How Can We Teach Emotional Literacy?
There are several different methods of teaching emotional literacy to students. Teachers must help students understand that emotional literacy is important to their education. This page contains theories and ideas about what children need to become emotionally literate. For examples about how to put these ideas into practice, please visit the "Emotional Literacy in Classrooms"page.
The Nurturing Programme outlines four constructs for teaching emotional literacy to our children. We must teach our students the four constructs in order for them to be emotionally literate.
The first construct is self awareness and self esteem. This means knowing ourselves, and knowing what triggers our emotions. When we are aware of our emotions, it helps us to nurture ourselves and others, as well as to boost our self esteem.
Second comes appropriate expectations. We must match our expectations to children's abilities, keeping in mind that expectations might differ for each child. If we expect too much or too little, children may react in a negative manner.
The third construct is positive discipline. Positive discipline focuses on choices, awarding efforts and responsibility, and praise. There are penalties for poor behavior. Positive discipline makes life more enjoyable for everyone.
Finally, empathy, the cornerstone of emotional literacy. We need to be able to understand how other people might be feeling, and open our minds to their point of view, even if we do not agree. We must be sensitive to people's feelings, and accept them, even if we do not accept their thoughts or opinions.
In the video below, we see an example of how one school implements emotional literacy into their curriculum.