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Countless planning lessons focus on getting students to learn something in school. But sometimes, educators must delve deeper into what might be causing students to underperform.
That’s where emotional intelligence comes in.
Define Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) implies that students are able to learn more effectively if they’re made to be comfortable in their learning environment.
With that said, here are the key components of emotional intelligence:
- Emotional literacy (how you handle stressful or dire situations)
- Emotional management (i.e. non-verbal communication)
- Empathic development (understanding other people’s problems thoroughly)
- Motivation comes naturally
The Benefits?
Having a high EI comes with many benefits. Much like employees, students will get a whole lot, just by having high EI.
What are those benefits? Well, here are some (just to name a few):
- Emotional Management – Students can cope with almost anything, including any form of competition. In addition, they can even face the toughest circumstances. Plus, they’re open to being around all kinds of characters, since they know how to feel, and when to feel a certain way.
- Better Communication Skills – When people experience a multitude of feelings, too often they’re unsure how to deal with these feelings all at once. As a result, communicating your feelings might feel impossible to do, because you might be afraid of the outcome (i.e. what people will say about you). However, EI students are more apt to communicate their feelings to others, thus having satisfactory communication skills.
- Build New Relationships – EI students are more likely to share their thoughts and ideas with other people. When an EI student finds acceptance in a certain group because of their interest in, say, a certain hobby, then they’re more likely to build long-lasting relationships with their peers.
- Stress Reduction – Keep in mind: Stress isn’t just an adult thing; it’s also a student thing. The good news is, EI students are able to deter stress by examining their situation, and learning not to let stress distract them from their schoolwork, their homework, their personal lives, etc.
- Sympathetic To Others – Sympathy is a huge factor in emotional Intelligence, because it helps students to think about other students. In this way, they can better understand their peers and help them solve their problems.
What Makes A Highly EI Student?
Students can benefit greatly from EI. Here are some of the traits that make a student with high EI:
- Positive vibes – People with high EI are positive in most situations. Often, they are willing to find solutions to problems, rather than cry “Woe is me!” As a result, they’re less likely to complain about a situation.
- They’re very sociable – Students with high EI will definitely know how others are feeling. Since they’re more likely to know how people act in various situations, then they’re able to reason with people, or at least, make conversation with others.
- They’re able to explain how they feel – Everyone has feelings; and, so do EI students. However, EI students know how to identify their feelings to where they’ll own up to them, and talk about them.
- They’re adaptable to change – Change is a part of life; and, EI students know this. In other words, they’re welcome to any changes that happen in school, life, etc.
- They know their limitations – For EI students, not everything needs to be satisfied. In other words, as much as they can feel like saying yes, they can also say no to things. By saying yes and no, they’re showing others that they know how to set their own limits.
- They know their strengths and weaknesses really well – Strengths and weaknesses are very common in the human psyche. While many people want to admire their strengths, they sometimes lose sight of what their weaknesses are. However, students with high EI not only know their strengths, but they’ll also work hard to improve on their weaknesses to be a better person.
- They do things with interest – Everything can be seen as interesting, according to EI students. Whether it’s school work, recess, lunch time, etc., such students can made situations fun to where virtually nothing seems boring to them.
- They don’t try to compare themselves to others – Comparing oneself can make a person sad and unappreciative of who they are. However, EI students don’t waste time comparing themselves to others. In fact, such students are very happy with who they are.
Conclusion
As you can see, EI is important in the classroom, because students will not only learn the necessary materials that they’re need in the future, but they’re also doing so in a comfortable environment. Let’s try and keep it that way.
