TEACHING FEELINGS 101

SPURRED BY A BEST-SELLING BOOK, MANY SCHOOLS AIM TO RAISE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. IT MAY BE WORKING

Patrice Edwards teaches second grade at Beecher Elementary, a public school in New Haven, Conn., where most of her students wear maroon-plaid uniforms. That's the first indication that something unusual is going on. Here's the second: on a recent September morning, as the 25 children in Edwards' class sat cross-legged on the floor passing a big blue ball around, they whispered compliments to each other. "You're a nice speller." "You've got pretty handwriting." "You are a good artist." A soothing calm settled in the room. For the moment, traditional academics were nowhere to be found. Edwards says the kids are learning...

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