The first day of school is an exciting and emotional day. Kids are eager, anxious, apprehensive, enthusiastic, and optimistic. So are you! A new year brings strong emotions, but how do you and your students want to feel the next day—and every day—in school? Working with your students to create an emotional intelligence classroom charter, a resource developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, can answer that question and help establish an emotionally healthy classroom climate.
Unlike brainstorming a list of acceptable behaviors to keep children safe and productive in classrooms, emotional intelligence charters focus on feelings. Developed jointly by students and teachers, the charter is a collaborative document stating how members of the classroom community want to feel every day in school and how they can cultivate these feelings in classrooms.
Helping Kids Feel the Way They Want
As you can imagine, kids want to feel the same way you do: included, motivated, safe, and valued. Sharing desirable feelings is the first step in drafting your classroom charter. Depending on your students' level of emotional literacy, they may not always have the language to label emotions accurately. When this is the case, asking clarifying questions can help a student restate a desire to feel "good," for example, with "successful." Most classes can agree on five or six emotions to include in their charters.
Providing time for your students to share their experiences with pleasant feelings helps them to recall behaviors associated with each feeling listed on your charter's draft. Beware of phrases like "be respectful" and "be nice." These terms are too vague to be useful. Help students list concrete behaviors they can see. "Use active listening when someone else is speaking" and "Saying good morning" are clearer alternatives.
But let's face it, mistakes will be made over the course of 10 months. Feelings will be hurt. Reassure students that conflicts are a part of life. Having a plan of action to resolve these mishaps is a vital part of the classroom charter. Focus children on feelings and behaviors they do not want to experience in school. They will remember the times they felt lonely, confused, bored, or isolated. They may have even acted out as a result. Allowing children to visualize how they would handle these uncomfortable situations in the future can empower them to alter behavior before conflicts escalate. Again, concrete examples are essential when drafting an effective charter.
A Sample Charter
Consider this thoughtful document constructed by my school's 5th grade students. In their charter, these students create a clear picture of the positive classroom culture they want to foster and sustain.
We, the 5th grade students and teachers, will work together to create a classroom where everyone feels safe, included, motivated, and successful. We will accomplish this goal by trying to always be helpful and kind classmates. We will handle materials and special objects gently. We will make sure to include classmates in activities and games. We will listen to new ideas and encourage everyone to speak up. We will ask for help when we need it.When a conflict happens, we will remember that problems have solutions. We will take a break from a situation, talk it over calmly, ask for help, and never make things worse by name calling, gossiping, or getting physical.
The emotional intelligence charter is a living document that classroom communities should revisit and revise throughout the school year. It is a promise teachers and children make to one another to create environments where fostering understanding of positive and negative feelings can propel productive learning.