Can You Teach Emotional Intelligence?
Katherine Gustafson
Yes!
July 22, 2010
The Secretary of Education isn’t the only one who thinks so. Behind the growing movement for social and emotional learning.
In a dimmed classroom in Spanish Harlem’s P.S. 112, thirteen kindergarteners were on a journey through the Woods of Wonder. With teacher Tom Roepke they crossed over a bridge made of blocks to reach their base camp—the classroom’s carpeted corner. As the traffic of FDR Drive rushed by outside the window, its sound mixing with a soft flute on the CD player, Roepke asked quietly if anyone saw anything interesting.
“I saw lots of seashells,” whispered one boy.
“I saw a reindeer and an owl,” said another. “They had black fur and they had super eyes that see in the dark and they could even see me in the dark. I put something on the floor and he ate it and he was happy.”