The most effective Classroom Teachers have cracked the unspoken code of the human condition. This competitive code is – Right Vs Wrong and by the way I’m always RIGHT!
As a classroom teacher it is very easy for conflict to arise with students. See if you recognize any of the following scenario:
- A student disagrees with you as the teacher
- The student sees no need to listen to your view as the view of their classmates is much more important
- The student argues their opinion as if it is fact
- Caught in an uncomfortable position, you use your authority to move on with the lesson
- Both you and the student leave feeling frustrated, even saddened, or the student is disciplined
This scenario is a snapshot of the Right vs Wrong conundrum. It only takes one or two of these scenarios before a student begins to disengage emotionally.
As a teacher myself, I had to recognize that changing the paradigm of Right vs Wrong could only begin with me. The first step in my own process was self-awareness and a willingness to self-reflect and ask the hard questions of myself. “Where do I need to improve my own EQ and SQ?” And, “Where do I need to become more emotionally and socially conscious in my interactions with my students?”
The implicit method of modeling the behaviors I ask of my students is the critical first step in the process of developing a culture of caring. The next step is the explicit teaching of Emotional and Social Literacy. This can be done through specific activities that help students develop an awareness of their own behavior.
Both implicit and explicit EQ and SQ education are essential components in all classrooms – whether primary, middle or secondary school. Human beings are social and emotional beings. This necessitates social and emotional education to help students move beyond the right vs wrong mind set.
An alternative to the above scenario might be:
- A student disagrees with you
- You and the student discuss the situation at a later date
- You listen to the student’s perspective
- The student listens to your view
- You and the student find a higher common ground of agreement
- The student does not lose
- The bond of respect is strengthened
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I was recently reading Jane’s eLearning Pick of the Day blog and she highlighted a hot e-learning tool for the classroom, Sketchpad. It got me thinking about how to use computers with the development of emotional and social literacy in our students.
I wanted to explictly demonstrate how you can use technology to increase social literacy in your classroom. You can use this activity to easily link intellectual learning with the development of SQ competencies. You can do this activity if you have a smart board or computer available.
- Divide the class into learning teams of 4 or 5 students
- Give each team a geometry problem to work out or, if you want to turn it into a competition, give the same problem to each team
- Give them a time limit of 15 or 20 minutes depending on the difficulty of the problem
- Ask them to use Sketchpad to create visual representation of their solution
- Teach them to approach the activity strategically by dividing the work into different elements
- write the problem on paper
- solve the problem
- diagram a rough draft of their presentation
- computerize their presentation using Sketchpad
- decide who in the team will present each part to the class, ensuring that all team members stand and share a portion of their results
This activity is great for scaffolding SQ skills, such as Collaboration, Cooperation, Listening, Teamwork and Communication. These SQ competncies are implicit whilst the students are focussing on their problem solving skills in any subject that you choose. The activity can be used in mathematics, reading, literature, social studies or any key learning area that you like.
I was recently used this scaffolding strategy when teaching my anti-bulling curriculum to a fifth grade class. In four sessions I had even the shiest and most withdrawn of students participating fully with team members and presenting with confidence in front of the entire class.
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I just could not let this ‘Kodak moment’ pass me by. Nor could I miss an opportunity to share it with you.
This team of trainers has achieved the transformation I spoke of in my last post on Creating a Culture of Caring. They are motivated, inspired and inspiring and they are totally supportive of their partner’s goals.
This is the human side of enterprise. They take care of each other and they get the job done!
Hawaii State Federal Credit Union licensed a series of programs for use in their in-house training programs. This is the teams’ graduation photo the day they received their certification in the communication series.
From top left: Jennifer Sims, Sheldon Matsui, Lita Viloria-Delahunty, Bottom left: Cherese Maio, Gina Carvalho
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Creating a culture of caring is no small task. It takes intention, involvement and attention to detail. It takes commitment and willingness to take risks. You have to be willing to assert yourself, listen to your stakeholders, make mistakes, assess those mistakes and course correct.
It’s like climbing a mountain. When you looking up at the high peaks and pinnacles before you begin, it looks like a monumental climb, an overwhelming feat, an impossible objective. If you see the undertaking as one huge burgeoning endeavor, you can become overwhelmed before you start.
Maybe this is why so few schools set out to take the challenge. Maybe this is why so many organizational executives cringe at the thought. And maybe this is why so many set out with the best of intentions but give in or give up before they reach the summit.
I worked with the Royal Canadian Bank in Canada and they were looking across a terrain of 15 years to create the culture they envisioned. But they had a staff of 2,000 people. And they were spread from shore to shore – Vancouver to the coast of Newfoundland.
Smaller organizations and schools take less time. But they still require a clear sense of mission, a vision of what they want, involvement of each of the stakeholder groups, and attention to the details on a daily basis.
Is it hard? Probably…. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
Can it be done? Unreservedly and unequivocally YES!
I’ve staked my 35 years of professional work on it. I call it the Human Side of Enterprise. And I’ve guided many a school and organization in making the transformation over the years.
In the coming months, I’ll revisit this subject with specific achievable strategies and steps you can utilize to create a culture of greater caring in your organization or school.
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Community is everything. The bullying events that hit the news and glare in our headlines are the tip of the iceberg. For every story we hear, there are a thousand that we don’t. But they have one thing in common; at their very core is a lack of community.
As educators, we may think we’re doing our job, but are we really? The quality of the social and emotional fabric in our schools is varied and often perilous. And the symptoms are beginning to show up with students in younger and younger age groups.
When I was working with a fifth grade group in one of the schools in Hawaii, one of the students, Bobbie, told me that he had written his will and final letter to his mother when he was 10 years old. “I wanted to die,” he said. When I asked him why, he responded, “They called me every dirty name for fat until I couldn’t stand it any longer.”
“What made you change your mind, Bobbie” I asked.
“I found out that some people care about me,” he said quietly. “So I decided to stay.”
Here are other situations students have shared:
- Put downs that turn to constant torment
- Merciless teasing or taunting
- Rumors that take on a life of their own (even when they are stopped)
- Hateful text messages or emails
- The use of coventry or isolation (‘icing’ a student out)
As teachers and principals we need to learn how to build community. Maybe we could develop a new master’s degree program: Creating a Culture of Caring – How to create the conditions for positive growth, sharing and support between students in the classroom, on the playground, in the hallways and the lunchroom.
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If IQ Wasn’t the Determining Factor
Posted on 15. Feb, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.
Here is the question for today – If IQ is the determining factor to success as governments around the world keep telling us with their standardised tests, then why are the senior corporate ranks around the world dominated by men?
Study after study of education systems show us that girls perform better than boys. The recent PISA 2006 study shows that girls are outperforming boys on almost every academic trait measured in that year. Anecdotal evidence from the teachers that I meet around the world tells me that boys are not as engaged as girls.
I personally know that EQ and SQ are essential to success. I don’t have the empirical research, but my gut tells me that girls have stronger EQ and SQ skills than boys whilst at school.
So what happens to the brightest, most talented cohort between the ages of 15 years and 35 years that ends up with so few less women in senior corporate ranks than men?
Maybe I am using the wrong measure. Maybe I should be comparing the brightest 15 year olds to the happiest 35 year olds, or the 40 year old with the most friends…
Just maybe I have the measure wrong, just maybe the Governments that are testing and testing and testing students IQ’s have the wrong measure. Maybe we need to measure the balance of a student across IQ, EQ, SQ.
Maybe the success, satisfaction and happiness of anyone individual is not based on their personal IQ, EQ, SQ but that of their family, their teacher, their principal and their school community.
It is hard to add all three domains into the picture of school success. But are the measures of school success without them really relevant?
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Transforming Education
Posted on 09. Feb, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.
Tom Peters wrote a post that led to an article in the New York Times on making college more relevant. The article details 10 new degrees that are being offered at University level, none of which existed three or even two years ago.
Some of these new degrees were:
- Learning to Listen – Narrative medicine
- Safety First – Homeland Security
- Education Leadership – Learning to Fix Failing Schools
- Sustainable Cultures – A Step Beyond Anthropology
- Cars of the Future – Start Your Engine Programs
The post and article got me thinking about the reasons why I have returned to the classrooms of the world and the things I spend time thinking about:
- How do we make our schools more relevant NOW?
- What can we do NOW to transform students’ experience of learning relevance?
- What should the NOW classroom look and feel like?
I guess it is very hard to determine what the future requirements for students entering the workforce might be. Seeing that university courses are being developed all the time and the jobs that they might do don’t even exist yet. How do we as educator try and predict the potential skill sets that they need?
I think the answer is that we don’t predict, but instead we lay the foundations with great development for NOW.
Those foundations must include a focus on Emotional Literacy and Social Literacy. Because the need for EQ and SQ skills alongside the IQ is a fundamental that has not changed for many many years. These skills will always ensure that a student can adapt to the things that are presented to them. The challenges that our students will face are unknown, but I am certain that a robust balance across Intellect, Emotions and Social skills will always be necessary for success, happiness and satisfaction.
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When Fast is Slow
Posted on 03. Feb, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.
Leadership is about using your head, feeling with your heart and connecting with your team. If you want to build a sustainable organization resilient enough to meet the challenges of change in a timely manner, you have to develop your SQ competencies.
Fast is slow when:
- A team member has an idea and you’re in too much of a hurry to listen.
- You make all of the improvement decisions.
- You pass someone in the hall (anyone) and don’t say hello or at least acknowledge them with a smile.
- You give a short answer when a longer one is needed or vice versa – you give a long answer when a short answer would do. (Know your audience!)
- You engage in the Kaizen process alone.
Why is fast slow in these cases? Because each situation requires damage control which takes time. People want to feel that they make a difference and in each of these cases they went away wondering.
Don’t ever leave a person wondering. Remember, the human brain is hardwired to connect with others. Relationship is everything. Students, teachers, principals and business leaders can develop their Social Intelligence or SQ competencies. SQ saves time and energy in all human relationship connections and in our professional lives.
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Theory to Reality
Posted on 01. Feb, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.
I have advocated for a long time that we can teach students Emotional and Social Literacy skills. At Farrington High School on Hawaii I actually did an activity with some students teaching them about perseverance when working towards long term goals.
The Grid is my classroom activity to have students experience the challenges inherent in trying to achieve a goal and to break through the barriers that might keep them from succeeding. The Grid is meant to replace theory with practice, students should feel directly the frustration and barriers during this activity.
This is an EQ activity because students will feel the frustration, boredom, angst, and wanting to give up that they feel in real life when the blocks and barriers arise. It is also an SQ activity because students must work together to accomplish the task and no team member can be left out. One wins when all win.
The grid is best used in conjunction with a goal setting activity as part of a process:
- Draw the comfort zone and show students how leaving their comfort zone can create a state of angst, frustration, fear etc
- Draw a star way outside of their comfort zone to represent their goals anddreams
- Explain that when they leave their comfort zone to achieve their goals, feelings of fear, boredom, frustration and wanting to quit may come up – Use examples – How many of you quit guitar lessons, piano lessons, etc. What are some other goals you have given up on?
- Have students set short-term goals (1-6 month goals)
- Finally, students do the Grid
The Grid will bring feelings of frustration, wanting to give up, anger, boredom, blaming teammates for a mistake to the surface so that students can experience them. This gives you an opportunity to coach students about how to deal with negative emotions that arise on the way to the goal. It makes theory palpable and real so that students walk away with a real experience rather than a theoretical lesson.
One of the students at Farrington High, Mel, said to her Principal at the end of the day after doing the grid, “I will never be the same. I now know what it will take to achieve my goals. This was a life-changing experience for me.”
The lesson plan is here for you to download and use in your classroom
You can share this classroom activity with your colleagues, but please ask them to come download it from my site.
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What is SQ?
Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.
Given the latest research on the affect that human beings have on each other, SQ may be one of the most important components of student as well as leadership success. SQ is really the quality of our social intelligence. It is how we connect with and relate to others. It is how we invest in, build and nurture relationships over a lifetime.
Here’s 2 pieces of information that really hit the SQ mark and may help clarify the role of relationships in our lives.
- Neuro-plasticity – Your brain is like plastic. It is moldable. It changes throughout your life based on your experience, who you hang with, and your intention to change yourself. Human beings can learn and change at any stage in life.
- Our brain is wired to connect with others. Even our immune system is linked to respond to our relationships. Positive nourishing relationships nourish us while negative relationships are toxic to the system, especially over time.
The more scientists study the human brain, the more they realize how important our SQ really is. Our social relationships and interactions influence both our brain and our biology.
Every school, every teacher and every principal needs to understand the importance of SQ education. It lowers the bullying incidents, upsets in the classroom and referrals to the principal’s office in the school.
And how important is SQ in leadership? A policeman friend put it simply when he said that a new police chief had just been hired from the ranks. “I judge a leader by whether I would go in before him on a raid or let him go in before me,” he said. “I would go in first to protect this man. That’s how much I trust him,” he said quietly. ”And from what I’ve heard, I believe anyone on the force would do the same.” The trust that my friend spoke of here only happens out of SQ!
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