Emotional intelligence education teaches resilience in New Canaan, district says

NEW CANAAN — As more high school students feel a more persistent sadness and hopelessness, the schools should continue to place an emphasis on teaching lessons of emotional intelligence, Student Support Coordinator Susan Bliss told the Board of Education this week.

“We have focused on teaching the tools of emotional intelligence to students and staff alike, which is helping us to realize our goal of ensuring every student feels safe, connected and engaged,” Superintendent Bryan Luizzi said Thursday following the comments from the district’s student support coordinator.

Before the pandemic, educators “knew we were having a dramatic increase in child and adolescent mental health issues,” Bliss said. She believes the pandemic has only exasperated that.

Suicide is now the second leading cause of death in children ages 10 to 14, Bliss said. “I hate to bring the room down, but it is important context” to underscore “the importance of the work that we’re doing.”

High school students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness has increased by 40 percent from 2009 to 2019, she said citing Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s press advisory on youth mental health of Dec. 2021. Bliss called the news “sobering.”

However, Bliss said that two decades of research has shown that teaching emotional intelligence skills can improve success, career readiness, mental health and academic achievement. She thinks it is high time the district follow suit.

The student support coordinator believes it positive that the district had sent teams of educators to the Yale Center of Emotional Intelligence prior to the pandemic to learn the university’s approach.

Research of these techniques have shown “longterm outcomes” in the classroom, and under this program there is more academic achievement, better social behavior and less bullying, Bliss said.

The center for emotional intelligence uses an acronym: RULER. The letters stand for: recognizing emotions and in oneself and others; understanding causes and consequences; labeling emotions accurately; expressing emotions; and regulating emotions effectively.

To achieve these goals, the schools rely on four tools: the first of which is creating a charter for schools and classrooms. To create the charter teachers talk with students about “how they want to feel” and steps to achieve that goal. Bliss believes in the benefits that this can bring.

Another tool is the ‘mood meter,’ which helps build skills of self and social awareness. “You have to name it to tame it,” Bliss said quoting Mark Brackett, founding director of the Yale Center of Emotional Intelligence.

The mood meter is a quadrant with y axis representing the level of intensity and x axis showing degree of pleasantness.

Children are taugtht colors assigned to different emotions. Red donotes high energy and unpleasantries such as anger; blue is low energy and unpleasant, such as boredom; yellow is high energy and pleasant, such as while at play; and green is low energy and pleasant, or being serene.

The meter is meant to promote self regulation for students, to help them become aware of their mood, and learn to adjust accordingly.

Bliss spoke of “taking a brief step back from the situation” and pausing to think before acting.

For conflict resolution, a ‘blueprint,’ shows steps taught to students for “perspective taking” that will be needed in later years, such as “understanding what your client wants and understanding what your boss wants,” Bliss said.

“We are providing students with the tools they'll need to succeed in school in their careers and in their lives," Luizzi said.

To illustrate what the blueprint tool teaches, she recalled walking into a classroom where students were preparing to work as a group. The teacher asked the students what the group should do if someone is not carrying their fair share of the task at hand. The students replied that they would “really encourage them and tell them how much we want to hear their ideas,” Bliss said.

"Our comprehensive approach to teaching Emotional Intelligence with Yale's RULER program as our foundation, has had a powerful and positive impact on our school community district-wide,” Luizzi said Thursday.