Author: James Park, Marilyn Tew

By helping students to recognise, understand and handle emotions - their own and others' - we can build their self-esteem, improve their confidence and pave the way for them to become educationally and socially successful. The authors use case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of helping children to feel CLASI - Capable, Listened to, Accepted, Safe, Included. There are chapters on building relationships that support learning, on nurturing 'open' conversations, on working effectively in groups and on classroom organisation. Sections on using stories to build emotional literacy and on emotional literacy in the staffroom emphasise the need to keep the bridge open between the thinking and feeling parts of the brain. A reliable and authoritative Pocketbooks that, as one literacy coordinator told us, guides newcomers while stimulating and reinvigorating those already familiar with the field.