RULER
The RULER Approach
RULER is a research-based approach to social-emotional learning from Yale University that teaches emotional intelligence to people of all ages, with the goal of creating a healthier, more equitable, innovative, and compassionate society. Emotions matter! Through the use of the RULER resources, East Elementary students learn to recognize, understand, label, express, and regulate their emotions ensuring they grow socially, emotionally, and academically.
RULER Skills
RULER is an acronym of the five key skills of emotional intelligence. Read about each skill below!
Recognizing
Recognizing emotions in ourselves and others allows us to:
- Better understand others
- Have positive social interactions
- Work well in groups
- Know when children need emotional support
Understanding
Knowing the cause of our own feelings and that an event may cause different emotional reactions in each person allows us to:
- Anticipate, manage, or prevent unwanted feelings in ourselves and others
- Promote wanted feelings in ourselves and others
- Support children’s emotional needs
Labeling
Knowing feeling words allows us to:
- Communicate our feelings
- Appropriately manage our feelings
- Help children learn new vocabulary to express their feelings
Expressing
Learning how to display our feelings helps us to:
- Appropriately act in social situations
- Properly model social behavior for children
Regulate
Developing strategies to manage feelings allows us to:
- Be more effective in reaching our goals
- Feel more, less, or the same of an emotion
- Make wise choices about how we respond to emotional situations