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BrewsterConnections(PDF) - Brewster Academy

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Emotions Matter<br />

The Relevancy and Advantages of<br />

Social and Emotional Learning<br />

Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is the lead developer of The RULER Approach to Social and<br />

Emotional Learning. At Yale University, Dr. Brackett is a research scientist in the<br />

department of psychology; deputy director of the Health, Emotion, and Behavior<br />

Laboratory (HEB); and head of the Emotional Intelligence Unit in the Edward<br />

Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy. He created the first<br />

experiential course on emotional intelligence for undergraduates at Yale and also codeveloped<br />

a course on the same topic for aspiring school leaders at Teachers College,<br />

Columbia University. He has been working with <strong>Brewster</strong> <strong>Academy</strong> on integrating<br />

The RULER Approach into the <strong>Brewster</strong> curriculum since June 2010. On a recent<br />

visit to campus, he sat down for a Q & A with <strong>Brewster</strong> Connections.<br />

Describe Emotional Literacy<br />

Dr. Brackett: Emotional literacy comprises five key emotion skills. We use<br />

the acronym – RULER – to communicate these skills, which are:<br />

Recognizing emotions in oneself and others<br />

Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions<br />

Labeling the full range of emotions using a rich vocabulary<br />

Expressing emotions appropriately in different contexts<br />

Regulating emotions effectively to foster healthy relationships and<br />

achieve goals<br />

The work we do in schools with adults and children focuses on the<br />

integration of The RULER Approach into all aspects of the school day.<br />

What’s critical about our work is giving people the knowledge, skills, and<br />

tools that help to develop their emotion skills. In turn, they embody a<br />

range of behaviors and attitudes to better position themselves for success<br />

in academics, careers, and relationships. How we handle our emotions<br />

has a huge impact on our decisions, and research has shown that emotion<br />

skills are integral to personal, social, and academic success.<br />

What is the origin of Emotional Literacy<br />

programming and why is it relevant today?<br />

Dr. Brackett: The HEB Lab was founded by Dr. Peter Salovey – who in<br />

the late 1980s and early 1990s conducted seminal research on emotional<br />

intelligence with his colleague, Dr. John Mayer of the University of New<br />

Hampshire. Their research focused on how different moods influence<br />

decision making and how emotion management and self-control impact<br />

important life outcomes. Drs. Salovey and Mayer merged these studies<br />

into the field of emotional intelligence<br />

The study of emotional intelligence has since been scientifically validated,<br />

and we now know that emotions matter in our daily decision making.<br />

Emotions drive much of what we do in our life. Although the many<br />

ways we regulate emotions occur outside of our awareness, our skill<br />

in consciously regulating emotion is critical to our mental health and<br />

relationships. My work focuses on teaching the skills of emotional<br />

intelligence or the RULER skills. This work started when I collaborated<br />

with my uncle in the mid 1990s on our first emotional literacy training<br />

program. Teaching emotional literacy in school is critical because research<br />

has shown that students trained in The RULER Approach perform<br />

significantly better in academics and are more socially and emotionally<br />

competent than students who have not been trained.<br />

How do you implement this program within schools?<br />

Dr. Brackett: Everybody with a face has to be trained … students,<br />

teachers, support staff, administrators. We want to make sure that<br />

everyone who interacts with students receives training.<br />

It’s also important to have continuous training. We’ve learned that<br />

our understanding of emotions and ability to regulate emotions shifts<br />

throughout life. Consider high school students’ decisions about cutting<br />

class, having sex, or using illicit drugs. For 99 percent of these students,<br />

they know what the right decisions are, but they need to know how to<br />

regulate their emotions when making the decision to use or not use drugs,<br />

for example. The more advanced work we do with high school students<br />

is to teach them ways to regulate emotions and to think critically about<br />

their high school success, including what they want to do after high<br />

school. Consider a student who wants to be the captain of a sports team. If<br />

the student, through various assessments, learns that he can’t read facial<br />

expressions, we would help the student to better understand expressions<br />

so he could be an effective team leader. Or, perhaps, the student wants to<br />

4 <strong><strong>Brewster</strong>Connections</strong> – Spring 2012

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