These intrusive thoughts are neither productive nor personal. We wear them on our faces. They show up in our classrooms. As educators, we need to support our students and ourselves to be safe. How do we create a culture of safety and embrace our common humanity?
Let them know you’re scared.
The images from Denver. The stories from UNC-Charlotte. The recent media coverage of active shooter drills in our children’s schools. The devastating reports of continued trauma in the wake of Parkland. These realities are terrifying.
How do we show our students we are safe?
Share in their vulnerability. Attend to their social and emotional health. Co-regulate their emotions. Model how to process these feelings. As educators, we need to talk with our students about how we are feeling during and after these experiences. We need to use organized and meaningful teaching practices to support consistent, warm, kind and inviting learning communities.
How do we show our teachers we are safe? Provide them with direct, immediate and consistent support. Arm them with the social and emotional tools they need to process their feelings and uncertainties with their students.
The principles of Emotional Intelligence (EI) highlight and reinforce the necessity for teachers to be authentic models of self-regulation—students are not available to learn when their teachers are not available to teach. If you are trying to mask your emotional responses, your unprocessed feelings will show up in unhealthy and unproductive ways. Your students will not be able to read you. At the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, we teach educators across the country how to be emotionally intelligent, authentic models of self-regulation and self-awareness.
To read more of Christina Cipriano's article, please click here.
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