Emotional literacy in BrEAZ - the Bristol Education Action Zone

Lindsey Dowdell and Jean Watt, two super-teachers employed by the Bristol Education Action Zone, have been working across the zone to support teachers in developing classroom work on emotional literacy. The EAZ model is to work intensively with each zone school for half a term at a time, on a cyclical basis. The teachers plan and deliver work jointly with class teachers: the aim is to 'leave something behind' in the form of a scheme of work and lesson plans. Their brief is also to coach the use of new teaching and learning styles - mindmapping, hot seating, multisensory learning, music, poetry, storytellers, cameras…

Here are two snippets from their work at Easton Primary School - part of twelve lessons aimed at increasing children's understanding of feelings and skills in cooperation.

LESSON 2 had these aims:

To reinforce the concept of different feelings and what makes us feel that way - some things make us angry, some things make us sad, some things make us happy. By the end of the lesson, children will begin to realise that there are certain things that can be done to change that feeling, either yourself or for others.

This was the lesson plan:

Circle Time

Recap - talk about feelings
How do you feel today?
Go round - my name is ……………. and I feel ………………. today
Teacher to ask why?

Open up discussion - how could you change a feeling?

If you:

FELT SAD - what could you do to make yourself happy?
FELT ANGRY - what could you do to calm down?
FELT AFRAID - what could you do to feel better?

Use a poem from "I'm in a Mood Today: poems about feelings by John Foster (Oxford)

Discuss common situations - what could you do to change a feeling?

Introduce activity - opposite feelings:

SAD/HAPPY
ANGRY/CALM
AFRAID/BRAVE
DISGUSTED/PLEASED
DELIGHTED
SHY/FRIENDLY
BORED/INTERESTED

Activity

Making feelings puppets for these opposites with paper plate/sticks/wool/ glueing and sticking. During this time take photographs of each child - then another of the same child showing a feeling

Back together

Showing our work - more talk on changing feelings

Big Book: The Huge Bag of Worries by Virginia Ironside and Frank Rodgers, Macdonald Young Books

Activity

Change the feeling - if you were in this situation, what could you do to change the feeling:

Susan wakes up in the morning and straight away remembers what happened yesterday - she had a big argument with her Mummy and her Mummy had sent her to bed early and Susan had cried herself to sleep. She knows she shouldn't have shouted at her Mum yesterday and is feeling bad about that. She looks out of the window - the sky is very dark and it is raining. Susan feels very __________. What could she do to change that feeling?

Andrew was playing with his two friends Detroit and Mark - they were chasing around the playground kicking a football to each other. Andrew was really enjoying himself when suddenly Philip came running over and pushed Andrew and kicked the ball himself. Andrew knew that Detroit and Mark liked Philip, but he didn't very much. Andrew felt very _________ that Philip had pushed in the game without asking and he could feel himself getting hotter and hotter and angrier and angrier. What could he do to change the feeling?

Marcello was in bed just dropping off to sleep when he thought he heard the front door slam. His Mum had been downstairs watching TV but now he couldn't hear the television - in fact it was very quiet in the house altogether. Had is gone out? She had never done that before. He started to feel very _______. What could he do to change that feeling?

Sarah really liked staying in to school dinners. She liked being with her friends and she usually liked the food. But, one day when she got her food, she was served something small, square, brown with little bits of fruit in it. She didn't know what it was, and she actually didn't like the look of it, but she did know it was for afters! When she had finished her sausage and chips she took a deep breath and took a bite of this strange 'cake'. As soon as she bit into it she realised she didn't like it, it tasted __________. 'Ugh' she said. How could she change the way she was feeling?

LESSON 4 was about using Stop/Wait (and think)/Go sequence to recognise and cope with angry feelings.

Part of the lesson plan was:

On the carpet

Explain we are looking at ANGRY

Angry face - all to make one

Show stop/wait/go traffic lights

Introduce:
Stop
Wait
Go

Tell the story 'Three Little Pigs'
'The Angry Monster'

Bring in Stop card when the monster or wolf is getting angry and change the story.
How would/could they end it?

Show three activity tables:

1. Stop, wait, go sheet
2. Art table - paint a different end of the story
3. Change the feeling - sharing a toy - do small role play then complete sheet showing a picture of two children arguing over a skipping rope with drawing/writing on how to change the angry feelings/situations

Introduce music
Activity

Bring back together
Praise, examples of work

For further information about the work in BrEAZ, contact Lindsey or Jean on 0117 941 5895/6, e-mail eaz@bristol-city.gov.uk

Added Autumn 2001