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School Climate & Emotional Intelligence Initiative

NCPS Emotional Intelligence Vision

In New Canaan, we are committed to focusing on educating the “whole child” and increasing the overall wellness of our faculty and students. As one aspect of this work, we have embarked on raising the Emotional Intelligence (EI) of students and staff throughout our school community.  

Studies have shown that teaching students and adults the skills of Emotional Intelligence increases academic achievement, promotes positive learning environments, and improves mental health and decision making. 

Dr. Mack Brackett

In 2017, we partnered with the Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence to begin our initiative. Dr. Marc Brackett, Ph.D., the Director of Emotional Intelligence at Yale University came to speak to the community and emphasized the importance of teaching students the basic skills of Emotional Intelligence.

Dr. Brackett explained that there is substantial research that supports the fact that higher EI leads to better attention, learning, performance, decision making, more positive relationships and better health and well-being. 

RULER Tools

The skills of Emotional Intelligence include the ability to: Recognize, Understand, Label, Express and Regulate emotion. These skills make up the acronym of RULER - the name of the evidenced-based, systemic approach to Social Emotional Learning that was developed through the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

At NCPS, we use a series of tools based on the RULER approach to help to build Emotional Intelligence Skills with our students. We invite you to explore the four RULER tools (Charter, Mood Meter, Meta-moment, and Blueprint) by accessing the sections outlined below. Each section focuses on one of the four RULER tools and includes resources to better understand what that RULER tool is, as well as information and activities that help incorporate these skills into everyday life. You can also find more information on the RULER tools by accessing our Emotional Intelligence presentations found here.

Charter Image

Charter

Students and faculty have been instructed in the "RULER tools" which help us all to improve our Emotional Intelligence. One of the Anchor Tools is the Charter which is a vision everyone shares for how they want to feel at school.

Mood Meter

Mood Meter

Another RULER Tool, the Mood Meter helps to increase self-awareness and self-management by helping students to label their emotional states.  As Marc Brackett says, “We have to name it to tame it!”

Meta Moment

Meta-Moment

The META-MOMENT is a tool that gives us a space between what happens to us and how we react.  It teaches us to pay attention to our feelings, breathe, think of our best self, and decide on a strategy to regulate our emotions. 

Blue Print

Blueprint

The Blueprint is a RULER tool that uses a set of questions to prompt self-reflection and help us resolve conflicts. When we use the Blueprint, we can build our per-spective-taking skills, experience more empathy, and develop better conflict management strategies. Over time, using this tool can also help preserve relation-ships and community.