Educator Toolkit

When establishing your class check-in routine, make sure your students understand the expectations and how sharing emotions can support them in their learning.

Knowing how you feel isn't always easy, but it's an important skill to develop for communicating and collaborating effectively. In addition to using Reflect check-ins, try modeling your thoughts aloud for your students. For example, “I’m not feeling as patient as usual today, I wonder if it’s because I didn’t sleep well or because I’m feeling overwhelmed.”

When we recognize and sit with a comfortable emotion, it's easier to identify how it contributes to our wellness. With this awareness, we can actively work to create these conditions for ourselves.

All emotions are valid. Honestly assessing how we feel and communicating our needs is a skill that takes practice. By providing a space for students to share emotions, you can help destigmatize talking about and addressing uncomfortable feelings.

Help students understand that everyone has comfortable and uncomfortable emotions, but every student's reasons for those emotions may be different. Communicating clearly and respecting one another's unique needs builds a strong class community.

Empathy is the ability to perceive, understand, and care about the experiences or perspectives of others. Help students practice perspective taking with the question, “How do you think your classmates are feeling right now?”

When people don't have the skills to communicate their emotional needs, their feelings can show up in behaviors that are hard to understand. Helping students build the vocabulary and confidence to share their feelings can improve classroom behavior.

Sometimes we need to work through our emotions physically. Encourage students to take breaks to stretch, dance, or take a walk. Taking a moment to connect our body and mind can help us to see things more clearly.

Like all skills, noticing stress and using strategies to relieve it takes practice. Help students connect the feelings they identify to management strategies. For stress we recommend strategies like breathing, taking a break, or even dancing!

When feelings are very strong, we often want to act immediately! With practice reflecting, students have a stronger ability to make thoughtful decisions.

Model talking openly with your students about emotions - your students look to you, and your willingness to demonstrate that the classroom is a safe place to communicate honestly is vital.