Product reviews for Independent Thinking on Emotional Literacy

Being able to recognise and precisely articulate emotions can sometimes feel like a sign of vulnerability of which many are not comfortable with. Showing any sign of weakness can be difficult, especially when faced with social stigma, digital reactions or deemed failure. Such feelings are true in many family, social or professional situations, and can effect young people and adult alike.

Emotional Literacy, by Richard Evans, builds on a better understanding within many societies that talking about feelings, and honestly expressing oneself is a key component in supporting positive mental health, academic achievement and motivation. Following conversations with his colleagues, Richard developed a series of passports supporting: Literacy; reading; RE; parents' evening, and; detention that focus on a series of self-analysis questions and reflections that can support young people to understand their emotions. The book explores the reasoning behind the questions, offering advice and guidance to educators supporting confidence & resilience; organisation & presentation; attitudes to learning; setting, and; outcomes.

The idea of the questions and resources is not a prescriptive method of how emotional literacy issues should be addressed in your school, but a guide and suggestion on how educators could develop their own strategy to support students. The areas addressed in this book may not be a priority for your school, but developing your own sets of questions based around different subjects or behaviours may inspire after engaging with the book.



Rather than being a book specifically about the science and theories behind emotional literacy, the reader is given an ethnographical secondary-school exploration on how building a strategy or resource for a school setting could be undertaken. References and further reading resources are offered for anyone wanting to explore deeper into the subject and the seminal book by Daniel Goleman is referenced early on. Yet, this book needs to be applauded for its attention to addressing the emotional development of our students, rather than just the cognitive for technical, and how this can impact on classroom attainment.