Supporting Student Emotions: 9 Tips for a High EQ Classroom
Every teacher wants to equip their students to reach their intellectual potential. In recent decades, we’ve realized that social and emotional skills are just as important (if not more so) to a person’s lifelong success. As a result, today’s educators are looking for ways to teach emotional intelligence within their academic curricula.
So how can teachers empower emotional health in their classrooms? Try these 9 tips to teach your students emotional management:
1. Keep calm and validate
When your students’ emotions run high, it can be hard to keep your cool– especially if you don’t see eye to eye with them. However, keeping a neutral tone and validating their feelings can help them feel heard, making it easier for them to regain control over difficult emotions.
Elementary Example: (Child cries and says they’re sad because they didn’t earn an award). “You’re feeling sad that you didn’t earn an award this quarter. It’s ok to feel sad.”
Middle/High School Example:(Teen complains that their term paper grade was unfair). “I understand you feel that the grade I gave you was unfair. After class we can go through your paper together and talk about it.”
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2. Breathe it out
Though inhaling & exhaling may seem automatic, it’s easy for our breathing to become irregular when we’re upset. This can be especially true for kids who aren’t fully aware of how their bodies and minds are connected. Use breathing exercises to teach your students to “trick” their bodies out of fight-or-flight mode and into relaxation.
Elementary Example: “Place your feather in the palm of your hand. Take a deep breath in through your nose. Now, slowly blow out with your mouth, blowing the feather up to your fingers.” (You can also use bubbles if you don’t have feathers on-hand!)
Middle/High School Example:“Place your hands on your belly and take a deep breath in for 4 seconds, feeling your stomach expand. Now slowly exhale for 6 seconds, feeling your hands lower as you release the air.”
Struggling to support students with ADHD, Anxiety, Autism, or Depression? Click here
3. Manage those muscles
Difficult emotions can cause students’ muscles to clench up and fuel anxiety. Tense & release exercises allow students to be aware when stress arises and how to overcome it.
Elementary Example: “We’re going to practice relaxing our bodies. First, pretend you’re a snowman. Stand stiff with your stick arms and tightly packed snow. Now pretend you’re melting all the way down into a puddle!”
Middle/High School Example: “Finals week can get us feeling stressed.Let’s take a minute to do some tense & release exercises. Tighten each muscle in your body starting with your jaws, going down through your shoulders, hands, core, legs, and feet. Now slowly relax each muscle one at a time.”
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4. Visualize
We all spend lots of time visualizing scenarios, and sometimes we imagine the worst. Kids are often prone to visualizing negative scenarios at school, such as not having someone to sit with at lunch or failing an important exam. Help your students visualize success by leading them through calming visualizations.
Elementary Example: Give each of your students a bottle of bubbles and instruct them to think of something that worries them. Tell them to blow a bubble and picture that bubble as their worry, floating further and further away from their mind until – POP! – it’s gone.
Middle/High School Example:“Picture a time when you felt overwhelmed but made it through – something like earning your next belt in karate, finishing a difficult assignment, or making it through a scary hospital visit. Think about how you felt when it was over and you had made it through. I want you to picture bringing that same strength and victory to the AP exam tomorrow.”
5. Crank up creativity
No matter what subject(s) you teach, incorporating art has been shown to support emotional development and increase students’ personal connections to content. Art integration makes students feel a stronger sense of belonging and that their thoughts and feelings are recognized. Tap into your own creativity to come up with projects that provide creative outlets.
Elementary Example: “We’ve been learning about the planets. I want you to pick your favorite planet and create a travel brochure for visiting it.”
Middle/High School Example:“We’ve been studying government leaders. I want you to reflect on your own values and use magazine clippings to create a collage that represents your beliefs.”
Want more support in becoming a pro at student emotional management? Contact us for a free 15-minute consultation to learn about our Teacher Training services.
6. Grounding exercises
Negative emotions often stem from dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Guide your students to focus on the present by practicing grounding or mindfulness exercises. Draw your students’ attention to each of their senses, and encourage them to redirect their focus to the “here and now” each time their thoughts start to stray.
Elementary Example: “Let’s take a brain break to breath and focus on our senses. What are you hearing right now? What are you seeing?”
Middle/High School Example:“That was a great class debate, but controversial topics can get us feeling tense. Let’s take a moment to focus on our senses to the present moment. Examine the woodgrain on your desk. Listen to the hum of the A/C. Feel the texture of your clothes.”
7. Glow with gratitude
Keeping a grateful attitude is one of the most effective ways to foster healthy emotions. Encourage your students to reflect on things they’re grateful for, and express your gratitude as well.
Elementary Example: “I love reading your creative stories! It’s so cool to see what you come up with each week!”
Middle/High School Example:“Before we shift gears into group work, I want you to take a minute to think about 1 thing you’re grateful for today. It could be something big like being accepted into your dream university, or something small like having shoes on your feet.”
Click here for more tips on training a thankful brain
8. Be your best EQ-You
As someone your students spend a lot of their time with, you are a powerful role model. When they see you managing your full spectrum of emotions, it teaches them that difficult feelings don’t make them bad or abnormal.
Elementary Example: “I’m feeling frustrated right now, so I’m going to take a breath and count to 10.”
Middle/High School Example:“It’s important for us to study the good and bad about history, but reading about genocide makes me feel angry. I need a minute to focus on my breathing before we finish the next chapter.”
Click here to download our PRIDE Skills for Teachers form
9. Bring Teacher Training to your school
Each student comes with different emotional, behavioral, and academic demands. At times it can feel impossible to navigate all of their needs while focusing on your curriculum. Our Educational Psychologists can provide on-campus training to empower you with practical, evidence-based strategies for effective emotional management.
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References:
Shinn. M.M. (2018). 5 Tips for Raising Emotionally Intelligent Children. Psychologically Speaking. [Variations Psychology blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.variationspsychology.com/blogs/5-tips-for-raising-emotionally-intelligent-children
Shinn. M.M. (2019). 8 Tips to Calm Your Kid While Keeping Your Cool. Psychologically Speaking. [Variations Psychology blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.variationspsychology.com/blogs/8-tips-to-calm-your-kid-while-keeping-your-cool
Shinn. M.M. (2018). 8 Tips to Create a Mentally Healthy Classroom. Psychologically Speaking. [Variations Psychology blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.variationspsychology.com/blogs/8-tips-to-create-a-mentally-healthy-classroom
Shinn. M.M. (2019). Count Your Blessings: How to Train a Thankful Brain. Psychologically Speaking. [Variations Psychology blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.variationspsychology.com/blogs/count-your-blessings-how-to-train-a-thankful-brain
Shinn. M.M. (2019). How Can My Family Master Mindfulness? Psychologically Speaking. [Variations Psychology blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.variationspsychology.com/blogs/how-can-my-family-master-mindfulness
Shinn. M.M. (2018). Take the Stress Out of Tests! 11 Ways to Manage Test Anxiety. Psychologically Speaking. [Variations Psychology blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.variationspsychology.com/blogs/take-the-stress-out-of-tests-11-ways-to-manage-test-anxiety
Shinn. M.M. (2019). The Teacher’s TCIT School-Kit. Psychologically Speaking. [Variations Psychology blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.variationspsychology.com/blogs/the-teachers-tcit-toolkit
Shinn, M. M., & UC Davis PCIT Training Center (2019) Course of Treatment Manual for PCIT-TC. Unpublished Manuscript. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5993624ea803bb955170130a/t/5c8e78b0c8302569d10fdb51/1552840881981/PRIDE+Skills+for+Teacher+-+Shinn%2C+2019%2C+Variations+Psychology+v.BW3.19.pdf
Timmer, S., Hawk, B., Lundquist, K., Forte, L., Aviv, R., Boys, D., & Urquiza, A. (2016) Coping and Relaxation Skills 1. PC-CARE: Course of Treatment Manual. Unpublished Manuscript. UC Davis Children’s Hospital. Retrieved from https://pcit.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/47_Coping_LittleKids-Aubrey-edits-8.6.18.pdf
Timmer, S., Hawk, B., Lundquist, K., Forte, L., Aviv, R., Boys, D., & Urquiza, A. (2016) Coping and Relaxation Skills 2. PC-CARE: Course of Treatment Manual. Unpublished Manuscript. UC Davis Children’s Hospital. Retrieved from https://pcit.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/48_Coping_BigKids_6-9yrs-Aubrey-edits.pdf
Timmer, S., Hawk, B., Lundquist, K., Forte, L., Aviv, R., Boys, D., & Urquiza, A. (2016) Coping and Relaxation Skills 3. PC-CARE: Course of Treatment Manual. Unpublished Manuscript. UC Davis Children’s Hospital. Retrieved from https://pcit.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Coping_Older-Kids_9-13yrs.pdf
How to Cite This Blog Article:
Shinn. M.M. (2020). Supporting Student Emotions: 9 Tips for a High EQ Classroom. Psychologically Speaking. [Variations Psychology blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.variationspsychology.com/test-blog/supporting-student-emotions-9-tips-for-a-high-eq-classroom