A Conversation With Jon M Corippo

Why do you believe SEL and EQ are important?

Jon suffered bullying and a poor self esteem due to his years in k-12, and now as a teacher, he’s spent the last two and a half decades creating classroom techniques that result in positive classroom cultures that also maximize student performance at the same time. Early in his career, Roni struggled with the high stresses and demands of teaching even losing touch with why he wanted to be a teacher in the first place. It was so painful that he finally discovered the power of integrating mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and positive psychology in his own life as well as in his classroom and felt called to share this new approach with the world.

Do you have any personal anecdotes about how SEL/EQ has brought you success in your
personal life/career?

I love to keep this quote top on mind: Until the teacher and student are of one mind, the teacher is hammering cold iron. Teachers are not simply content deliverers, ideally teachers should be leaders of young minds – more like a youth group leader. When the teacher is truly engaged with the student, not just at a surface level – there’s a greater chance for empathy on both sides. And that understanding and empathy is critical to do really creative, insightful and challenging academic work. One begets the other.

What do you believe to be one or two of the main challenges in education (K-8) today?

Poor pedagogy, what Hattie and Fullan call the “tell and practice model”, combined with a simplistic view of the unique qualities and jagged creative talents of students in our classrooms. We are underserving our students academically and emotionally.

Conversely, what do you believe to be one or two of the biggest opportunities in education (K-8) today?

We have a huge untapped opportunity to “rescue” kids from poor classroom practice and systems which are failing to deliver the SEL support our students need. With just a few changes, our outcomes to be dramatically better!