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Synopsis

Emotional Literacy- a missing priority

Someone said “Education is the capacity to make informed choices”. Sensing, understanding and usingemotional information from ‘within’ and ‘without’ oneself in order to make informed choices is thereforereally a literacy program. It involves skills training, as well as developing personal awareness .This isexactly what tour Upanishads and Vedas said about education. Swami Vivekananda said that “Education isthe manifestation of the divinity that is already present in man “

If there is already a divinity that is present in man, why are we seeing children with very unruly behaviorand disturbed and distorted outlook? Why are then children of today having so many issues of behavioralproblems? Where has the divinity gone? These are the questions that we educationists need to ask ourselvesbefore we try to understand the term emotional Literacy.

What is Emotional Literacy?What are called challenging behaviors?Why are they called so? And why is it a priority?What are the causes for it and what are the ways to handle this?

These are the contents that we are trying to answer in this conference

Earlier, challenging behavior was a medical problem, considered to be associated with physicalinability to cope with situations. Now it is shifted to an educational perspective. So we, as educationists,need to look at challenging behavior as the scope of study for “Emotional Literacy”.

Today challenging behavior of children in a class room or home situation is called as “Emotional andBehavioral Difficulties” (EBD). This is a very common terminology in the western countries. Children whohave emotional disturbances create a barricade between themselves, and their learning environment throughinappropriate, aggressive, bizarre behavior and get withdrawn themselves from the outer world. A certainscience of behavior exists for human race and if it is not falling within its periphery we call it ‘intolerablebehavior’. Experience of violence, trauma, failure, rejection, losing self esteem mixed with unsettledemotions –all these contribute to challenging behavior. Children experience a failure to establish a normalbehavior within and without. These become challenging behavior for all including the children and who dealwith children for the simple reason that the handling of such cases becomes very difficult and sometimesimpossible. Handling these challenging behaviors from an educational perspective is the need of the hourbecause most of these cases are prevalent in schools. And Schools are the places where the children spendmost of their formative years. Knowledge about these challenging behaviors, the causes for such behaviors,the various ways of handling these issues become the content matter for an ‘Emotional Literacy program’

Emotional literacy means our ability to read and understand our emotional states and most importantlyto pick up the multi dimensional skills and courage to act on them .Why do children fall a prey to all thisbehavior? How do you identify such behavior? What are the characteristics of such children who havechallenging behaviors?

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How can a Class room change with Emotional Literacy program?

Emotional literacy programs should be replete with techniques that are embedded with:-

flexible teaching methodologiesA trained staff in emotional literacy, will help the children with development of socialcompetence and emotional maturityhelp the children understand and adjust and respect the school’s expectations and routineshelp in acquiring the skills of positive interaction with peers and adultsprovision of class and school systems which control or censure negative or difficult behaviorsand encourage positive

Supporting School environment is an essential need for Emotional Literacy

How do you identify children with such emotional disorders?

What are the characteristics of children who have emotional disturbances? :

They will be lost, be unhappy, unwilling and/or unable to workAs they receive less praise for their work and have fewer positive child/adult interactionsThey perform badly in tests and examinations and have very severe learning difficultieshave poor social skills and they would prefer to be alonehave low self-esteembe emotionally volatile and may end up in outburstsoften fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work or otheractivitiesoften has difficult sustaining attention in tasks or play activitiesoften does not seem to listen when spoken to directly –looks here and thereoften has difficulty organizing tasks and activities and always their place is kept untidyoften avoids, dislikes or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort (such asschoolwork or homework)often loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g. toys, schoolwork, pencils, books)is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli, is often forgetful in daily activitiesoften fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seatoften leaves seat in classroom or and engages in somebody else’s work or goes around in the classroomoften runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate (in adolescents thismay be subjective feelings of restlessness)Do not think and speak-everything is instantaneousoften talks excessivelyoften blurts out answers before questions have been completedHave very poor listening skillsoften has difficulty waiting turnoften interrupts or intrudes on others (e.g. butts into conversations or games)

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While the above behaviors are the symptoms to understand an emotionally disturbed behavior, there arechildren who show aggressive oppositional defiance behavior also. They are always negativistic, defiant,disobedient and show a hostile behavior toward authority They are characterized by :

losing one’s temper and shouting unnecessarilyarguing with adults even for small thingsactively defying or refusing to comply with the request or rules of adultsdeliberately doing things that will annoy othersblaming others for his or her own mistakesbeing very sensitive to any comments or easily annoyed by othersbeing angry and resentfulThey do not have straight eye contact, children of mood swings, temper, inappropriate physicalcontact, attention seeking, restlessness, bullying, have poor communication skills

Dealing with such children is definitely a cumbersome task for both parents and children. Thereforethe Principals of Schools normally avoid admissions to them. This is running away from the reality andcan be described as escapism. The Principals and teachers of schools should try to get the parents on totheir side and remember that it is not a luxury, rather a need. It is not the job of a social worker orpsychologist to take care of the children; it is the job of the parents and teachers. This means a change inbasic attitude of schools taking that extra care to treating parents with particular care to raise their senseof self-worth, gently creating shared expectations and making it worth their while to help manage theirdisaffected, poorly-achieving children’ and ill behaved children

The most important need in an Emotional literacy program is that the children need to feel that theyare wanted and valued by at least some of the people like their teachers and other staff . the teachers canengage these children in informal discussions whenever they get time and involve these children in smallactivities that are noteworthy.

What are the characteristics of the teachers who are effective in the emotional literacy programs?

They will be:-

Have Good planning and they know very clearly what has to be done if there is an issue, wellorganized; structuredConsistency; fairness - they are impartialGood sense of humor and they do not show a morose face alwaysThey are highly energetic and have Enthusiasm; interesting/challenging; passionate; stimulatingUnderstanding individual needs; understanding EBDs; knowledge of EBDs; pupil knowledgeAdaptability/flexibility and they are available to childrenEmpathy and Patience to listen to othersGive positive reinforcement; stress success; praise; encourageThey have Good subject knowledge and they go to class well preparedCarefully differentiates workSet clear boundaries but that are realizableWork hard to develop a classroom environment that is caring, pleasant, relaxed, and friendly, yetorderly and productive.They are role models themselves and Model the behaviors they desire in their studentsInvolve the children in all classroom activitiesAppreciate and respect diversity.Avoid producing feelings of shame in children and avoid comparisons with their peer (focusing moreon pride and less on guilt).

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Have very good Communications with each child’s home.Establish clear rules, beginning during the first few days of school,

Good practice, such as knowing the child and his family, hearing the pupil voice, working through close,positive relationships, is of particular importance during transitions from one year group or stage to another.

Suggestions for the Emotional Literacy Program

Emotional literacy should be made as a subject in teacher training colleges and the teacher trainees need begiven good practical exposure. The teacher trainees can be given classic examples of emotionally disturbedbehavior of children and they should make case studies on this. These case studies suggest various ways andmeans of how they handle the children and they should be available for teachers as a reference in schools.

This could be the link between schools and teacher training colleges.The teacher trainees should also be given sessions by psychiatrist as to how to handle such childrenThe psychiatrists and psychologists of the city/district should make a pool service. Taking a turn,they should organize programs for parents, children, and teachersThey should also start e-counseling programs for parents and teachersThere can be online discussion forums and you can call it “Emotions Go On line “(EGO) where anyinterested parent or teacher can become a member free of charge. However the corporate sectors cansponsor those online services.The teachers should train the children to acknowledge their emotions and take ownership of this. Theproblem is that many children do not know to identify the emotions. It is not very easy and it needsimmense training.Teacher training colleges should make yoga and meditation a compulsory part of their curriculum.This will bring a balance in the behavior of the teacher trainees alsoA full course on culture and value systems should be incorporated in the teacher training curriculum.This can be a part of the literacy program too. Not knowing one’s own culture also is a problem formany children.

The schools can make or ruin a child. A partnership approach between home and school is the first andonly requirement of the emotional literacy program. The success of the EL program depends, then on theleaders of the schools who make it happen. Teacher training colleges can give the necessary training toteachers in order to make school life a memorable experience to children.

Dt 28th July 2008