Module 2: Developing Emotional Honesty in the Classroom
Week 1: Introducing the importance of developing emotional honesty in the classroom
This week the ECT focused on exploring the idea of emotional honesty and the importance of developing this in their classroom. They considered how this might be achieved through engaging with the work of Jo and Tom Brassington and their book, Bottled.
Time his week was focused on evidence and research and reflection and discussion as the ECT will be applying this to practice across weeks 3-5.
Evidence and Research:
The ECT explored the importance and idea of developing emotional honesty within their classroom through engaging with a podcast and webinar.
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Invite them to share their key learning points. The following questions may help frame your discussion:
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What has been your key learning from this week?
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What key new knowledge did you develop through engaging with the materials?
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What three things do you feel are most important? Talk me through these.
Reflection and Discussion
The ECT was invited to reflect on the following:
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How might you embed:
1. Naming emotions
2. Describing emotions
3. How we all have emotions and that sometimes we bottle those
4. Sharing our emotions
5. How we support others emotionally
6. How we can create an emotionally honest place in our classroom
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...and language, knowledge and skills and practice in your classroom?
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Then you may was to explore:
What particularly stood out for you and why?
Do you see a need for developing emotional honesty in your classroom?
What might this look like?
How might you approach this?
Week 2: Exploring Approaches to Supporting the Development of Emotional Honesty
This week the ECT focused on approaches to handling conversations linked to emotions with students. They explored some approaches to bring into theor own classroom and reflected upon how they might use these to enhance their practice in this area.
Evidence and Research:
The ECT explored some approaches to support conversations around emotions in the classroom through reading an article, watching a webinar and exploring three emotion wheels.
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Invite them to share their key learning points. The following questions may help frame your discussion:
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What have been the key learning points for you this week?
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How has this learning challenged or developed your thinking?
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How might this new knowledge translate into practice? Have you any ideas on this?
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What else do you now want to know? How will you find this out?
Reflection and Discussion
The ECT was invited to reflect on the following:​
What is new learning for you?
What do you think will change in your practice as part of this learning?
What have you already used previously?
What books might you use to support emotional honesty and the development of empathy?
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You might want to explore these questions with them as part of your mentor meeting.
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Also take time to look ahead together at weeks 3-5 and ensure that the ECT is aware of what they need to do for these weeks - they are designed in a similar way to the last 2 weeks of the previous module but this time they have longer to embed their learning.
Week 3: Developing Emotional Honesty in Your Classroom
This week the ECT applied their learning to their practice using the improvement cycle that they were introduced to in the previous module. This week focused on the ideas and actions and practice and embed phases of the cycle.
The resources are included below and may be of use to you in your mentoring capacity.
Application and Exploration of Practice and Setting:
The ECT was set the stimulus of developing emotional honesty within their classroom. They initially focused on taking ideas from their learning that they wanted to apply to their practice either as part of the structured teaching and learning within their classroom or as approaches they would take when working with their students.
The ECT was asked to choose 1 or 2 ideas and develop these into clear actions that they would then take time to practice and embed across the forthcoming 3 weeks.
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Invite them to share their ideas and the decisions around the actions that they plan to practice and embed.:
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What elements of learning to you capture as ideas to potentially develop in your own practice?
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What 1 or 2 actions did you settle on as your focus to practice and embed?
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The ECT then needed to begin to practice and embed these in their practice. To explore how this is going, you may want to ask:
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What have you undertaken so far?
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How is practicing these chosen approaches enhanced your practice?
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What have been the challenges?
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Are there things you wish to adapt?
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What has been the impact for you, as the teacher?
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What has been the impact on the students? What evidence do you have for this?
Week 4: Developing Emotional Honesty in Your Classroom
This week the ECT continued to practice and embed their strategies and approaches from Week 3.
Application and Exploration of Practice and Setting:
The ECT has focused on continuing to practice and embed developing emotional honesty in their classroom, using the approaches they identified last week.
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In your mentor meeting this week, focus on discussing how things are going. You may want to ask the following questions:
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What approaches and/or strategies have you managed to try so far?
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What have worked well?
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What did you find more challenging?
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How might you adapt some of these approaches to be more effective?
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What do you need to practice more?
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How have the students responded to this approach to developing emotional honesty?
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If you would share one thing with me to try in my own practice, what would that be, and for what reason should I try this?
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Early in week 6, a short observation focused on how the ECT is embedding emotional honesty in their classroom, should be arranged. This might be a short observation or half an hour or a very focused observation of an activity - liaise with the ECT on this. Discuss this with the ECT and get this booked in.
Week 5: Developing Emotional Honesty in Your Classroom
This week the ECT continued to practice and embed ways to develop emotional honesty into their classroom as well sharing and developing these strategies through discussions with you, as their mentor and observing and talking to other colleagues.
Application and Exploration of Practice and Setting:
Alongside continuing to practice and embed their chosen strategies and approaches to developing emotional honesty within their classroom, the ECT has been to observe a colleague to explore how they develop emotional honesty within their classroom.
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Invite the ECT to share what they have learnt from their observation:
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What approaches and strategies to support the development of emotional honesty did you see when undertaking your observation?
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Where there strategies and approaches being used that you had not thought of?
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How might you take this learning into your own classroom?
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How might the class teacher benefit from some of the strategies and approaches you have be practicing in your classroom?
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How might you share these?
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Reflection and Discussion
The ECT has also spoken to a couple of colleagues about how they develop emotional honesty within their classrooms.
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Invite the ECT to share what they learned from these discussions:
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What did you learn from the discussion you had with colleagues about how they develop emotional honesty within their classroom?
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Did you learn anything new?
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​What strategies did you share with them? How did they respond?
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How will you refine, adapt or further develop your approaches having practiced these over the past few weeks and also learnt from colleagues?
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Remind the ECT that next week you will observe them with a focus on the strategies they have been practicing around developing emotional honesty.​
Week 6: Recommendations for Practice
This week the ECT reflected upon their learning across the term in relation to developing emotional honesty in their classroom. They considered the feedback from their observation and how they can further develop their strategies and approaches to support the development of emotional honesty in their classroom as a result. They also prepared a short report making some recommendations for sharing and developing this practice across the school which they will share with SLT.
Reflection and Discussion
You will have observed the ECT this week with a focus on developing emotional honesty within their classroom. Therefore, use some of your mentor meeting to lead a professional learning conversation about the observation, establishing areas of good practice, areas for further development and identifying targets.
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The ECT will have also prepared a report for SLT that captures their learning and practice (the template is below).
Work through this report with the ECT prior to them sending it to the SLT team.
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Some questions that may scaffold your discussion around the report might include:
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How did you decide on the strategies (ideas) you practiced?
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Is there any other evidence to support impact?
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What will your next steps be to further develop emotional honesty in your classroom?
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How did you find working through the improvement cycle?
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What has been the key learning here for you that you feel will have the biggest influence on your practice?
