Khalid Barkaoui
It is true that the education of a child today is not an easy task. It is a regular and daily work of the family on one side and of the school institution on the other. The goal of education is to lead the child to develop skills, acquire positive values and encourage him to become autonomous, responsible, committed and a true citizen of the world. This requires parents who are caring and resolutely committed to equipping their own child with skills and values. It also requires the presence of qualified teachers capable of empowering them, socializing them and supporting them in this process of educability.
It must be recognized that the priority mission of the school and therefore of the teacher is not the development of knowledge and know-how, but also the promotion of interpersonal skills and helping the learner to externalize his emotions in a conducive, stimulating and caring school environment.
The word is out: help the learner to exteriorize his emotions in class and to put his own emotions into words. But what is an emotion?
Emotion is a spontaneous psychological or bodily reaction to different situations that we experience such as joy, sadness, pride, guilt, fear, frustration…
In the classroom, we tend to see these reactions emanating from our students. As a result, one teacher may react positively while another may react negatively and in a humiliating and demeaning way. This last teacher can announce murderous sentences like: “stop your anger, stop your tears, stop making your cinema…” These hurtful remarks towards a student in the grip of a negative emotion inhibit his motivation and his pleasure to learn.
This teacher does not strive to understand the reaction of the learner, does not recognize the own emotions of this student and therefore does not create positive and friendly links likely to motivate the student to learn and to succeed brilliantly in his school course. .
It should be noted that oralized and perfectly expressed emotions help the learner to think, reflect, act and learn easily. In a word, a child who feels fear or anger greatly needs a lively and mature mind capable of soothing with his voice, his smile, his honeyed words and his benevolent attitude this stressful emotion which invades the child. A competent teacher is not one who is able to transmit disciplinary knowledge or cross-curricular skills with pedagogical fluidity. On the contrary, a successful and effective teacher is one who is able to channel the negative emotions of his class group by adopting an empathetic attitude. In the sense that empathy rhymes with the ability to feel and feel the emotions of others, to manage them well and to put the learner in a bath of well-being and fulfillment to help him find his mental and physical balance.
It is difficult for a student overwhelmed by anger or a storm of anger to calm down and find serenity. The latter needs an outstretched hand, a tender heart, an attentive ear and a sweet voice to channel this intense and strong emotion. This is certainly not obvious when dealing with overcrowded and unattractive classes.
As a result, the teacher is called upon to create a positive environment where the key words that predominate are:
kindness, listening, non-violent communication and constructive dialogue.
The setting up of artistic activities: the teacher is required to encourage his own pupils to express their emotions through drawing, theatre, music or writing because these aesthetic forms have a cathartic and therapeutic dimension.
Supervise and guide: the wise teacher is the one who guides the students by showing the best example in terms of effective management of emotions. The teacher shows the students how to deal with negative emotions in a calm and calm way.
Techniques for managing stress and anxiety: teach students techniques for managing stress and negative emotions such as relaxation, deep breathing or meditation.
It is time to provide our teaching actors with new skills, namely emotional and relational intelligence, in order to help our learners manage their emotions effectively and learn with pleasure and kindness. It would be beneficial to work in synergy with parents, partners and health professionals to offer additional support to students who feel the growing need for it.
Khalid Barkaoui
Member of the AMEF CP de Boulemane