09 EE_Emotional Literacy_Pt1_6-8_final

Emotional Literacy: Expanding Emotional Vocabulary Level: Middle School (6-8) Timeframe: 30+ minutes Concepts: • Emotional Vocabulary • Emotions • Mindfulness Big Ideas For This Lesson Emotional Literacy is defined as, “the ability to identify, understand, and respond to emotions in oneself and others in a healthy manner.” 1,2 Pretty straightforward right? Consider, however, that there are over 4,000 emotional words in the English language 3 and that we typically only express/ hear a handful of these. The real power in teaching Emotional Vocabulary is in fostering the ability to name our emotions. 2, 4 By naming our emotions we bring conscious awareness to our experience and thereby decrease the power of unconscious emotions to drive our thoughts and behaviors.5 Quite often the simple act of naming an emotion releases that experience and eliminates the need for any further action. This may sound counterintuitive and overly simplistic at first, but it really can be that easy. Awareness is a powerful tool in creating change. The ability to use emotional vocabulary is integral to mindfulness practice. Through mindfulness we learn to become observers of our thoughts and emotions rather than letting our thoughts and emotions control us. We can also understand this through the lens of neuroscience. The brain is wired for survival (lizard- brain) and tends to fear what it does not know. Once a danger is identified, it can then be addressed by the frontal lobe and the brain’s alarm system is deactivated. The primary purpose of every emotion is to motivate us to take action to return to homeostasis. The Latin root of emotion is actually “to move out.” In this way we can understand that all emotions are helpful; sadness attracts attention, fear alerts us to danger, and happiness reinforces beneficial experiences. If we can name the emotion we can begin to understand what motivates our actions. © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 1 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 Essential Vocabulary Materials Emotional Literacy • Copies of the Emotions Wheel (see below). 6 Emotional Vocabulary • Writing supplies or student computers. Emotions • I Am Poem Examples.7 Easy emotions • I Am Poem Template. 8 Hard emotions Teaching Note: You may decide to add several new feeling words to this week’s list of essential vocabulary (e.g., powerless, ecstatic, mournful, dejected, or thrilled). Preparation 1. Take a quick inventory of your own emotional vocabulary and add a few words to the list before teaching this lesson. 2. Print copies of Emotions Wheel for each student or table group and copies of the I Am Poem template. 3. Review ideas for sharing I Am Poems (optional).9 MINDFUL MOMENT Square Breath Teaching Note: Students will need a piece of paper and pen/pencil. Start by drawing on the board the square image (and words). If you want to skip the drawing part, you can simply have students follow with their eyes the square you draw. Note that if you’d like to make this breathing technique a common practice, you can have students make sturdier guides and even laminate and have them put on their desks or taped to the back of binders. Try to bring this breath technique into your classroom several times this week. Today for our mindful moment we are going to learn a breathing technique called square breathing. If you want to sit this out, you may read or put your head down and rest. Otherwise, go ahead and copy the square I’ve drawn on the board. Start at the bottom corner of the square. Breathe in for 3 counts as you trace the first side of the square, hold your breath for 3 counts as you trace the second side of the square. Breathe out for 3 counts as you trace the third side of the square, and hold your breath for 3 counts as you trace the final side of the square. Let’s do it together for a round and then you do it on your own at a pace that feels comfortable to you. © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 2 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 3 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 Teaching Script BUILDING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE & CONCEPT MODELING (I DO) Begin with a warm-up activity. In small groups, or individually, prompt students to brainstorm as many different emotion or feeling words as possible. Set a timer for 1 – 3 minutes depending on time available. The active engagement strategy Jot-Thoughts 10 works well for this activity. [Optional] As time allows, facilitate a share-out and create a tally on the board of the most commonly used emotions. If you know which feeling words students are already familiar with, you can begin prompting them to use alternatives. Introduce the concept of emotional literacy. There is a popular concept known as emotional literacy, which means the ability to identify, understand, and respond to our own and others emotions. People who have high emotional literacy tend to be able to handle their emotions in healthier ways.5 This might sound simple, but as we just saw there are many different words for our emotions. Does anyone know how many words we have for feelings in the English language? Take a few guesses from students. There are actually over 4,000 words for emotions! However, most of us only use 5-10 of those words on a daily basis (e.g., happy, sad, angry, okay, good, bad). This means that there are thousands of emotions that we are feeling and not expressing. For instance, behind sadness there may be powerlessness or hurt; behind anger there may be fear, etc. In order to increase our emotional literacy, we need to expand our emotional vocabulary. This requires purposeful study and practice – just like reading and writing. Define emotions. Today we are going to work on expanding our emotional vocabulary and applying our new knowledge to a creative writing task. Before we do, let’s make sure we all agree on what emotions actually are. In our first lesson we defined emotions as ‘something you feel in response to an event or thought.’ This is true, but there are a few more things to understand about emotions. Explain the following key concepts in your own words. Alternatively, you may opt to skip right to guided practice and reinforce these concepts throughout the week. • All emotions are helpful. We have emotions for a reason. Every time we experience an emotion – no matter how pleasant or unpleasant – the emotion is telling us something about a situation or need in our life. For instance, fear is a powerful emotion that alerts us to danger. While we may not enjoy experiencing fear, without it we would not know when to take action in a dangerous situation. In this way, we can understand that every emotion serves a purpose, and all emotions are helpful. An easy way to determine how a particular emotion is helpful is to ask yourself the question, “What is this emotion trying to tell me?” © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 4 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 • Emotions are neither good nor bad. We tend to label emotions as “good” and “bad” or “positive” and “negative” based on whether or not we enjoy the emotion. This label actually hinders our ability to respond in a healthy manner as it creates a judgment or reaction against certain emotions. For example, people who feel anxious or depressed often react to the initial feeling of anxiety or sadness with more anxiety and sadness about feeling anxious and sad in the first place! This cycle can be painful, but an easy way out is to remember that there are easy emotions (emotions we enjoy feeling) and there are hard emotions (emotions we do not enjoy feeling), but all emotions are helpful. If we can simply be aware of our emotions without judgment (mindfulness), then we can begin to see that our most challenging emotions actually teach us the greatest lessons. • We feel emotions in our body. We will discuss this more in our next lesson, “Mind and Matter,” but for now just know that emotions are usually accompanied by a physical sensation in our body. By learning to identify these physical sensations we can more readily identify and bring awareness to the accompanying emotion. • Emotions are complex! Though we all experience emotions all of the time, scientists and psychologists are yet to reach a consensus on how to define and explain emotions. Everyone experiences emotions differently, they are always changing, they sometimes seem to pop up for no apparent reason, and sometimes we are not actually feeling what we think we’re feeling. For instance, you may tell someone you are feeling angry, not realizing that you really feel hurt. Thus, it is important to develop the ability to examine our emotions, name them, and be kind and patient to ourselves when we do not understand them. With all of that in mind, a more complete definition of emotions might look something like this: Emotions are complex reactions to events and thoughts that help us to understand and respond to situations in our life. They can be pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral and are usually accompanied by physical sensations. © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 5 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 GUIDED PRACTICE (WE DO) Emotions can seem complicated, but the goal of today’s lesson is quite simple - expand our emotional vocabulary and name our emotions. By naming our emotions, they no longer have as much power over us. To practice identifying and naming different emotions you will spend some time researching new emotional vocabulary words and then incorporating those words into a short I Am Poem. Once complete, you will have the opportunity to share your poem with the class, if you choose to do so. Provide instructions and class time for completing the I Am Poem. Refer to the following guidelines: • Provide students with print or digital copies of the I Am Poem template and the Emotions Wheel. Students may also benefit from referencing the Emotions Word List.3 • Before writing their poem, students should select and define at least 3 emotional vocabulary words that they are unfamiliar with. Encourage students to incorporate these 3 new emotional words into their poem. • Consider providing academic choice for students who do not wish to follow the template. Minimum guidelines are to incorporate 3 new emotional vocabulary words into a creative writing piece (poetry, short story, song lyrics, personal narrative, etc.) that helps others to express who they are. (Optional) Once complete, decide on a format for students to share their poems. Here is one example: Technology-Enhanced Social-Emotional Activities. I Am Poems. 9 You may also choose to host a poetry slam so all students can share their poems at once, create an “I Am” poetry gallery in the classroom, make the I Am Poems the topic of a community building circle, or choose a few students each day to present. Teaching Note: Consider other ways to incorporate emotional literacy into your classroom and academic assignments. Post emotional vocabulary charts on the wall, encourage use of emotional vocabulary in descriptive writing, and refer to the academic extensions for more ideas and resources. © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 6 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 REINFORCING LESSON CONCEPTS (YOU DO) Teaching Note: The above exercises in Building Background Knowledge and Guided Practice provide a complete introduction to Emotional Literacy. The mindfulness exercise below is offered as additional reinforcement and may be taught on the same day or as a follow up later in the week. Consider time, focus, and the general mood of the classroom before facilitating this exercise. Pose this question to the class: What would you do if you were stuck in quicksand? After hearing some guesses, explain that: The best way to get out of quicksand is actually to lie down completely and roll yourself over until you are out. Just like with emotions, if we struggle and try to fight our way out we usually make it worse and sink deeper into the quicksand. Instead, we can simply name our emotions and allow ourselves to feel them completely without resisting them. By doing this we will naturally release our emotions with much less effort. Facilitate a guided mindfulness session about feeling your emotions completely. a. Turn the lights down and cue students to find their mindful body or lie down on the floor. b. “Begin by taking a few deep, mindful breaths to start to quiet your mind. Breathe in; allow yourself to relax. Breathe out; start to let go of whatever thoughts you’re holding on to. Breathe in, relax; breathe out, let go.” c. “Allow your attention to rest on your breath for a while so that all other thoughts begin to drop away. Continue to breathe in and out until your mind feels clear. Close your eyes if you feel comfortable.” d. “Still breathing and with a clear mind, begin to allow your attention to wander freely. You will notice thoughts come and go. Most of these thoughts are not important so just let them go. You will also begin to notice different emotions rising to the surface - some big and some small. Let your attention move freely through these emotions until you notice an emotion that seems to have particular power or strength.” e. “When you find that strong emotion, remind yourself to breathe. Emotions can be powerful, but they don’t need to control you. Don’t do anything about the emotion yet. Don’t try to fight it or stuff it away. Don’t try to change it. Just let it be and continue to breathe.” © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 7 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 f. “Let your attention focus entirely on your emotion without getting swept away by it. If it helps, pretend you are a scientist observing the emotion from the outside instead of the person experiencing the emotion. Notice what the emotion feels like. Notice any thoughts that come with this emotion. Notice any physical sensations in your body – warm or cold, tight or loose. Notice where the emotion came from. Was it something someone said or did? Was it something that happened to you? Something you saw? Just watch these things like an outside observer without doing anything about it.” g. “Now, reminding yourself that you are safe and continuing to breathe, imagine your emotion as the quicksand you have been standing in. Rather than struggle with it or fight it, this time imagine yourself lying down in your emotion. Let the emotion run through you and allow yourself to feel it fully and completely. I’m going to pause here to allow you to just breathe and feel your emotion. Remember, your emotion only has power over you if you fight it or ignore it. Just let yourself feel it.” h. Pause for 30 seconds of silence. i. “Begin to release your emotion. Notice that it does not control you and that it only has as much power as you give it. Whenever an emotion gets to be too powerful, remember that taking time to allow yourself to feel it fully and completely can actually help to let it go.” j. “Finally, notice if your emotion has a name. Name it, and then let it go.” EVIDENCE OF CONCEPT ATTAINMENT Reflect on it Journal it • What is the name of your emotion? Think of a time when you said you were • What triggered your emotion? feeling an emotion like anger, happiness, or • Where in your body did you feel this sadness but you were really feeling some- thing else (e.g., powerless, ecstatic or hurt). emotion? What emotion did you say you were feel- ing? What emotion were you really feeling? • What are you going to do about it? Why was it difficult to express this emotion? © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 8 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 EXTENSIONS School-wide Classroom • Post emotion words and definitions in public spaces. • Incorporate emotion words into vocabulary lessons; this will support • Combine emotional literacy with students on a personal level and foreign language acquisition and post directly supports descriptive writing. feeling words in other languages. • Challenge students to come close • Consider how identification of to identifying 4,000 emotions words! emotions can be incorporated Consider making over-used words ‘off- throughout the school day or even limits,’ e.g., happy, sad, mad, etc. discipline practices, e.g., ask students to identify their feelings before • Here is an extensive list of emotions proceeding with disciplinary action. words: Emotions Word List. 3 • Make “check-ins” a part of your daily routine or circle time. Use I-Statements and feeling words to reinforce lesson concepts. • Post the emotions wheel or another feelings chart in your classroom. © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 9 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 REFERENCES 1. Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations of Early Learning. (2009). Fostering Emotional Literacy in Young Children: Labeling Emotions. Retrieved from http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/kits/wwbtk21.pdf 2. Emotional Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://eqi.org/elit.htm 3. Feeling Words. (n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://eqi.org/fw.htm 4. Alter, A. (2013, May 29). The Power of Names. Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-power-of-names 5. Brackett, M., Elias, M., & Intagliata, C. (2013, August 9). Reading, Writing, ‘Rithmetic . . . and Respect? Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/08/09/2013/ reading-writing-rithmetic-and-respect.html 6. April Showers. (2013, December 11). The Feelings Wheel by Dr. Gloria Wilcox. Retrieved from http://msaprilshowers.com/emotions/the-feelings-wheel-developed-by-dr-gloria-willcox/ 7. ReadWriteThink. (2004). Writing I Am Poems. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson391/I-am-poem.pdf 8. Freeology. (n.d.). I Am Poem Template. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://freeology.com/wp-content/files/iampoem.pdf 9. Gerstein, J. (n.d.). Technology-Enhanced Social-Emotional Activities. I Am Poems. Retrieved November 5, 2015, from http://seltechnology.weebly.com/i-am-poems.html 10. Room8Video. (2012, November 28). Jot Thoughts. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgNwlDVNYvQ © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 10 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 “THE EMOTIONS WHEEL” Originally developed by Dr. Gloria Wilcox. © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 11 of 13 All rights reserved.

I am EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 I wonder I hear I AM POEM I see I want (two special characteristics the person has) I am (something the person could actually be curious about) (an imaginary or actual sound) I pretend (an imaginary or actual sight) I feel (a desire) I touch (the first line of the poem is repeated) I worry I cry (something the person could actually pretend to do) I am (a feeling about the imaginary) (an imaginary touch) I understand (something that could really bother the person) I say (something that could make the person sad) I dream (the first line of the poem is repeated) I try I hope (something the person knows to be true) I am (something the person believes in) (something the person could actually dream about) (something the person could make an effort to do) (something the person could hope for) (the first line of the poem is repeated) © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 12 of 13 All rights reserved.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY | GRADES 6-8 © 2019 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 13 of 13 All rights reserved.