I think she was referring to 1992 to 1998.

At 6:45, did the facilitator from New Haven not say that the "incidence of students engaging in intercourse has dropped dramatically from 92 to 98%"?? Also noted that the Ridgewood NJ middle school (affluent white community) engages emotional intelligence through a fully equipped TV studio in the school (project-based learning, technology, research, etc), and the Brooklyn school (children of color) engages emotional intelligence through role playing about interpersonal conflict (much poorer infrastructure, but also not as rich learning experience). This inequity goes unremarked by the narrator...

I am pretty much enjoyed watching the VID CLIP. The students involved on the VIDEO was observing their interpersonal skills.
It was said that on that skills learning on once feelings and emotion to your peer is pretty much in need. i think also that through that skill academic performance of the students will be better than before. but it depends also to the peer that the student have. if he have a peer who used to be a bad influenced on him, it is therefore it can alos affect to the performance of the students academically, but if the peer of the student who happened to be good one, obviosly it can help alot to the learning of the child.

I enjoyed watching this video, and found the techniques that were used to teach social and emotional development to be interesting. I agree that students who are emotionally stable are better able to focus in school. I was impressed with the New Haven Public Schools dedicating one period each school day to a lesson focused on emotional development. The video indicated that from 1992 to 1998, these lessons have helped to decrease the number of suspensions and sexually active students in high school. I am skeptical of this correlation because I think that so many other factors can contribute to the decreasing statistics. Nevertheless, the classes probably do have some effect on this improvement.
While I advocate teachers addressing the social and emotional aspects of student development, I do not know how realistic it is to set aside time each day to teach this. With so much focus on testing, I could not see my district knowingly allowing teachers to take time away from literacy, math, and science in order to teach social and emotional skills on a daily basis. The best that I can do, and I gather the best that many teachers can do, is to address social and emotional issues as they arise throughout the school day. While this may not have the best outcome, I do not see any other realistic way. I am interested as to what other teachers and administrators think.

As a teacher, I stressed the social graces. Basically, it is the accepted mores that we expect our students to have in order to become successful adults. Asking students to use terms, such as please and thank you, was not easy. Having students apologize for using obscene language in the classroom was another challenge. My strategy was to tell the student that s/he was to apologize to me, as a LADY, for having to hear the term rather than to directly apologize to the other student. Students would then be made aware that certain words and/or actions are inappropriate in social settings, especially if others are present. I realized that this was a successful strategy when my students used it in similar circumstances.

In the video, I noticed a number of boys were wearing hats in the classroom. Was this acceptable in their schools? I know that in NYC schools, wearing of hats or other nonreligious head apparel is not permitted.

In the future, I think that showing a classroom scene with a complement of 30+ students, as is the norm in many urban classrooms, would be beneficial. Also, be aware that for some students, touching others could be discomforting or even against their religious practices. In NYC schools, teachers should refrain from physical contact with any student unless it is to protect himself/herself or damage to property. Too many teachers have been brought up on charges of "corporal" punishment because they tried to physically intervene. And, as a victim of physical and verbal assaults, I know how powerless a teacher can feel, especially little or no administrative support.

Thanks for such a useful video. It is a great overview, covering a lot in 8 minutes. I have seen the tremendous effect of the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program in our district. There is a new elementary curriculum that is fantastic.

Information about the program and the new curricula can be found at: www.esrnational.org

I left the teaching service 14 years ago.Next year I will be going to a secondary school to teach mathematics. I was hesitant and anxious when I was given a 'challenging' class to teach. I wasn't ready to handle a new generation of youths. I am glad I came upon this website. the articles reminded me that teaching is about people not academics. The students may forget what we teach but not who and what we were to them. thank you for sharing your precious discoveries.

If you are unfamiliar with the Tribes process? Author Jeanne Gibbs has worked with the human development process for many many years
go to www.tribes.com for more information