Saint Andrew School in Drexel Hill
Team Members: Karen Tomasetti, Marijo Tomasetti, Stefanie Wetzel, Kathy Huff
Community: Archdiocese of Philadelphia Year 1, 2010-2011
How does the teacher’s emotional intelligence affect classroom atmosphere increasing positive student behavior and performance? The results of our 2009-2010 academic year’s “We Teach We Learn” surveys prompted us to explore the issue of emotional intelligence in the classroom. Survey responses strongly indicated a disconnect between what the faculty and students perceived relating to relationship (faculty awareness of the “whole” child, i.e., students’ interests, activities, etc.). Additionally, the need for professional development re: personal evaluation and possible strategies to deal with an increasingly diverse student body has become evident. As a result, we chose to launch an ongoing professional emotional intelligence development project with the long-term objective of evaluating and improving the relationships between faculty and students, among the faculty, and fostering increased student achievement and positive behavior.
About Action Research Projects
Action research is a process in which Powerful Learning Team members collaboratively examine their own educational practice systematically and carefully. Action research is:
- Disciplined inquiry into a problem or possibility within the school or classroom
- Collaborative and usually takes place in a community of practice
- Meaningful, positive, and reflective
- Data-driven, action-based, improvement-focused
- Transformative
