Module 8: Promoting Emotional Literacy and Empathy
Effective Teacher Practices for Providing Targeted Social Emotional Supports:
Promoting Emotional Literacy and Empathy
90 Minute Face to Face Session: Script
Contact hours: 2 contact hours (90 minute session plus 30 minute pre-learning activity review)
Slide 1: Introduction to Modules
This is the first session in a series of modules that addresses the second level of the pyramid. It is the “main course” – the “meat” of the training. Over the next several sessions, we will discuss ways to intentionally teach social-emotional skills related to identifying and expressing emotions, recognizing and responding to emotions of others, and understanding feelings. While all children benefit from these types of strategies, children from families with multiple risk factors benefit most of all.
Slide 2:Emotional literacy
Emotional Literacy includes: the ability to read facial expressions, non-verbal cues, language and body cues in one’s self and others, the ability to interpret these cues as to the cause and intent of the action, and being able to determine one’s own emotional reaction to these cues in themselves and others. Emotional literacy includes being able to generate solutions based on the emotional cues of others, being able to make a decision and act on the decision in regards to how it affects their own emotions and the emotions and actions of others.
Slide 3: Review of pre-learning Assignment
- You read Enhancing Emotional Vocabulary in Young Children, Gail Joseph and Phillip Strain, The Center on Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning:
Discuss:
- How might you use information from this article to plan lessons around emotional literacy and developing empathy?
- What is the “key concept” of this article?
- Describe the teacher’s role in helping children develop emotional literacy. How can the teacher help parents support the development of emotional literacy in their children?
- You reviewed the Instructional Practices for Developing Emotional Literacy and Empathy Teachers/StaffChecklist. How did you do? Which practice(s) do you wish to improve in the current or upcoming school year?
- What was one instructional practice from the self-assessment that you implement ‘almost always?’ What strategy do you use to implement the practice?
Slide 4: Objectives
Participants will:
- Understand and effectively implement instructional practices that help children buildemotional literacy and empathy
- Understand the importance of involving families in practices that help children build emotional literacy and empathy
Slide 5: Objectives continued
Participants will:
- Understand the importance of using data to support children in developingemotional literacy and empathy
- Understand how to articulate the relationship between targeted instructional practices,NCFoundations for Early Learning and Development, and the NC Professional Teaching Standards
With this session we hope to help you understand the importance of helping children build emotional literacy and empathy skills, with their families, and with all teaching staff in your classroom and school.We’ll focus on instructional practices that help children recognize and appropriately respond to their feelings and actions and the feelings and actions of others
Slide6: SEFELPyramid Overview
Remember that the first tierof the Social-Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (SEFEL) Pyramid Model addresses Nurturing and Supportive Environments and Responsive Relationships. Tier I strategies help you ensure a healthy emotional-social environment for all children. High quality supportive environments promote positive outcomes for all children. The second tier of the pyramid promotes targeted emotional-social supports for individual children or groups of children that need an intentionalapproach in order to learn social skills. This session will focus on Tier II concepts and strategies. Tier III is intensive intervention for those children who are still exhibiting challenging behaviors after all supports at Tier I and II are in place on a consistent basis. These children will need intensive intervention strategies and documentation of behavior in order to make a plan for intervention and support for the child and the teacher.
This is the first module in Tier II. Emotional literacy builds the foundation for later modules including recognizing and controlling anger & impulses, developing problem-solving skills, and developing friendships. When children cannot read emotional cues or display empathy for others in the classroom, they have difficulty controlling impulses, problem-solving, forming relationships, and making friends. You will notice that these modules are slightly more focused on targeted strategies and supports than Modules 1-7.
Slide 7: Activity-the same feelings may be expressed differently by different people
Let’s start by thinking about feelings. What are your feelings today? Suppose different feelings could be thought of as different colors. What color are you today and why?
[If needed, provide an example: I’m pink because I’m happy.]
You’ll see that there are posters of different colors up in the room. Go to the color you feel today. When everyone has found a group, begin telling one another why you chose that color to express your feelings today.
[Trainer note -- the purpose of this activity is to show that the same emotion may be expressed differentlyby different people.]
[Give participants adequate time to move around the room and talk. After about 10 minutes, get the groups’ attention. Go to each group and ask a spokesperson to describe the feelings they associated with each of the colors. Wrap up by summarizing ‘themes’ associated with the colors, such as intensity. Prompt as needed to talk about whether feelings have different colors according to intensity of the feeling (example: irritated is a muted orange, frustrated is neon orange)?]
How might you use this activity with children?
[Prompt as needed to talk about adding music and movement to the activity with children.]
Slide 8: What is emotional literacy?
Emotional literacy is the ability to recognize, understand, and appropriately express emotions. We typically think of literacy as the ability to read and write. Emotional literacy is being able to perceive (read) and communicate (write) emotions. It is the alphabet, grammar, and vocabulary of our emotional lives. It is the way we respond to life using a variety of emotions…anger, fear, loneliness, etc. Emotions influence our actions and our thoughts and have a critical impact on our relationships.
Slide 9: Why is emotional literacy important?
Research from a survey, ‘Public School Parents and The Promise of Public Education,’ conducted by Hart Research Associates in 2013 with parents of children enrolled in public schools indicated that parents wanted schools to do four things to help their children prepare to succeed in college and their careers. Sixty-eight percent of parents wanted the schools to improve their child’s knowledge and critical thinking abilities.Eighty percent of the parents wanted the schools to provide their child with a safe learning environment.Sixty-one percent of parents surveyed indicated that they wanted the schools to educatetheir children about their rights and responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.Fifty-four percent of parents wanted the schoolsto address their child’s social, emotional, and health needs.
(Hart Research Associates, 2013)
We also know that children who don’t learn to use emotional language have a hard time labeling their own feelings and the feelings of others. Misreading the emotions of others can result in inappropriate actions that can then lead to challenging behavior or social isolation. An example of misreading emotions could beif a person’s face is red, someone might think the person is hot and offer them a cool drink. But maybe the person’s face is red because he or she is embarrassed! If a child always looks sad or lonely, other children may think it means the child does not want to play.
Slide 10: Activity on Typical Development for Emotional Literacy and Empathy
Let’s reviewtypical development of emotional literacy and empathy skills in children.
In your handouts you have ‘Typical Development for Emotional Literacy and Empathy.’ Cut the statements into four strips. Rearrange the statements and place them in the order in which children typically develop these skills, from 1) two month old, to 2) toddler, to 3) 3-4 year old and 4) 5-6 year old.
[Have the ages written on chart paperfor reference. Debrief by asking which statements describe the skills of a two monthold, toddler, 3-4 year old, and 5-6 year old. See answer key at the end of the script.]
Slide 11: Instructional practices checklist
In your supporting materials you have a checklist of instructional practices for building emotional literacy and empathy with children, staff, and families. We’ve adapted the checklists from CSEFEL and the University of Iowa. The checklist items are part of the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT) – with which you may be familiar if you are familiar with CSEFEL. CSEFEL conducted extensive research and found these are practices have proven to be effective for helping children learn emotional and social skills. In other words, they are evidence-based practices.
You’ll see a checklist for Instructional Practices to Promote Emotional Literacy and Empathy with items intended for use by teachers and other instructional staff as a self-assessment. Also in your supporting materials you haveInstructional Practices to Promote Emotional Literacy and Empathy for Administrators, with the same items intended for use by an observer. The observer might be a coach or mentor, a peer, supervisor, or evaluator.
Slide12: Video- Teaching Emotional Literacy and Empathy Video 1 - Amy –Cabarrus County in large group setting
This classroom has a B-K licensed teacher and twofull time teacher assistants. There is a total of 16 children in the classroom which includes sixchildren identified as Exceptional Children (one identified as on the autism spectrum and five children with developmental delays), three childrenwho participate with support from NC Pre-K, and 10 children who participate through private pay.
Now let’s watch Amy using a puppet, Murray,during a groupactivity to introduce a new vocabularyword around an emotion, “worried.” Watch how she introduces the new vocabulary word.
As you are watching the video – see if you can identify strategies the teacher is using that are listed on the Instructional Practices checklist.
[Show video.]
Which instructional practices did you observe? What strategies did you observe that were evidence of each of the instructional practices on the checklists?
[Trainer notes: some examples are listed below, the participants may include others:
- IP-1 Use a variety of materials in naturally occurring opportunities across the day to teach emotional literacy and empathy skills. [Allowing children and teacher assistant to develop solutions to the problem.]
- IP-2 Use group settings (both large and small) to teach emotional literacy and empathy skills [Using a situation that was familiar to the children to discuss worry in group setting.]
- IP-3 Use and model expected behaviors while describing the behavior. [Modeling with the teacher assistant.]
- IP-5 Include instruction using a variety of materials in recognizing feelings in self and others in the daily lesson plan.
- IP-6 Discuss emotions in the classroom including using increasing complex vocabulary such as mad, angry, frustrated, etc. [Teacher discussed worried; gave clues to look at the face, “How can you tell he is worried?”]
Slide 13:Additional strategies and next steps
Let’s take a few minutes at your tables to discuss what additional strategies the teacher mighthave added to her interactions with children in this scenario to maximize the opportunity for recognizing and responding to emotions in self and others. What might be the next step to further the children’s understanding of “worried”? We’ll come back together in a few minutes to talk about it as a large group.
[Write these two questions on a flip chart paper: Additional strategies? Next steps? Give adequate wait time.]
Let’s come back together. What other strategies did this table come up with? What are next steps? Are these instructional practices represented on the checklist?
[Allow participants to respond table by table. If you are watching the time, just pick a few tables. Prompt if necessary to look at the Instructional Practices Checklist and determinewhich strategies support those practices.]
Slide 14: Teaching standards
NC professional teaching standards can be found at:
Now refer to the NC teaching standards in your supporting materials and put yourself in the shoes of the principal who is observing Amy’sclassroom for evaluation purposes. Which teaching standards did the teacher demonstrate during the interactions you observed?
[Encourage small groups to talk together. Give adequate wait time.]
What teaching standard did you observe? How was the teaching standard demonstrated?
- [Standard 3: Teachers know the content they teach
- Teachers align instruction with the NC Standard Course of Study
- Teachers make instruction relevant to their students
- Standard 4: Teachers Facilitate Learning for their students
- Teachers know the ways that learning takes place, and they know the appropriate levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students.
- Teachers plan instruction appropriate for their students
- Teachers use a variety of instructional methods]
Why is it important to be able to articulate the teaching standard the teacher is demonstrating?
[Prompt as needed to talk about our own roles in educating others about preschool instruction.]
We have talked about the intentional instructional practices we saw Amy usein the video clip to build emotional literacy and empathy skills. Now, let’sfocus our attention on the skills the children are working toward.
Slide 15: Picture of Foundations
Refer to your Foundations document foremotional and social developmentgoal 6 on page 61. Look at the developmental indicators for identifying, managing, and expressing feelings.
[Offer to show the video again. If participants say they can identify developmental indicators from watching the scenario the first time, proceed with the activity. If participants have difficulty, go ahead and show the video again.]
What developmental indicators did you see children working toward?
[Prompt as needed to talk about: emotional and social development….page 61
- ESD-6q Use a larger vocabulary for talking about different feelings.
- ESD-6r Give reasons for their feelings that may include thoughts and beliefs as well as outside events (“I’m happy because I wanted to win and I did.”)
- ESD-6sUse problem solving strategies when they feel angry or frustrated.]
Slide 16: iPoints
iPoints are ‘Instructional Practices Observed in Teaching Standards.’ Find the iPoints for Module 8 in your supporting materials. Refer to theinstructional practices that we’ve discussed thus far in this session. This document correlates the instructional practice with the early learningand development standards (Foundations) and the NC teaching standards.Take a few moments to review this document. Discuss how this document will be a useful resource for teachers and administrators.
[Refer toiPoints for Administrators.]
Slide 17: Foundations to NC Standard Course of Study crosswalk activity
You have on your tables a set of crosswalk documents that shows how the early learning and development standards align with the NC Standard Course of Study (NC essential standards and the common core). The crosswalk is meant to show, ‘when we help children work toward this early learning standard, it is preparing them to work toward this Kindergarten standard.’ Our early learning and development standards tell what children should know and be able to do related to recognition of emotions in themselves and others and the ability to react and respond appropriately to their emotions and to the emotions of others. The iPoints document can be used as a reference for connecting the instructional practices, early learning and development standards, and the NC professional teaching standards. The crosswalks can be used to find connections between our early learning and development standards and kindergarten standards.
Now let’s divide into 3 groups, one for each developmental indicator that was evident in the video clip. Each group has a chart with the developmental indicator listed at the top. Please take the crosswalk document and locate the kindergarten standard(s) that aligns with your group’s assigned skill.
[Divide into 3 groups. Write each developmental indicator below on chart paper. Distribute one developmental indicator to each group.
- ESD-6q Use a larger vocabulary for talking about different feelings
- ESDE-6r Give reasons for their feelings that may include thoughts and beliefs as well as outside events (I’m happy because I wanted to win and I did.”)
- ESD-6sUse problem solving strategies when they feel angry or frustrated.]
Each group has a flip chart – write how the developmental indicator aligns with kindergarten standards.