Emotional Intelligence

My result from Queendom's Emotional Intelligence Test was a 64/100, or a 64%. This test scored my abilities to identify, perceive, and express emotions. The score report I received stated that while I have basic skills in these areas, there is a great deal of room for improvement.

According to the report "Feelings Count: Emotions and Learning" from Stanford University School of Education teachers can help foster emotional intelligence in their classrooms by providing opportunities to work through different skill sets, such as Self Awareness, Managing Emotions, Self Motivation, Empathy, and Handling Social Relationships (Daniel Goleman, 1995). This article provides a good foundation of background information on these concepts, and gives a lot of ideas and resources to consider when approaching this in your own classroom.

I don't know where I stand on the EQ (Emotional Quotient) vs IQ (Intelligence Quotient) debate. I feel very strongly that given the person's individual goals and personality, any mix of the two could prove to work very well for that person. For example, parenting doesn't necessitate having a high intelligence level, and the higher emotional intelligence level the better. On the other hand, my brother is a theoretical/quantum physicist at WVU. I would hate to see his EQ skills. Common sense and emotions don't come in to play in his life very often, although at times it would probably help him out some... but his extremely high IQ level keeps him satisfied with himself and happy in his work.

Emotional Intelligence affects both teachers and students because every day both are dealing with hundreds of people and hundreds of people's emotions. It would be helpful to have a background in handling situations that are emotionally tough, so that the atmosphere doesn't turn tense and cold. Also, teachers hold an important role in fostering relationships among the students- not to say that they are choosing friends for students- but helping them to learn how to interact with all types of individuals.

Learning personal strengths and weaknesses can help improve your position in a learning environment. Knowing your strengths allows you to help others in those areas. Knowing your weaknesses allows you to seek more help towards mastering those areas. Self-improvement and offering help to others is a crucial part of any learning environment, and is best if engaged by both the teachers and students alike.