I discovered the RULER method for teaching emotions and regulation. This method was developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence by Marc Brackett. Marc authored the book “Permission to Feel” and I knew I had to read it.
This book takes a deep dive into the world of emotions and the importance of emotional intelligence and being an emotional scientist. Not only does it focus on the importance of teaching these skills to the students who enter our classroom each day, but it also pushes you to reflect on your views and comfortability in addressing the emotions that we all experience. Marc normalizes the experiences and responses we have and explains ways to teach our students (and ourselves) how to navigate these experiences on a daily basis. He explains that “all emotions are an important source of information about what’s going on inside of us” (pg. 23). This is why it is critical for us to have an understanding of emotions and the displays that we may see. These emotions are windows into what’s truly going on within our students.
As Justin has said many times, behavior is a form of communication. Emotions are the same way. Marc continues on to say that “our multiple senses bring us news from our bodies, our minds, and the outside world, and then our brains process and analyze it and formulate our experiences” (pg. 23). He stresses the idea that when we see a behavior or display response from students, we don’t always slow down and investigate the emotions behind it. In order to better understand what we are seeing, we have to be an emotional scientist to investigate where the unexpected response came from and why.
Not only does Marc provide opportunities to reflect on our own views of emotions and responses, but he also discusses the RULER strategy for navigating emotions in expected ways. The RULER method teaches us to: Recognize that a change has occurred. Understand where the emotion is coming from and the potential consequences, accurately Label the emotion being experienced, Express the emotion in an appropriate way, and finally, Regulate the emotion effectively.
In 5A we have been learning about what each of these terms mean and how to use them to assist with emotional regulation. It has been incredible to participate in class discussions around feelings, answer questions that arise, address misconceptions, and most importantly- build a community of emotional scientists. Not only are these skills critical for those who struggle navigating big emotions, but it also helps the rest of the class develop a sense of understanding when unexpected things happen. As Justin shared last week, when big displays happen we find ourselves asking “What about the others?”. The learning around the RULER method helps build emotional intelligence in our learners, provide avenues for students to seek understanding in what happens around them, provide ways for them to regulate their own emotional state and understand how they can support others, when appropriate. What a powerful way to empower students when it comes to understanding the differences in others and our own emotional experiences. As I always tell the class… emotions are normal. We all experience them. It's imperative that we learn to understand them so that we can navigate them when they get big.
Here is a glimpse at some of the learning we have done!
Emotions Carousel- We identified one emotion per student. They had 2-3 minutes to record a time they experienced the listed emotion! It was neat watching them read other experiences and make connections. We used this to normalize the feelings and show the wide range of causes.
Emotional Vocabulary- While reading their independent book, students were asked to identify emotion labels in their text. We used this to practice labels and understand triggers that lead to emotions.
Shades of Emotions- Students were put in small groups. They were given a quadrant on the mood meter and had to list the given emotion labels in order of their intensity. Then, students chose 4 emotions and listed emotions that were very similar to each. They had to order them from least intense to most intense
If you are interested in diving in, I highly recommend reading “Permission To Feel”! It is an easy read and will help you navigate the big world of emotions! I have a copy you can borrow, if you’d like! If you would like a preview of the book before jumping in, here is the chapter on Understanding Emotions! This is one of the most important chapters of the book (in my opinion!). As always… if you have any questions or are looking for support, let me know!
One last note: If you are looking for a way to track your own emotions… I recommend checking out the phone app called How We Feel (the link will take you to their site)! It is free and it allows you to track your own emotions throughout the day. It also has little videos periodically to help you learn and grow in your ability to regulate emotions! It also allows you to track patterns over time!
