As owner of Whole School Leadership LLC, Kathy Minardi helps educators to cultivate learning environments that emphasize social and emotional awareness. Kathy Minardi comes to this role backed by 40 years of experience in education, as well as formal training in transformational leadership and emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence plays a key role not only in a child's social success, but also in his or her academic performance. A child who can manage his or her emotions tends to have a higher level of confidence and a sense of security, which in turn supports academic competencies such as focus, motivation, and group participation. As a result of these skills, children who participate in school-based emotional learning perform up to 11 percent better on academic examinations. A successful emotional intelligence program teaches children how to cope with emotions that might otherwise cause them to act out. In most cases, this process begins with teaching children to recognize emotions as they present themselves. Children can then begin to learn skills that can help them proactively manage those emotions so that they can feel calm, safe, and in control. One key element of a successful program is the sharing of a set of tools that children can use to soothe themselves when they are feeling stress or other strong emotions. This helps children to gain control over their emotional brains and engage their thought centers, which in turn supports the ability to take ownership of one's own actions. Such ownership, experts say, is key to helping a child choose adaptive behaviors and feel successful as a social being.
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AuthorSince 1999, Kathy Minardi has served as the head of school at Aidan Montessori School in Washington, D.C. Utilizing her 37 years of experience in independent schools. Archives
October 2017
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