How can the latest breakthroughs in the neuroscience of emotional
learning transform the classroom? How can teachers use the principles
and practices of positive psychology to ensure optimal 21st-century
learning experiences for all children? Patty O'Grady answers those
questions. Positive Psychology in the Elementary School Classroom
presents the basics of positive psychology to educators and provides
interactive resources to enrich teachers' proficiency when using
positive psychology in the classroom. O'Grady underlines the importance
of teaching the whole child: encouraging social awareness and positive
relationships, fostering self-motivation, and emphasizing social and
emotional learning. Through the use of positive psychology in the
classroom, children can learn to be more emotionally aware of their own
and others' feelings, use their strengths to engage academically and
socially, pursue meaningful lives, and accomplish their personal
goals.
The book begins with Martin Seligman's positive psychology principles,
and continues into an overview of affective learning, including its
philosophical and psychological roots, from finding the "golden mean" of
emotional regulation to finding a child's potencies and "golden self."
O'Grady connects the core concepts of educational neuroscience to the
principles of positive psychology, explaining how feelings permeate the
brain, affecting children's thoughts and actions; how insular neurons
make us feel empathy and help us learn by observation; and how the
frontal cortex is the hall monitor of the brain. The book is full of
practical examples and interactive resources that invite every educator
to create a positive psychology classroom, where children can flourish
and reach their full potential.
