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Strategies for Understanding and Labeling Emotions
Strategies for Understanding and Labeling Emotions
So far, we have helped students realize how they emotionally respond to situations. We’ve taught them how to label their emotions when they feel them and to trace them back to one of eight base emotions for better understanding. Now, we can help students choose and implement SEL strategies that will allow them to restore inner peace to prepare them for learning. Inner peace refers to being in a state of tranquil emotional and mental stability while exercising control over negative thoughts, moods, and impulsive reactions (Shea, 2017). An important item for teachers to consider is that although modeling and discussing SEL strategies with students as needed is impactful to learning, interventions are most effective when applied in forty lessons or more (Hattie, 2009). Researcher Catherine Cook-Cottone’s (2013) work on dosage also supports that the best results occur when strategies are measured, predictable, and consistent in delivery.
Self-Manage With the Emotions Planner
Try doing an emotions check-in using the emotions planner for students. Figure 4.3 (page 69) features examples in each of the core content areas. A blank reproducible version of this figure is available at the end of the chapter (page 84). Initially, you may need to help students find and implement new emotional regulation strategies. Eventually, both the teacher and the student can work to identify SEL strategies to effectively regulate any of the student’s emotions.
Educators can leverage the emotions planner during a minilesson to have students conduct an emotions check-in before individual or cooperative work time. It’s important to help students resolve negative emotions before they solve problems independently. The following vignette describes an example of this strategy in action.
Michael, an elementary school teacher, had assigned his third graders journal entries as a final product for an English language arts project. He noticed that some of his learners were resistant to writing reflectively for their journals. After conducting an emotions check-in using Nearpod, he learned that many students felt anxious about the required learning for the new task. So Michael dived into a trusted bank of SEL strategies for combating anxiety and decided to adopt breathing techniques to help anxious students overcome their negative feelings and restore their internal peace. First, Michael practiced on his own, and then, he used his videoconferencing tool’s breakout room feature to model the breathing techniques for small groups of students. He found these tactics to be helpful and less invasive for the struggling students.
Subject
English language arts: Complete journal entry Eight primary emotions: Anger Anticipation Joy Trust Fear Surprise Sadness ; Disgust ; Other emotions:
Emotion
Boredom Loathing
SEL Strategy
Self-management Social awareness Relationship skills ; Self-awareness ; Responsible decision making
Use the space provided to elaborate on how you and your teacher will use the SEL skills to regulate your emotions . Teacher will provide duties, model, and make learning relevant. Student will recenter and focus on being present.
Mathematics: Fractions quiz Eight primary emotions: Anger Anticipation Joy Trust Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust ; Other emotions: Apprehension
Self-management Social awareness Relationship skills ; Self-awareness ; Responsible decision making
Use the space provided to elaborate on how you and your teacher will use the SEL skills to regulate your emotions . Teacher will provide scaffolds to support learning. Student will provide positive self-talk and positive visualization.
FIGURE 4.3: Emotions planner for students (featuring examples from each of the core content areas) . continued
Subject
Science: Use of simulations Eight primary emotions: Anger Anticipation Joy Trust Fear ; Surprise Sadness Disgust Other emotions: ; Self-management Social awareness Relationship skills ; Self-awareness Responsible decision making
Use the space provided to elaborate on how you and your teacher will use the SEL skills to regulate your emotions .
Emotion
Social studies: Study on civil rights Eight primary emotions: ; Anger Anticipation Joy Trust Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust Other emotions: Self-management Social awareness Relationship skills ; Self-awareness Responsible decision making
Use the space provided to elaborate on how you and your teacher will use the SEL skills to regulate your emotions .
SEL Strategy
Teacher will restate instructions, encourage student to ask for help, and teach breathing techniques. Student will practice breathing techniques.
Teacher will model breathing techniques. Student will focus on breathing, take a walk or step away, and count up to or down from ten.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR TEACHERS
Typically, I conduct the check-ins with students on my classroom whiteboard or in Nearpod (https://nearpod .com) . However, you can conduct check-ins verbally, in student journals, via your learning management system, through student engagement apps like Pear Deck (https://www . peardeck .com) or Seesaw (https://web .seesaw .me), or in a shared document like a Google Doc (https://docs .google .com) .
Another essential item to consider when conducting check-ins is that learning to intentionally manage emotions in positive and healthy ways is only possible when people understand emotions . Managing and expressing emotions is therefore a separate skill from labeling them . Be sure to impart that tidbit to your students as their emotional intelligence capacity increases .
The following vignette describes a teacher using emotions check-ins to support her students’ SEL.
Janet, a middle school teacher, used emotions check-ins to support her students’ social-emotional needs whenever the students learned a new concept in lessons or traumatic situations arose. For example, when her school began hybrid teaching in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she noticed many students displayed anxiety or apathy toward some of her initial lessons and projects. She created a simple emotions check-in via a shared online planner so students could begin labeling and discussing the difficult emotions many of them were experiencing. Janet encouraged her students to digitally share their planners with her; this allowed her to curate strategies she could model for her students to help them be more peaceful in her SEL-infused remote lessons.
Identify Other People’s Emotions
Check-ins on students’ social awareness of relationship skills must be in response to social interactions. Figure 4.4 (page 72) features two examples of difficult social interactions. In the third column, the teacher and student work together to identify SEL strategies to effectively regulate any of the student’s emotions. A blank reproducible version of this figure is available at the end of the chapter (page 85).
Difficult Social Interaction
Argument: Sibling or friend disagreement Eight primary emotions: ; Anger Anticipation Joy Trust Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust ; Other emotions:
Emotion
Annoyance
New setting: School or class transfer Eight primary emotions: Anger ; Anticipation Joy Trust Fear Surprise Sadness Disgust ; Other emotions: Apprehension
SEL Strategy
Self-management ; Social awareness Relationship skills Self-awareness ; Responsible decision making
Use the space provided to elaborate on how you and your teacher will use the SEL skills to regulate your emotions . The teacher will help identify win-win solutions and hold space with a restorative circle. I will gain the other’s perspective and apologize.
Self-management ; Social awareness Relationship skills ; Self-awareness ; Responsible decision making
Use the space provided to elaborate on how you and your teacher will use the SEL skills to regulate your emotions . I will think positively, remember that apprehension starts in the mind before it manifests physically, clearly organize my ideas about the new setting, and practice social skills in an environment similar to the new school or class.
FIGURE 4.4: Emotions planner for students (featuring examples of difficult social interactions) .
The following vignette describes an example of this strategy in action. Courtney, a middle school history teacher, assigned her class a collaborative activity during a project on the U.S. Civil War. The students would work in pairs or triads to create their final products. Midway through the designated chunk of work time, two students began quarreling loud enough that everyone in the class heard it. All the students shifted their attention to Courtney to see what she would do to defuse the situation and assist the two in restoring peace. Using one-to-one conversation as a de-escalation practice with both students, she was able to get them to reflect on better ways to deal with conflict in the future. Luckily, conducting emotions check-ins using the planner was an established practice among Courtney’s students, as she consistently and intentionally modeled using the tool to improve emotional intelligence skills. After the two students labeled their emotions about their heated debate, one determined that an apology was due to their classmate. Since the incident disrupted the entire class, Courtney engaged the entire class in a restorative circle to coach students in restoring justice through heartfelt apologies. Therein, Courtney explained to students they could always take a moment to apologize to others if they ever needed to. She said, “We won’t always get things right. Mistakes are inevitable, and sometimes, we will need to apologize to someone. At times, a simple apology suffices, and other times, we will need to make things right by restoring justice. Here are three parts to an effective apology: (1) ‘I’m sorry,’ (2) ‘It’s my fault,’ and (3) ‘How can I make things right?’” The students in question apologized to each other and their classmates for the disruption. At the closing of the restorative circle, all the students recorded the three parts to an effective apology in their bank of SEL strategies for future use.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR TEACHERS
You will not always have to dedicate a significant amount of time or involve your entire class to improve social interactions . Use your discretion to determine what’s best for everyone (including victims and offenders) . Suppose a social interaction affects the entire class (as in the preceding vignette) . In that case, a restorative circle and whole-class discussion may allow aggressors, victims, and bystanders the opportunity to heal and a platform to speak about how the occurrence impacted them (Heiskala, 2018; Miner, 2010) . It also provides the space for getting the class back on the task of learning . But if social interactions are not disruptive to the entire class and involve only two or a few individuals, then don’t involve others unnecessarily .
Hold Tiered Conversations
While addressing grievances between students through restorative justice, we must know when it’s best to hold space for either one-to-one conversations or whole-class conversations with the students. For example, when I wasn’t trauma informed and had no idea how to implement restorative practices, I made the mistake of triggering an already-angry student in front of his classmates (following a heated verbal exchange with his peer). I asked why he felt the need to make threats of violence every time he got upset. I thought I was reasoning with him; instead, I upset him more. Another time early in my teaching career, I took away a week of recess from an angry student while he was threatening to fight another student. Again, I made the mistake of giving him the consequence in front of his peers before defusing the conflict—thus making the situation worse.
Luckily, an assistant principal taught me that when students are upset, it’s best to defuse the situation by helping them de-escalate instead of questioning them or disciplining them while they are still highly emotional. Structured one-to-one conversations aimed at assisting the students in regulating their difficult emotions will probably be better received. Challenging or penalizing angry students might trigger previous trauma, making them feel like their back is against a wall and they have nowhere to turn and nothing to lose. It also might make some feel like you don’t care about them, which will trigger previous feelings of abandonment. I took my assistant principal’s advice very seriously and learned better strategies for helping angry students with one-to-one conversations. The following are de-escalation and conversation strategies that have served me well.
Remain calm yourself, and don’t overreact by raising your voice or posturing if a student is expressing anger or appears out of control. I have seen this trigger amplify angry moods and behaviors. When speaking to the student, validate their emotional state and speak in calm, soothing tones. This works well when the adult has already built a positive rapport with the student. If this is not yet the case for you, try to get assistance from another adult who has built trust with the student.
Know the signs that a young person is highly stressed, including raising one’s voice, lashing out, and making inappropriate and threatening remarks to oneself and others. Anxiety-fueled movements such as shaking and fist clenching also indicate that this student is in crisis mode and needs de-escalation (Vollrath, 2020).
