Emotional Intelligence - A way to perfect emotions

Define Emotions

What is Emotions?

We are simply aware of emotions like love, happiness, sadness etc. Suppose I like a girl that is my emotions. I like someone that also a part of my emotion.

And how we manage Emotions in our life and in others to reach desired outcomes that is Emotional Intelligence.

Simply we can say it is the ability to understand the emotions as they happen, and using the emotions positively and effectively to achieve your goal.

History

Now we will know about history of Emotional Intelligence.

In elementary classes we have read about Charles Darwin (England Naturalist) who gave the scientific theory on evolution of species and diversity of life. First time in year 1900 he used the term Emotional expression for survival and second adaptation that how species use their expressions for surviving and adapting the environment. Traditional definitions of Intelligence focused on the aspects of memory and problem solving skills. However, some influential researchers believed that the Intelligence study had begun to recognize the importance of the emotional feelings.

For instance, as early as 1920, E.L.Thorndike (An American Psychologist who was the President of the American Psychological Association in 1912) used the term Social Intelligence to describe the skill of understanding and managing other people.

Similarly, in 1940 David Wechsler (Another American Psychologist who developed well known intelligence scale) described the influence of feeling factors on intelligent behavior, and further argued that our model of intelligence would not be complete until we could adequately describe these factors.

In 1983, Howard Gardner’s (An American development psychologist) who gave the theory of multiple intelligence introduced the idea of multiple intelligences which included both interpersonal intelligence such as the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people and second intrapersonal intelligence, the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and motivations.  In Gardner’s view traditional types of intelligence failed to fully explain cognitive ability or feeling ability.  But there was a common belief that traditional definitions of Intelligence were lacking in ability to fully explain performance outcomes.

The first use of the term Emotional Intelligence is usually attributed to Wayne Payne’s Doctoral thesis, a study of Emotion: Developing Emotional Intelligence from 1985. In 1990 Peter Salovey (The Professor in Stanford University) and John Mayer (Personality Psychologist in the University of Hampshire), and in 1995 Daniel Goleman (The Author, Psychologist and Science Journalist in The New York Times) put an EI model for understanding the Emotional Intelligence.

Various models and definitions have been proposed of which these EI model are widely accepted in the Scientific Literature.

Salovey and Mayer Ability Model of Emotional Intelligence.

Salovey and Mayer proposed a model that identified four different factors of Emotional Intelligence:

1.  The perception of emotions:The first step in understanding emotions is to accurately perceive them. In many cases, this might involve understanding nonverbal signals such as body language and facial expression.

2.  The ability reason using emotions:The next step involves using emotions to promote thinking and cognitive activity. Emotions help prioritize what we pay attention and react to; we respond emotionally to things that garner our attention.

3.  The ability to understand emotions:  The emotion that we perceive can carry a wide variety of meanings. Suppose if someone is expressing angry emotions, the observer must interrupt the cause of their anger and what it might mean.

For example, if your boss acting angry, it might mean that he is dissatisfied with your work, or it could be because he got a speeding ticket on his way to work that morning or he has been fighting with his wife.

Another example, A boy named (Ashraf) met his girlfriend and his girlfriend was angry, it might be possible that Ashraf was late at that point of time, or he was meeting her after a long period of time or he was not giving specific reasons to justify the situation or he was unable to satisfy her needs in other manners.

4.  The ability to manage emotions: The ability to manage key emotions effectively is a key part of emotional intelligence. Regulating emotions, responding appropriately and responding to the emotions of others all important aspect of emotional management.

Dr Daniel Goleman Mixed Model of Emotional Intelligence

The Mixed model of Emotional Intelligence introduced by Dr. Daniel Goleman that focuses on EI as a wide array of competencies and skills that drive leadership performance. Goleman’s model outlines five constructs that are divided into two sides/competencies.

The two sides of Emotional Intelligence

Personal Competence- How we manage ourselves

Self Awareness- The ability to Knowing your strength and weakness recognize their impact on others while using gut feeling to guide decisions.

Self Regulation- Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Adaptability or involves controlling or redirecting one’s disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.

Motivation- Drive, Commitment initiative, Optimism, Charisma. Drive yourself to achieve your goal.

Social Competence- How we handle relationships

            Empathy- Considering other people’s feelings especially when making decisions

Social Skills- Such as communication, Cooperation and leadership to managing relationships to move people in the desired direction.

Measurement  of Emotional Intelligence

According to John Mayer Ability testing is the only adequate method to utilize. Intelligence is ability, and is directly measured only by having people questions answers and evaluating the correctness of those answers.

And there are other methods to measurement Emotional Intelligence

1. Reuven Bar-On (LAW) Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): A self-report test designed to measure competencies including awareness, stress tolerance, problem solving, and happiness. According to Bar-On, “Emotional intelligence is an array of non-cognitive capabilities, competencies, and skills that influence one’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures.”
2. Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS): An ability-based test in which test-takers perform tasks designed to assess their ability to perceive, identify, understand, and utilize emotions.
3. Seligman Attribution Style Questionnaire (SASQ):  Originally designed as a screening test for the life insurance company Metropolitan Life, the SASQ measures optimism and pessimism.
4. Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI): Based on an older instrument known as the Self-Assessment Questionnaire, the ECI involves having people who know the individual offer ratings of that person’s abilities on a number of different emotional competencies.

Examples for Measurement  of Emotional Intelligence

Q1. You are in a meeting when a colleague takes credit for the work you have done. What do you do?

A.     Immediately confront the colleague saying that you did the research?

B.   After the meeting, take the colleague aside & tell him/her that in the future you would appreciate credit for the work you did.

C.      Nothing. It’s best not to embarrass colleagues in public.

D.    After the colleague speaks, publicity thanks him/her for referencing your work & provides additional details about the work.

Q2. You find out that the promotion you were hoping for was given to someone else. Your Response:

A.      You forget about it. You didn’t want the job that much anyway.

B.      You lock yourself in your office and cry.

C.   You obsess over what the other person had that you didn’t and compare yourself to him or her unmercifully.

D.     You continue to do your best; you know the next promotion is yours.

Q3. You are a college student who had hoped to get an A in a course that was important to your future career aspirations. You have just found out you got a C minus on the midterm. What do you do?

A.    Sketch out at specific plan for ways to improve your grade and resolve to follow through.

B.     Decide you do not have what it makes to make it in that career.

C.   Tell yourself it really doesn’t matter how much you done in the course, concentrate instead on other classes

D.    Go see the professor and try to talk her into giving you a better grade.

Q4. Suppose a boy going to propose a girl on Valentine day and on that day if girl rejected his proposal then what will he do?

A.      Will he choose another girl to show his love?

B.      Will he be getting depressing emotions for some time?

C.      Will he be creating problem for the girl and try to annoy her?

D.     Will he advise girl to be as friend if she can’t continue relation as GF-BF.

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (2009)

Introduction: In recent years, there has been a growing concern for improving the quality of achievement of all learners at elementary and secondary level. But this aim to improve learner’s quality and to universalize the improved quality is not being realized totally due to imperfect teaching – learning process and improper evaluation practices which are conventional and narrow in their scope. In order to bring some quality improvement, the National Policy of Education (1986) recommended that minimum level of learning (MLL) be laid down at each stage of primary education and that steps be undertaken in terms of teaching and evaluation to ensure that all students attain minimum level of learning.

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation introduced on 20^th September, 2009 and formulated by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibbal. And the first phase of teacher training was initiated in October, 2009 and carried on till December. In first phase the numbers of private independent schools covered were 6051 and the number of teachers and principals trained were 15497. This is the new teaching method introduced recently to decrease the accumulated stress of board exams on the students and to introduce a more uniform and comprehensive pattern in education for the children all over the nation. CCE helps in improving student’s performance by identifying his/her learning difficulties and abilities at regular time intervals right from the beginning of the academic session and employing suitable remedial measures for enhancing their learning performance. CCE is the modern method of evaluating all the prime dimensions of a student’s personality that of how much he has been through out.

What is CCE?

CCE is an education system newly introduced by CBSE in India, for students of sixth to tenth grades. The main aim of CCE is to evaluate every aspect of the child during their presence at the school. This is believed to help reduce the pressure on the child during/before examinations as the student will have to sit for multiple tests throughout the year, of which no test or the syllabus covered will be repeated at the end of the year, whatsoever. The CCE method is claimed to bring enormous changes from the traditional chalk and talk method of teaching, provided it is implemented accurately.

New scheme of CCE

As a part of this new system, student’s marks will be replaced by grades which will be evaluated through a series of circular and extra-circular evaluations along with academics. The aim of CCE is to reduce the workload on students and to improve the overall skill and ability of students by means of evaluation of other activities. Grades are awarded to students based on work experience skills, dexterity, innovation, steadiness, teamwork, public speaking, behavior etc. to evaluate and present an overall measure of the student’s ability. This helps the students who are not good in academic to show their talent in other field such as art, humanities, sports, music, athletics, etc.

Marks and Grades system in CCE

In CCE, the marks obtained in an exam are usually not revealed. However, equivalent grades, which would be deduced using a special method by the teacher during evaluation would be revealed. This is considered as a since a child with 92 marks will get the same grade as the child with 100 marks and their talents cannot be recognized by anyone else other than their teachers. Though this system might have some drawbacks it instills this value that students need to complete themselves to get a better grade and not with others. The grading system is as follows-

CGPA	Grade	Qualified?	Merited?
9.1-10.0	A1	Yes	Yes
8.1-9.0	A2	Yes	Yes
7.1-8.0	B1	Yes	Upon upgradation
6.1-7.0	B2	Yes	Upon upgradation
5.1-6.0	C1	Yes	No
4.1-5.0	C2	Upon upgradation	No
3.1-4.0	D1	Upon upgradation	No
2.1-3.0	E1	No	No
1.1-2.0	E2	No	No

Description with reference to English

Objectives of teaching English are framed in the light of overall environment of the child which includes social, political, national, cultural and economic aspects of life. Those objectives naturally include scholastic and non-scholastic areas. Through continuous evaluation judgment about the child is made continuously. The objective and efforts to achieve those objectives remain in the process of review and revision till the desired ends are achieved.

For more details refer book named “Communication in English” written by Dr. Shankar Mukharjee (Professor in Faculty of Education, Jamia Millia Islamia)

What are the practical problems in implementation of CCE

CCE has created more chaos rather than being welcomed by schools. The bewilderment it has generated is equivocal amongst school managements, teachers, students, parents, publishers and other agencies working in the field of education. Thus, there are schools demanding intensive CCE training for different stakeholders. Students feel that it will mean more assessments for them on an ongoing basis. Teachers feel that their work has increased tremendously with assessments having additional ‘descriptive indicators’.

It is shocking to look at some solutions that have immediately come up in the market like the CCE software which will help teachers grade the descriptive indicators. Such solutions further state that there is no need for anecdotal records; a software will grade all life skills, attitudes and values. Then, there are publishers who feel that adding more worksheets or assessments in books will make their books CCE-centered.

However, what is visible through all these efforts is the lack of understanding of the framework and ideology behind implementing CCE. Let’s examine some facets of CCE.

• Assessments should capture all three major goals of education – the psychomotor, cognitive and the affective.
• It does not imply breaking syllabus into smaller bits and testing students weekly through class tests because this is again paper and pencil assessment.
• It does not emphasize formal assessments only, rather assessments or observations are to be made in informal settings like break-time, in the corridor, in the playfield, etc.
• It goes beyond assessment as only a post-learning experience, rather it emphasizes on assessments to be made during the learning experience.
• It emphasizes on documenting the learner’s efforts in learning, processes of thinking to be captured through assessments.
• Emphasis is also on tailoring instruction according to different learning styles and assessing differentially. Differential assessments would mean giving more scope to learners to exhibit their understanding of concepts in a variety of ways like – role play, collecting material and displays, reading and writing tasks, surveys, presentations, etc. All these have to form a part and parcel of each theme that is dealt with in a classroom.
• Assessment to be continuous implies that children need to be assessed throughout the year through a range of tools and techniques.
• CCE tends to make assessments school-based and done by teachers. It does not mean increasing the subjective bias while assessing. Rather it implies that teachers need to corroborate their comments with concrete observations and anecdotes of learning.
• It also shifts the onus of assessing a learner not only to the class teacher rather assessment to be collaboratively done by all the subject teachers. Thus, this process of collaboration increases objectivity and validity instead of generating bias.

What goes behind the implementation of CCE?

Shared lesson planning: Time needs to be set aside for teachers to plan lessons collectively. Not only the same subject teachers, but also collaboration of resources ought to happen with teachers taking up different subject areas. This shall encourage cross-curricular exchange.

Reduced teacher pupil ratio: It is absolutely essential to have a small class, with the teacher-student ratio not exceeding 1:30 for effective implementation of the scheme. In the changed scenario, a teacher ought to maintain a number of records like child’s portfolios, anecdotal records, prepare checklists, rubrics for assessment. All this only becomes viable with a small class size.

Sustained reading time: It is often observed that classroom issues remain only the prerogative of the class teacher. Her action on day to day class issues is often left to her practical wisdom. There is never an effort made to allocate time for helping teachers read on fundamental classroom issues, explore different research areas. Thus, reading amongst teachers is dying out. It needs to be a sustained school routine where pedagogical issues are addressed.

Understanding pedagogy:As teachers it is important to understand different discourses in pedagogy. The field is evolving and thus even if we as teachers might have not undergone a formal course in the pedagogy of different disciplines, it is never too late to start reading to understand the learning process and how it relates to the child’s mind. An M.A. or any such degree in the core subject area, say for example English, or Physics, does not generally include and therefore does not assume knowledge of pedagogy. Nor does a B.Ed. degree make a complete course in pedagogy. There are different courses in pedagogy being offered for different disciplines and understanding of this is absolutely integral to teaching and evaluation of learners.

Flexible timetable: The implementation of the scheme also implies flexible timetables. Imagine the plight of the child’s mind buffering between different subjects one after the other, switching on and off within the span of 30 minutes. Further, to observe the processes of learning, every subject shall require block periods of at least one hour ten minutes to justify teaching, learning and simultaneous evaluation. In case of an outdoor activity, this time maybe extended.

There are many more systemic changes which ought to be in place before the implementation of CCE. Flexibility, change and willingness to learn are the key factors.

Bibiliography

1.     http://conference.nie.edu.sg/paper/Converted%20Pdf/ab00673.pdf(5th Dec’12)

2.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_and_Comprehensive_Evaluation(5th Dec’12)

3.     http://www.teacherplus.org/comment/impact-of-cce-in-schools(5th Dec’12)

4.     http://www.icbse.com/cce/introduction-cce-cbse-board-cce-guidelines(5th Dec’12)

5.  Elizabeth, M.E.S and Rao, Digumarti Bhaskara, Methods of Teaching English, Discovery Publishing House, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 (2007)

6.      Dr Shankar Mukharjee, Communication in English (2012).