Understanding Emotions | Emotional Intelligence for Educators

The Basics

What emotions actually are

Emotions are natural reactions to a situation, a mood or a connection. They signal that something has changed, either inside us or around us.

The child who goes silent and the child who shouts may be feeling exactly the same thing. So may the colleague who goes quiet in a meeting and the one who becomes brisk.

Much of what looks like defiance in a classroom is shame wearing a louder coat. Much of what looks like an aggressive parent email is fear about a child's future.

Primary or Secondary?

Sort the emotions

Primary emotions are universal, instinctive and quick to arrive. Secondary emotions are more complex, shaped by culture and experience, and often built from primary ones.

The Three Parts

What you can and cannot choose

1

Subjective

The subjective experience: what the feeling is actually like for you, from the inside.

In the classroom: Two teachers can both be "frustrated" and be having completely different experiences of it.

You cannot choose the first two. You can learn to notice them, and noticing them is what gives you a choice about the third.

Read the Behaviour

What is underneath?

Take It Away

Think of a student you have described as defiant. What might they have been protecting?

When you are stressed, does your behaviour get louder or quieter? Who around you can tell?

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