Part of RULER’s framework includes using the Mood Meter (available in an
app) to help both students and staff increase self-awareness about both
how they feel, and also how to
describe how they feel. We’ve all been there—in a place where you feel something
like anger, but you know that’s not the right word. And, you get even more upset when you can’t describe how you feel. By checking in with the Mood Meter, you get to the nuances between similar feelings, improving your emotional vocabulary (and intelligence). When you can best describe your feelings, you can really own them.
RULER also uses the Meta-Moment, an approach that asks students or staff to take a brief step back from a situation before reacting or responding. When you’ve taken that moment, then you can come forward with your “best self,” your most positive response.
The Mood Meter and Meta-Moment pieces reminded me a lot of CPI’s own Integrated Experience. You can’t control someone else’s behavior, but you can control your response to it.
Cyberbullying
The online world is never off. Students today can’t come home and escape school bullying the way their predecessors might have; Facebook and other social media tools make it far too easy to keep the bullying going, anonymous or not. Several of the summit participants, from students to educational leaders, recognized that the way we’re socially connected today adds another layer of complexity.
Emily Vacher, J.D., M.S., M.P.A., Head of Global Safety, Privacy and Public Policy for Facebook, shared what Facebook is doing to empower users to take control of what they see on Facebook and how it makes them feel. They’ve even partnered with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence on specific language to use for both youth and adults to share how they feel when reporting a bullying- or harassment-related post.
Ms. Vacher walked the audience through the steps. Basically, every post you see on Facebook has a little chevron, or down caret on the upper right corner: