Renowned educator to host evening event and visit Monticello Elementary School

by Sally Jack
Staff writer
Emotional intelligence, well-being, and building stronger connections in our families and community will be the topic of discussion at a community night hosted by Monticello Elementary School on Monday, May 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Hideout in Monticello.
Guest speaker Marc Brackett, author, educator, and director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, will share insights in an evening of conversation and connection.
The event is free and open to everyone in the community. Students are welcome to come but will need to be able to sit for the hour-long presentation. Dessert will be provided.
Marc Brackett earned a PhD in Personality and Social Psychology from the University of New Hampshire. He is a professor at the Yale Child Study Center. He has spent over 25 years researching emotional intelligence in learning, decision-making, health, and workplace performance. He is the author of the bestseller “Permission to Feel.”
Marc’s mission is to educate the world about the value of emotions and the skills associated with using them wisely.
“I want everyone to become an emotion scientist,” he says. “We need to be curious explorers of our own and others’ emotions so that they can help us achieve our goals and improve our lives.”
His work is largely driven by his personal experience. As a child, Marc was bullied and experienced abuse. As an adult, he frequently emphasizes that children and adults need “permission to feel” to overcome emotional challenges and improve well-being.
Marc is the lead developer of the social-emotional RULER approach which teaches five key skills: Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions (RULER). It has been adopted by more than 5,000 schools across the globe.
The idea behind RULER is to help kids — and adults — recognize and understand what they are feeling, and then learn how to regulate it and express it appropriately. When a student doesn’t know how to regulate their emotions, they are unable to focus and to learn.
Students who know how to express their emotions in appropriate ways are more successful at school, which in turn carries on to their families and their communities.
Monticello Elementary School Counselor Liesel Johnson notes that she uses RULER in classroom guidance, as well as individually with students, and has seen students 100 percent positively affected by it. MES leaders have seen significant changes and improvement in students since implementing the program.
Johnson relates that Marc Brackett’s team is doing a documentary and contacted the school to include MES in the documentary.
“They know that we are a Title I school in a rural community, and wanted to come to Monticello with their program. They would also like to include us in a longitudinal study they are doing,” she says.
A foundation in Salt Lake City will also send copies of Marc’s book, “Permission to Feel.”
Counselor Johnson said, “This is an unbelievable opportunity to be able to have Marc Brackett coming here from Yale. We are very fortunate that he wanted to come to this community. I think it is important... very important.”
The discussion on May 4 promises to be interesting, informative, and insightful for all who attend.