Assignment Focus: EXPRESSING, EXPERIENCING AND REGULATING EMOTIONS

Readings:
Read this Ereading (attached) it will help with the questions:
Nelson, J. K. (1998) The meaning of crying based on attachment theory, Clinical Social Work Journal, 26(1), 9-22.
AND
Choose one of the following ereadings and read it (all attached) it will help with the questions:

Burnham, J. (2009) Contemporary fears of children and adolescents: coping and resilience in the 21st century, Journal of Counselling and Development, 87, 28-35.
Deer, T. (2012) Tumultuous times: natural disasters, media and children’s fears, Every Child, 18(1), 12-13.

Driessnack, M. (2006) Draw and tell conversations with children about fear, Qualitative Health Research, 16(10), 1414-1435.

Sorin, R. (2005) A comparative study of early childhood fear and caregivers’ responses to fear in Australia and Canada, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 30(4), 34-42.

Explore the following online content (it will help you get a better understanding and with answering the questions):
To begin this week, we start with Daniel Goleman’s work on the Theory of Emotional Intelligence. Goleman suggests that emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage feelings, motivate yourself in the face of discord and recognise feelings and feeling displays in others (Goleman, 1996). In the following video link Goleman himself explains some of the key dimensions of emotional intelligence. Please take note of the four domains of this construct which Goleman describes, and any other key ideas which emerge for you as you watch: http://bigthink.com/ideas/14673
2. Neuroscience research suggests that the way we experience, express and regulate our emotions has it’s origins in the brain. Dr Daniel Siegel, an expert on interpersonal neurobiology explains how:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD-lfP1FBFk
3. Educators and educational researchers argue that we can help young children to experience, express and regulate their emotions more effectively if we teach them some key emotional literacy skills. According to Freedman, Sawaf, Smith and Dyer (2011), emotional literacy ‘… is the ability to recognize, understand and appropriately express our emotions. Just as verbal literacy is the basic building-block for reading and writing, emotional literacy is the basis for perceiving and communicating emotions. Becoming emotionally literate is learning the alphabet, grammar and vocabulary of our emotional lives.’ The following video describes some of the emotional literacy approaches a team of preschool teachers have taken in the US. Remember to take down any ideas which you think might be of relevance to your work with young children, or any approaches which you disagree with:

4. Turning our thoughts to our work with young children, have you thought about what children are telling us when they cry? Check out these reflections from Professor Margaret Sims, and our colleagues from the early childhood sector: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=360635123978473.
While crying is common in children’s services and the early years of school, children may show signs of emotional confusion or distress in other ways. Can you think of any examples, in your experience, where a child’s behaviour was actually a way of them trying to tell you something how they were feeling (e.g. violence like biting or hitting, quietly withdrawing)?

Assignment questions to answer: Individual learning response
Based on your readings/videos answer the Following:
In a minimum of 500 words, now take some time to reflect on:
Why would it be important to be able to identity and label our feelings?

How will we know whether young children need support with regulating the emotions they are experiencing?

Do we have the right to assume we know how they are or should be feeling?

Describe how you see the theory connecting with your practice as a future educator for children in the early years?  (How will this knowledge help you as an educator?)