Dear Parents,
Today’s report will be co-authored by Bonnie and me, as I was with the children only till lunch. (I gave a guest lecture at Tsinghua University in the afternoon and had a private engagement during dinner.)
No morning exercise today and most children slept more. A few looked tired during breakfast; but most children are just fine. The big challenge today was that there was no electricity in the classroom building. We had to move our Chinese language classes to three dorms—A Class in Alex and Luran’s room; B in Ruiduan and May’s room; and C in Tian Laoshi and Felix’s room. It was a challenge but the children did fine.
The afternoon leadership training session started with a review of the three-step approach towards problems in life: make changes directly, make changed indirectly, and change your own perspective and/or behaviors. The children gave their own examples of how they had applied this approach solving real problems. Phil talked about how he’d been trying to eat healthier by changing his eating habit “directly” as well as soliciting his friends’ assistance by letting them challenge him. Luran talked about how he and his roommate resolved their conflict about the TV viewing time through the three-step approach…
The group reviewed the Learner’s Profile. Most of the kids can remember at least 7-8 of the 10 features. Most of them finished the essay last week applying some of these features in dealing with problems they had.
Then Bonnie brought out this week’s theme “Emotional Intelligence” and introduced the concept of EQ. Children first were asked to verbalize any negative emotions they have experienced, anger, frustration, jealousy, depression, shame, … The list was very long. Then they learned that “knowing your emotions” is only the first element of EQ. They learned about “managing your emotions,” “motivating yourself and marshalling your emotions in achieving a goal,” “empathy,” and “relationship” – the five elements of EQ definition. In discussing “empathy,” they discussed how to change the “Golden Rule” (Treat others the way you want to be treated) into the “Platinum Rule” (Treat others the way they want to be treated). Then they held discussions by group to come up with real cases in which they can use “empathy” to treat others respectfully and still get the problems solved.
In the end, each child assessed their own performance last week based on the 10 features of the Learning Profile.
May we all grow wiser as we grow older,
Bonnie and Agnes (aka He Laoshi)