week 12 blog

Chapter 1

Tier 1: record, nervous, banging, clown

Tier 2: degrees, chuckled, adopted, embarrassed, passionate 

Tier 3: delinquent, igloos, blizzard

To help students understand this book, I would focus on the words clown, blizzard, chuckled and embarrassed. 

The only tier 1 word I think would need to be taught is clown, as some students may not know what they mean by clown, especially english language learners, as they are not referring to someone dressed up for a birthday party. The tier 2 words I think need to be taught are chuckled and embarrassed. Chuckled is a word that is used more in writing than in oral language and therefore some students may not see or hear it often. It is also a word that students would understand the concept of but may not recognize the actual word. Embarrassed is also a word used more in writing and that students know the concept of but might not recognize the word. The tier 3 words I would teach would be blizzard, as this is a word that is content-specific and is important for the reader to understand in order to understand the novel. 

In order to teach these words, I might have my students make word posters. On these posters I would have the children pick from the words I feel they need to learn. Once they pick the word, they would have to find the words meaning, either by looking it up in the dictionary or looking it up on the internet. Once they find a definition, they can draw and color a picture to illustrate their word. Then students can volunteer to read the definition they found and explain how their picture visualizes the meaning of the word. 

Watsons Blog

In chapter one we are introduced to the Watson family:
- Kenny: Main character, 10 years old, 4th grade
- Joetta (aka Joey): Kenny's little sister
- Byron: Kenny's big brother, 13 years old
- Daniel: Kenny's dad
- Mom: from the south
- Buphead: Byron's friend

setting: flint, Mi

Summary of chapters so far:
 chp. 1:
- Byrons lips get stuck to their cars mirror

chp 2:
- All 3 Watson children attend Clark elementary, a K-6 building (Byron is the god of the school)
- Kenny (aka Poindexter) has a lazy eye, s a very good reader
- Larry Dunn is the king of Clark (bully)

chp 3:
- Rufus Fry: new kid, doesn't bring a lunch, from down south, knows how to shoot guns
- Cody Fry: Rufus' little brother
- Fry boys: little clothes, southern accents
- Kenny used to play with dinos with LT, who would steal his dinos

chp 4:
- Byron tells story that their mom makes them where so much clothes because people from the south frese and a garbage truck picks the frozen people up in the morning
- Watson children get two pairs of leather mittens each year
- Kenny and Rufus were sharing Kenny's leather mittens
- Larry stole Kenny's second pair of mittens, Byron beat him up

chp 5:
- Byron was playing with fire so their mom tried to burn him, Joey didn't let her

chp 6:
- Byron found out the grocer lets his family pay for their food on pay days so Byron got 2 bags of cookies
- Byron hit and killed a bird with a cookie, threw up then buried the bird

Positive/Negative Video Activity 2

I like how this strategy allows the teacher to go through an actual rubric of fluency.  By demonstrating each stage from 1-4 it shows students all sorts of examples, and the goal of what they want to sound like.  It also seems very useful when she asks students what is wrong with reading at 1 on the fluency scale.  The students answered by saying the reading sounds like a robot so its harder to understand.  That was an important concept for the teacher to address because it makes students realize the importance of fluency.  I also like how the teacher is constantly asking questions about fluency during the lesson.  For example, she asks students what a period means and has them explain what readers do when they get to a period.  As far as negatives go, like with choral reading, the only problem is the teacher does not really get a chance to assess individually.  Yes, she gets a vibe from the entire class, but if a reader is struggling, it's likely that the reader will be quieter because they will be less confident.

3/26 blog

3/26 Blog:

Choral reading

Strengths:
Choral reading is a way to help children focus on comprehension.
The teacher modeled how to read fluently first, giving them an idea of what it means to read fluently.
The teacher helped draw the children's attention to parts of the text that are important for the children's comprehension. For example, she talked about the book having quotation marks in it and had the children talk about what those marks meant before reading through the quote.

Weaknesses:
When using choral reading, the text is not can't be very long or difficult of a text as the children would not be able to all read together and they would begin to fall apart or get tired of reading as a group.
The students could be more focused on reading at the same rate as the other children and no longer be focused on the comprehension aspect.
When children are focused on reading together, they are not able to stop and comprehend or read at their own pace.

Fluency Rubric:

Strengths:
Modeling all of the scores and how they would sound based on the criteria in the rubric.
Explained what their scores meant.

Weaknesses:
Because the students were all in a group together, the teacher cannot really tell who is understanding her lesson and who is not at that point.

Positive/Negative Video Activity

There were many positives to choral reading.  First, I like how engaged the students were during the reading.  It maximized their learning experience.  Second, I like how the teacher stopped and took the time to explain specific fluency factors during reading.  For example, before reading the word "big", the teacher explained that since it was in a bigger font, the word should be read louder and stand out.  Also, before approaching a page with quotation marks, she asks students what that meant.  Then, she said because it was in quotation marks, that the words should be read differently as if they were in a different voice.  Moreover, I like how all students have a chance to read the story aloud together in the end.  This gives all students a chance to practice their fluency.  One negative I found with choral reading is it makes it difficult to give an individual assessment.  Because students do not read on their own, and they only read in a group, it makes it very hard for the teacher to judge who is catching o the fluency factors and who is not.

Video Analysis

Choral Reading:
Strengths: 

• the teacher includes all students in the discussion
• all students also get to listen to her model and participate at the same time
• she does a great job of talking about the text prior to reading the book. She asks the students, "What do you like to pretend about?"
• She has students point to each word to help them follow along in the text
• she talks about how it is important to model and explains why we talk the way we do during a book, that we use the clues

Weaknesses:

• some students are talking loudly as they read, this could cause the teacher to not be able to hear others, she could have stopped them and asked them to read in a 12 inch voice
• she stops the students a lot while they are reading. this disrupts the flow of the book many times and could hinder their fluency and comprehension if they continue to stop
• she reads quite slowly. I think that she could have read it again with the students at a more natural rate

Developing Fluency:

Strengths:

• addresses that some words look the same, but have very different meaning
• builds a lot of vocabulary by including words that are related to the word of the day
• she uses a visual to help students see the interconnectedness of the words and meanings
• helps to decode words

Weaknesses: 

• there is little discussion during this lesson. It is mostly a teacher led recitation where the students just answer her questions that she asks. 
• there was not a conclusion of the lesson, tieing together what words they talked about
• the students dont have a chance to write the words, or see them in text. This could help them to know how to use them and where they can be used. 

New Lit Blog

My conceptual understanding of literacy has changed dramatically since the beginning of this class.  Before going into this semester, I simply thought of literacy as reading and writing alone.  Now, I know literacy has so much more to it.  Not only did I learn that there are many different types of literacy (like all the various types we learned about through out projects), but I also learned that the definition of literacy is constantly changing according to societal norms.  For example, a huge portion of being considered literate nowadays is being up to date with all the different technological advances, many of which did not exist in the past.

The research I did on my chosen type of literacy (emotional literacy) allowed me to understand that there are many different types of literacy in existence that are extremely important, but very unheard of.  I had never heard of anything such as emotional literacy until I was guided to by this class; however, now I think it is a type of literacy that everyone should be aware of.  One main reason being because it can strongly effect a student's well-being a rate of success in classes and in life in general.  Working with a new digital literacy (Prezi) also helped to inform my thinking.  After experimenting with different digital literacies including Prezi, I now know the many different options I have to present material as a future teacher.  This is so important because the way information is presented to students can either make or break their learning experience.  For example, students are much more likely to effectively learn when they're actively engaged in a website and/or class discussion compared to blandly listening to a lecture for an entire class period.

Overall, I am now aware of so many new skills, strategies, knowledge, and dispositions that I was not aware of before.  I now know that there are many different types of literacy that exist and are extremely important to know as a student, teacher, or simply as a citizen.  Moreover, I have also discovered many new digital literacies that will promote higher-level learning for my students.  From my own experiences and from what I've learned in class, it is very important that students are actively engaged and motivated when learning new information.  With all the knowledge of digital literacies that I now have, I can allow students to learn to their maximum potential and hopefully have them thoroughly enjoy it in the process.

To provide "effective literacy instruction to diverse learners", to me, means to take advantage of the variety of digital literacies to help students learn to their maximum potential.  Since all students learn differently as individuals, it is extremely beneficial to incorporate digital literacies that can appeal to all learners.  For example, the fact that so much multimedia can be incorporated into digital literacies increasing the student's learning potential within itself.  Specifically, some students may prefer standard text while other students may prefer diagrams, videos, etc.  Either way, with digital literacies, all multimedia can be incorporated into one source.

For students to develop their digital literacy, it is important that they are given the time and the opportunities to experiment with the different types.  In fact, a project like the one we currently did (The New Lit Project) is an extremely beneficial way to inform students.  Not only were students able to explore different digital literacies, but they were able to use one themselves first hand. This is something that I would definitely consider doing in my own classroom.  To allow them to learn to their maximum potential, I would make sure that students felt they could ask questions anytime they needed when feeling confused about a new digital literacy.  This way, students could make the most of their time and learn the most with what they're given.  Also, since all students do not have access to computers at home, I would make sure to schedule computer time in the school building (if available) or computer time at a public library.

For students to develop emotional literacy, it is important that they first are introduced to what it is and why it is important.  I can do this by showing them the Prezi that I made for this project which includes definitions, examples, videos, etc. After they have an understanding of what it is, I can teach students the different human emotions and common situations where people may experience them.  Also, I can incorporate literature where a main character's emotions are constantly changing and ask questions during the reading like "What do you think this character feels like right now? Why?" After going over the different human emotions, I can teach different strategies students can use to cope with them.  For example, if I'm teaching the class about the emotion sadness, I can then teach different strategies to cope with sadness.  I can also ask the class if they have successfully coped with sadness before so they can share their own personal experiences with the class.  As far as support goes, I feel it is most important that students know they can ask any questions when feeling confused.  To provide this support, I can consistently make clear and concise comments about feeling free to ask any questions either to the class or privately.  Furthermore, if a student expresses confusion towards the meaning or coping of a certain emotion, I can provide different literature that may help clarify their understanding.

New lit blog

1. My conceptual understanding of what it means to be literate is completely different after doing my new literacy project as well as looking over other people’s projects. Through this project I learned that literacy is not only about knowing how to read, write and do other things that go under the “language arts” heading. Literacy is a part of every subject and everyday life. By researching and going through other’s work, I learned that literacy is more about understanding and being knowledgable about a subject then it is about being able to read or write. You can get this knowledge without needing to read or write by way of new technologies, such as video’s or online resources that are able to read the information for you. Traditional literacy and my new way of thinking about literacy are therefore very different after doing this project. I can now see that, even though I struggle with reading I am still literate about many different subjects, which I never thought of in this way before.

1. To provide “effective literacy instruction” to learners no longer means making sure all learners can read, write and speak properly. To me, this involves getting all children to understand and be knowledgable about the subject at hand. You don’t have to be a great speaker of english to be literacy about numbers, geography, emotions or any of the literacies we researched, you just have to understand what is being explained to you. These explanations don’t have to come from teachers talking at their classes, there can be hands on and exciting. These hands on aspects can be added though technology, such as online quizzes, videos, games and other interactive ways to get the main points of instruction across. 

 Digital literacy: In order to use technology such as a Prezi, children would first need to understand some basics of using a computer, such as how to type, use a mouse and start the computer. Once these skills are acquired, the children will need to learn how to type information into a search engine in order to find the page they need on the internet. Finally, the children would need to be taught how a Prezi works, including how to set up the Prezi, add words, pictures, videos and other engaging aspects into the Prezi and finally how to share a Prezi with others. To provide support with using a Prezi, after the basic skills of computer use are down, I would first show the children on a overhead or Elmo all the steps they need to do, one by one, in order to get a feel for a Prezi. After, I would have my class go to a computer lab and together go through these steps, having each child follow along on their own computer. Finally, I would let the children explore and find new and different ways to use a Prezi.

New literacy: To develop environmental literacy students would first need to understand what it means to be environmentally literate. I would teach these concepts by having them play games, such as those added to our presentation, that have you do activities that are considered environmentally friendly. After having the children explore different ways to keep the environment clean, I would draw the children’s attention to ways in which they themselves could help the environment, such as picking up and throwing away trash, or riding their bikes to a friends house instead of riding in a car. To have the children continue thinking about how to be environmentally literate I would challenge the children to do something to help the environment every day and I would spend a few minutes having the children share their actions. 

New Literacies Blog

1. Conceptual Understanding 
My understanding of literacy has changed since the beginning of this class. Prior to this class, if you asked me what a literate person was, I would probably just tell you someone who can read. Now I have changed that understanding to include not only to read a book, but the ability to read all types of text in many different forms. In order to be literate you must be able to make choices that are benificial based on information you find from various types of texts. Researching about environmental literacy helped me to think about how we make choices based on information we have read about the earth and environment. In order to make these decisions we cant just look outside and make these decisions. In order to learn about the environment, we must be able to record what we see (make observations), research the topic in many different ways, and make a decision. In order to make an observation you must write down what you see about something. In order to research a topic, you cant just read one book and call it a day. It is important to read from many different resources. From books, journals, articles, online sources, data tables, etc. Then you must be able to comprehend this information and think about how it relates to what we do each day that helps/hurts the environment. Making these connections between information and facts is what is key in enviromental literacy so that students can gain understanding of the consequences of their actions on the environment. Understanding a new digital literacty informed by thinking because I realized I had to take time to explore before I could master the program. Kelli and I spent time before we even began the project, just exploring the Prezi program. Finding out what buttons did what, and what the options were for presentations. This helped us to gain a background knowledge on what Prezi offered, so we could make a decision on how to use it most effectively. Using the digital literacy was different that a traditional literacy becuase we had to explore before we could understand and be literate at it. For example, a book is just page after page, if you can turn the page, read left to right and top to bottom, you can read the whole book. Digital literacies are not always so simple. It takes more practice, exploration, and time to understand a new literacy like this. 

2. Classroom Implications
I think that in order to provide effective literacy instruction to diverse learners you must expose them to many different types of literacy. This will help them to be literate in many aspects and understand how to navigate many different programs and texts. It is important to provide students with many different digital literacies because they may like one over the other at it fits their learning style best. Using different types of literacy instruction will help your students to be diverse learners. It will also help students who learn differently and are diverse to experience many ways of presenting information. When doing my literacy lesson at my placement I had students make connections based on text features between different genres of text. They had to practice strategies of navegating different types of text. The students in 4th grade are expected to be able to navagate these different texts and be able to understand that they are saying. 

Digital Literacy: In order for students to be able to develop a digital literacy using prezi they would need to having typing and basic computer skills. The website can be a little tricky, so I think it would be important to model how to create/navigate throug ha prezi. Just like anything else you teach students, they must have some prior knowledge along with scaffolding in order to be successful. In order to provide this support for my students, I would have students watch me give Prezi's, put the prezi up on the projector, and also have students do a scavenger hunt to get to knwo the Prezi website so they can learn how to use it. I can also watch tutortial videos on youtube, etc. 

New Literacy: Students need to know and be able to do many things in order to be enivornmental literate. They need to know about environmental science and our planet. They need to know that Earth is special and we can not live without many of the things on it, but we have to be careful because the Earth does not have unlimited supplies. Since the Earth has limited supplies, we must be careful to use less and to save as much as we can. Students must also have to make connections between their use of products and the decline of the environment. They must understand that it is important that the environment is clean so it is safe for us to live in. Students will have to be able to make important decisions, recognize how they can change to save the environment, and be able to decode graphs and texts in order to develop their environmental literacy. In order for students to do this they must recognize the things they are doing that hurt the environment and understand why the environment is changing. I would do this by showing them many exampels, experiments, and models of the world that pertain to the environment. They can also research about the problems with the Earths environment and come up with ways that they themselves can do so lesson the problem.

Book Club: The Watsons Go To Birmingham

Background knowledge:

Takes place in Birmingham during the civil rights movement.

Mane civil rights leaders believed that if they could get Birmingham to eliminate segregation that many other cities and states would follow. 

The family in this book travels from Flint, MI to Birmingham where the Civil Rights movement is in full swing. 

The Ku Klux Klan was a major group that was against the Civil Rights movement and caused many terrorist attacks against the movement. 

There were also many organizations that supported African Americans during this time.

This time was a great struggle especially in the south and changed laws, politics, and culture forever in these regions. 

The Watsons Go To Birmingham

The book takes place in the 1960's.  I predict it starts in Flint, Michigan and then moves to Birmingham, Alabama since it says the main character "takes a trip down South to Birmingham".  As far as the plot goes, it seems the main character has been acting out and his family is tired of it.  Therefore, they have him move in with his grandmother in Alabama to straighten him out.  I predict the main character probably learns a lot more than the family expected because many major historical events happen during the time of his travel.  I think this book would be good to work with in a classroom because children could probably relate to the main character or other characters in the story, and the story is also based on true events.  Therefore, children will be able to work on their comprehension and also learn about history in an entertaining way at the same time.

The Waston's blog

• Book may take place in:
• Birmingham, Alabama was known for its segregation.
• 1963
• During the Jim Crow period
• Project C (Confrontation) 
• MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jai” justifies the mvement’s work
• Peaceful protests
• 2500 protesters were in jail, 2000 were children
• made a deal with protesters after 38 days
• City promises to desegregate public places

New Literacy Research

Environmental Literacy

Definitions:

• The test of environmental literacy is the capacity of an individual to act successfully in daily life on a broad understanding of how people and societies relate to each other and to natural systems, and how they might do so sustainably. 
• This requires sufficient awareness, knowledge, skills, and attitudes in order to incorporate appropriate environmental considerations into daily decisions about consumption, lifestyle, career, and civics, and to engage in individual and collective action.
• Environmental education is a process that allows individuals to explore environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the environment. As a result, individuals develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues and have the skills to make informed and responsible decisions.

5 Components: 

• Need all parts to be environmentally literate
• Awareness
• Comes from more than just education on the topic
• Awareness and sensitivity to the environment and environmental challenges 
• Knowledge
• Comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of information
• Knowledge and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges 
• Attitudes
• Of appreciation and concern for the environment
• Need to provide experiences in the environment
• Attitudes of concern for the environment and motivation to improve or maintain environmental quality 
• Skills
• An important part of education
• Skills to identify and help resolve environmental challenges 
• Action
• The ultimate goal- developing the capacity for action and participation
• Need to adapt a new behavior
• Requires the other steps as well as personal mentors, life-changing experiences, etc.
• Participation in activities that lead to the resolution of environmental challenges
• Education is not deterministic: literacy alone does not guarantee that the learner will exhibit a specified set of behaviors. Rather, it guarantees only that the learner has the capacity for such behaviors. Put another way, the primary beneficiary of education is intended to be the learner him/herself. 

Education:

• Americans still widely lack the environmental knowledge that would enable them to safeguard public health, protect natural resources, support energy conservation efforts, and engage in the movement towards a more sustainable future.
• the belief that nature is ours to exploit is very deeply rooted and pervasive not only within American society but within most academic disciplines and subjects as well.
• Environmental education:
• the K-12 education establishment has yet to take EE seriously. 
• Compounding this problem is the fact that certain elements of the No Child Left Behind Act are causing teachers to unnecessarily drop EE from their classes in favor of material that is more directly related to state competency tests. (Ironically, EE is proven to be effective in actually improving students' scores on these mandated tests.)
• Therefore:
• while the demand and need for EE is great, a number of reasons have inhibited EE from reaching its capacity - thereby leaving an environmentally illiterate America in its wake. The result: an American society incapable of achieving the environmentally sustainable growth that alone will maintain and enhance a high quality of life.

Benefits of environmental education:

• many schools and educators have come to recognize EE programming as a reliable way to boost standardized testing - often dramatically.
• EE has also been shown to help level the "learning field" across socio-economic boundaries.
• Effective environmental education has been clearly shown to spark interest and higher performance in science learning.
• The enthusiasm students feel for the environment and natural world and its relevance to their lives makes EE a remarkable tool for reading proficiency and learning skill.
• Studies of EE program impacts reveal positive effects on children's character education and responsible behavior.
• Environmental education offers schools and others many opportunities to enhance the diversity of society and education.
• Environmental Education
• Increases public awareness and knowledge of environmental issues
• Does teach individuals critical-thinking
• Does enhance individuals' problem-solving and decision-making skills
• Does not advocate a particular viewpoint

• The environment has become one of the most important issues of our time and will continue to be well into the future. The challenge is to find approaches to environmental management that give people the quality of life they seek while protecting the environmental systems that are also the foundations of our well being.
• In order to face these challenges, students today will need more than superficial knowledge or awareness of disconnected environmental issues. A multidisciplinary approach to learning can build upon the strengths of a wide range of fields of study, providing a deeper understanding of the technological, political, and social options and strategies for both studying and managing the relationship between our society and the environment.

Games:

• http://pbskids.org/eekoworld/index.html?load=garbage_recycling
• http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/actiongames/recycle-roundup/

New Literacies Notes

Environmental Literacy: 

Definition:

The ability to demonstrate knowledge of the environmet and the circumstances surrounding it pertaining to air, climate, land, food, energy, water, and ecosystems. Demonstrate the knowledge of understanding of society's impact on the natural world. Investigate and analyze environmental issues, and make accurate conclusions about effective solutions. Take individual and collective action towards addressing environmental challenges. 

Impotance and lessons: 

• calculating environmental/carbon footprint 
• gaining an understanding of how you can reduce environmental/carbon footprints
• undertand how carbon moves throughout different "spheres" of the earth
• learning about global climate change. What is causing it, what changes are we seeing, how can the process be slowed down, what are the solutions?
• learning to protect and enjoy the environment
• learning about scientific principles and how they tie into society and its value systems
• understanding the role of water in the environment and its uses
• biodiversity between different species and also within species, understanding how the biodiversity helps all creatures as a whole
• learning how to be a good citizen in the realm of making decisions involving environmental literacy issues that are supported with research and are for the good of the environment as a whole

Benefits:

• students learn to appreciate the world around them
• students become more aware of the activities they are doing that help/hurt the environment
• students learn ways to preserve the environment
• students gain an understanding that their actions are a result of the environment and have an effect on the environment 

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSBKqFrxoZA&list=PL5mh7T4pFh1bHyXgawo3RMDDSdAgTWzU1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glhT59NUnjs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8nXltMZYtM

Ecological Footprint:

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/

New Literacy Project Notes

Definition:
“Emotional Literacy” is the ability to recognize, understand and appropriately express our emotions. (feel.org)

Emotional Intelligence- “directly related to emotional literacy, these are the positive skills or coping strategies that an individual possesses to recognize and handle ones emotions or others emotions” (http://portal.sliderocket.com/BMVQY/Emotional-Literacy_1)

Importance:
“Our moods and feelings influence how we think and what we do, and are the core of our feelings of well being. How children mature emotionally and the skills they have in managing those feelings will influence their abilities to fulfill their potential in school and in life.”

“We must know how to communicate our feelings in order to get the emotional support and understanding we need from others, as well as to show our emotional support and understanding to them. This gives the individual greater insight into their own behavior, and helps them choose actions which produce positive outcomes and feelings. It also gives the student planning skills and greater self-confidence to execute plans and achieve goals. For the student this results in higher self-esteem. It also reduces negative choices which lead to bad outcomes, feelings and low self-esteem.”

“Our emotions impact our readiness and ability to learn, feeling safe is vital in within the school environment. A child who does not feel emotionally safe, valued or listened to, may enter the classroom feeling frustrated, angry, distracted or withdrawn, particularly when attempting to learn a new concept.

Equally a child who has too much on their mind, perhaps they are worried about the argument they saw their Mum and Dad have that morning; or they fell out with a friend yesterday and are anxious they may not have anyone to play with at playtime; these worries, stressors, or anxieties contribute to children’s inability to engage in their learning.

If this is the case then they are in danger of not reaching their academic potential.

When working around the country running circle times I am regularly aware of children’s reluctance to put their hand up and answer questions, particularly after the age of eight. Many have learnt that the classroom is a dangerous and unsafe place and that if they were to risk answering a question they might open themselves to sniggers, putdowns and laughter and perhaps jibes later from their peers or even sarcasm from the teacher, if the answer was wrong.

The following quotation by a student clearly describes some of the factors that contribute to emotional safety.

‘Emotional safety means seeing a smile on my teacher’s face the first
day of school instead of a list of rules that is taller than by arm is long. It
means being able to use the word “Neanderthal” instead of “caveman” and
not be made fun of because my vocabulary is too big. It means being able to
go through the lunch line without fear of somebody grabbing my money or
my cupcake. It means having a teacher who hands back papers privately
instead of reading grades out loud as I pick up my test. Emotional safety is
unconditional acceptance of me. Emotional safety, first and foremost, allows
me to wear my natural face instead of a fake one ……’ (Bluestein, 2001, p.8)

A safe learning environment is thus crucial to students achieving their full potential. Taking risks in their learning, asking questions even if they think they might be silly ones, going to see a teacher if they are unsure of something or want to change subjects or classes, having someone to listen to their worries, fears and concerns is all essential to a student’s success.”
(http://www.successpartnership.com/emotional_literacy.phtml)

Specific topics which could be included:
Self-Awareness, Decision-Making, Managing Feelings, Self-Concept, Handling Stress, Communications, Group Dynamics, & Conflict Resolution
(http://www.kidseq.com/articles/emotionsgoleman.php)

Mental Health Statistics:
• Depression No.1 health issue in the USA today
• 1 in 5 children with a mental health problem (Mental Health Foundation UK)
• Studies suggest that one in four New Zealand children are likely to experience some kind of significant mental health problem before they reach adolescence”, Ministry of Health (1998)
• Mental Health is a global problem. The WHO predicts that by 2020 depression will have become the second highest cause of death and disability in the world”
• 19 million people take anti depressants
• 40,000 children take anti depressants
• 50,000 children take Ritalin
• 170,000 attend hospital with self harm injuries
There is increasing concern about binge drinking and an increasing concern about the suicide rate in young men.
(http://www.successpartnership.com/emotional_literacy.phtml)

Benefits of Developing Emotional Literacy:
1. Knowing your emotions.
2. Managing your own emotions.
3. Motivating yourself.
4. Recognizing and understanding other people's emotions.
Managing relationships, ie., managing the emotions of others.
(http://www.successpartnership.com/emotional_literacy.phtml)

Quizzes:
http://www.kidsemotions.net/
http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=3037

Emotions can be taught through:
Books, Songs, Arts & Crafts