Marc Brackett Mentors Middle School Staff

During the Middle School’s divisional meeting this week, faculty and staff had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Marc Brackett, a renowned researcher and the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Taking an in-depth look at the Mood Meter, he encouraged teachers and advisors to challenge students to move beyond just identifying their emotions and, instead, start interpreting them to better understand how these emotions might impact their actions, decisions and learning. Dr. Brackett discussed how this skill of emotional intelligence is one that needs to be practiced, and middle school is a great time to help students develop ways to manage how they feel, which they’ll be able to draw on for the rest of their lives.

“How we feel does shift the way we see the world, and we’re not always conscious of it,” he told the group of middle school staff. “Emotions, even the strong ones, don’t have to interfere with your achievement. You can learn how to regulate them. My hope would be that you develop the muscle in yourself and your students so that it becomes automatic.”

Dr. Brackett also joined us last semester for an assembly with students and an evening presentation for the community, where he discussed emotional regulation and how we can react with intentionality to create better outcomes in our careers and relationships.