Latest Issue of the MindBrainEd Think Tank + (ISSN 2434-1002) 5 MindBrainEd Bulletin V4i5 Think Tank Emotion May | Page 7

steering mechanism won. Maybe she got up a little late, or she had trouble getting
her eyebrows right (caused by the avoidance), and she missed the train. So, she again
sank into despair and self-loathing and gave up on her efforts to be there.
…what students do is
driven more by the hidden
emotional residue of past
experiences than just
discipline and maturity.
The takeaway here is not to change your
policies on attendance, but to understand
that what students do is driven more by
the hidden emotional residue of past
experiences than just discipline and
maturity. Helping them overcome those
emotions is part of your job, too. There is
no simple formula for doing so.
Showing understanding, tolerance, and acceptance almost always works better than
punishment. In fact, many studies show that while punishment is good at stopping a
behavior it is counterproductive in promoting one. Failing students is the least
effective way to get them to try harder. Use reward and incentive instead. And, of
course, try to make your class the one that replaces any negative emotional residue
connected to English study with a positive one.
The necessity of emotion in learning. An even greater role emotion plays in the
classroom is with learning itself. Once you realize that emotional valences steer us
through life, then it makes sense that they also control what we pay attention to and
decide (subconsciously) to learn. Emotion does not play a critical role, it plays the
critical rol