Prep
- Prepare by having a short brainstorm by yourself and writing down some examples, including prompts and responses about feelings and emotions. You can share some of these examples in the introduction so as to support learners during the exercise.
- Also make sure all learners have access to a journal – it could be a digital journal, or a regular journal/book. If in class, create a quiet and calm environment without distractions.
Competences/activities to practice first by the teacher
- Get familiar with the vocabulary of feelings and emotions. It can be valuable to explore the many different emotions we can feel, e.g. pick a letter and look up all the emotions starting with the letter “c”. Or check out the resources, including the ‘feeling wheel’ at the end of this activity.
Levels in the activity
- Try out in class
- New habits
- Follow-up
Level 1: Try out in class
- Invite the learners to take two deep breaths and gently shake their shoulders.
- Introduce the prompt. It could be something very simple and general, e.g. how/what do you feel today? Or it could be a prompt related to a climatic event, e.g. when you heard/saw/experienced the event, how did you feel? It could be a prompt after a discussion or event with climate-related content. It could also be on a subject of their choice, perhaps the day’s events or encouraging them to pick something that has been troubling them.
- Depending on the prompt, you might provide an example first, e.g. about your feelings related to a particular event. Or reading up on a prepared example. Encourage learners to express their feelings, giving them time to name each one. You can provide examples of feelings by showing students the ‘feelings wheel’ that is in the resource section below. Start small. Give them only a few minutes to write (5-10 min). Emphasize that there are no rules, and there is no wrong way of doing this. They should not worry about spelling and punctuation – no one is here to judge them. They can be encouraged to write continuously until time is up. Also, clarify that what they write is private.
- After introducing the prompt, invite the students to write. Some might need some time to quiet their mind, and spend some minutes gathering their thoughts, others might start writing immediately.
Students writing in their journal while spending time in nature. Photo by Carmelo Zamora, REAL School Budapest
- You might want to close the exercise by asking if anyone wants to share some reflections, read up their prompt or just pick an emotion that they have mentioned in response to the prompt. You might want to write down these emotions on post-its or on a board to engage in a group discussion.
Level 2: New habits
- Let the learners repeat this exercise several days a week, for a month. If you teach a class where you do this exercise only once a week, we suggest continuing for 2-3 months. During that time, each student’s readiness to write about their emotions will grow, and looking back on major challenging feelings of the past might seem minor at present. This can help build confidence and emotional resilience when facing difficulties.
- Encourage learners to take up journaling as a take-home exercise. In that case, encourage students to pick the time of day that suits them best to write in the journal. Setting a regular time is helpful to foster regularity.
Level 3: Follow-up
- Discuss with learners how they experience the exercise, whether they consider continuing their new habit of journaling.
- Encourage the creation of emotional learning pairs within the class, for the learners who are interested. Members of those pairs could start sharing their journal prompts from time to time and discuss their prompts and/or feelings in a private setting.
Dos and Don’ts
Do
- Regarding Step 4 in the 1st level, sometimes students might be stuck with writing, or at times, they may feel upset as they write, and that’s ok. In those cases, you might find it appropriate to invite them to write about writing. It will help them learn more about themselves.
Adaptations
We invite you to adapt this activity to the specific needs of your learners, including by taking into account their neurodiversity. When adapting tools and activities for neurodivergent learners, please note it is not about treating others how you want to be treated, but how they want to be treated. Ask, listen, and stay open to different ways of learning and engaging.
Resources
On this page you will find vocabulary to talk about emotions: https://www.centervention.com/list-of-emotions-135-words-that-express-feelings/
Here is also a “feelings wheel” adapted to different age groups that can be helpful: https://media.centervention.com/pdf/Feelings-Wheel.pdf
References
- Find out more at the Greater Good in Education, a free resource hub for educators from UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center:
https://ggie.berkeley.edu/practice/student-self-check-in-journal/ - More information on journaling (and other tools) can be found on the Transformation Hosts International (THI) homepage, which is a community of practice for Transformative Learning and for hosting the socio-ecological transition:
https://hostingtransformation.eu/method/guided-journaling/ - More on the science behind journalling:
Blake, T. (2005). Journaling; An active learning technique. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.2202/1548-923X.1116 - More on the science behind resilience journalling:
Lohner, M. S. & Aprea, C. (2021). The Resilience Journal: Exploring the Potential of Journal Interventions to Promote Resilience in University Students. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.702683 - More about the connection between journalling and wellbeing:
ttps://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-journaling/
