Emotional Check-ins Transcript
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Interviewee: How do you feel?
Male Voice 1: I feel happy.
Interviewee: Oh, I'm so glad. Are you proud?
Male Voice 2: Yeah.
Interviewee: Do you feel proud? What do you feel proud about?
How are you gonna make your face look?
Male Voice 3: Happy.
Interviewee: Happy. Angry. Scary.
A typical morning, kids will come in. We encourage them to do an emotional check-in as a way of helping them identify their own emotions and other people's emotions. They come in and they choose their own picture and they place it in a jar that reflects what they might be feeling.
What did you—
Female Voice: Sad.
Interviewee: You're sad? Why are you sad?
Female Voice: Because I want my monkey.
Interviewee: Oh, you miss your monkey? Why don't you go give your monkey a hug?
For many kids, when it's new, they don't always recognize the difference between maybe happy and excited or scared and angry. This is a way of helping them identify that emotion in themselves and also being able to visually see it in other people, as well.
That's Andres right there. What does Andres feel like?
Male Voice 4: He's sad.
Interviewee: Sad. Andres was feeling sad.
I try to encourage them throughout the day to, oh, this morning you were feeling sad. I see you, but you don't look sad anymore. Maybe you'd—and they'll tell me how they're feeling. Oh, go move your picture.
Which one looks like how you feel? Which one do you choose? You can always change it later. You don't have to leave it there.
It's nice cuz it's concrete for them. It gives them a sense of satisfaction and a way of identifying this is how I'm feeling right now. Kids that are older, I've seen, have been doing it for a while, will do this independently
[End of Audio]
13 Comments
LJ LJ Nov 16, 2019 9:04pm
This a good way for younger students to learn about their feelings.
Robert Leabo Nov 12, 2018 9:54am
This is fantastic and honestly should be used with older kids too. I think attending to the social -emotional is just as (if not more) important than academics. And I believe that the teacher should also have a little stick or way to "check in'' too so that students could see it's OK to feel sad in the beginning of the day and then happy at the end. And if you find that students are constantly putting themselves in one emotion because they are feeling it all the time, it provides information about the students and you can go from there. "Hey I noticed you're always angry, what's going on?"
I teach older kids so I could see it being very beneficial for them in this way.
Diane Maples Feb 26, 2018 12:27am
Maheen Maniar Feb 19, 2018 11:21am
Maheen Maniar Feb 19, 2018 11:21am