I can sometimes recognize emotions.
I can use strategies that help me manage my feelings and emotions.
I am aware of how others may feel and take steps to help them feel included.
What inferences can you make based on what you see in this picture?
“Exploring and sharing multiple perspectives” is one of the Big Ideas in our new Language Arts curriculum. As we’ve been reading Walking Home by Eric Walters, we’ve been doing just that. The story takes place during the Kenyan crisis of 2007-2008 and the main character and his family have had to face disease, poverty, political violence and ethnic tensions. We have felt compassion as we’ve compared the challenges that we face in our lives to those faced by Muchoki and his family. We’ve been trying to identify how we’d feel or how we would respond if we were in Muchoki’s shoes. Exploring a different perspective is not an easy task because it requires us to think critically. We have also been thinking critically as we’ve examined our own emotions and behavior. We live in a challenging and complex “selfie” world and are regularly exposed to negative behavior (when we watch news, access social media or when interacting with peers), but we are expected to be kind and caring people. That’s not as easy as it sounds. It requires emotional intelligence – the ability to identify feelings, recognize emotions and consider different perspectives. These are all linked to Personal & Social Core Competencies in our BC Curriculum. CORE COMPETENCIES: I can sometimes recognize emotions. I can use strategies that help me manage my feelings and emotions. I am aware of how others may feel and take steps to help them feel included. Perspective-taking activities is an excellent way to build these core competencies. To get started we read The Invisible Boy, a story about a boy named Brian who doesn’t get noticed in class and doesn’t get included in activities. When a new boy arrives to the class, Brian welcomes him in. That led to a class discussion about how we would feel if we were in Brian’s shoes, whether we would have welcomed a new student like Brian did and what we can personally do to help others feel included. We all identified something that we could do to be more inclusive in our school community. Another activity involved looking at images of individuals who are facing challenges. Our task involved observing (recognizing? Identifying?) facial expressions and emotions and interpreting the social context in the photo. We also tried to imagine ourselves in that situation and to think of how we would be feeling. Many of us realized that we often make negative assumptions about a person, even if it involves someone who’s struggling. During this activity, we found that our assumptions got pushed aside and we instead wanted to do something to help. What do you observe in this picture? What details do you notice? What inferences can you make based on what you see in this picture? Simran, Rushil and Timothy representing division 2 at our district Science Fair!
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March 2020
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