Why Emotional Intelligence Might Be the Most Important Skill We Teach
Hey friends,
Let’s have a heart-to-heart about something that’s been quietly shaping our classrooms for years, long before we had a name for it: emotional intelligence.
You’ve seen it. The student who suddenly learns to pause before reacting. The one who finally finds language for what they’re feeling. The quiet child who steps into the spotlight of a class skit and surprises everyone—including themselves. These are the moments that matter.
So let’s talk about what happens when we stop treating emotional intelligence like a bonus and start treating it like the backbone of what we do.
The Big Picture: Why EQ Belongs in the Art Room
The world is changing—fast. And while academics still matter, so does the ability to manage emotions, empathize with others, and communicate effectively. This is especially true in the early years, when kids are forming not just habits of learning but habits of being.
In Ukraine, educators leading the New Ukrainian School reform have embraced a bold idea: emotional intelligence (EQ) isn’t fluff—it’s foundational. It’s right there alongside math facts and reading fluency. It’s even woven into national education standards.
The question isn’t should we teach emotional intelligence. The question is: how can we do it better?
What the Research Shows: Creative Pedagogy Works
A recent study involving over 140 primary school students explored what happens when you embed creative pedagogical practices into everyday lessons—across subjects, not just in “soft” spaces like literature or art.
The result? Students who were taught with dramatization, improvisation, art-making, and storytelling showed measurable gains in empathy, emotional regulation, and communication. In other words: their EQ went up. And these weren’t just one-off moments of insight—they were consistent, observable changes over time.
What stood out most wasn’t just what was taught, but how it was taught.
It Starts with Us
Before we go deeper into strategies, here’s the truth: none of this happens without emotionally attuned educators. That means we, too, need to be doing the work.
As the researchers put it, emotional competence isn’t just a bonus trait in teachers—it’s a requirement for cultivating the same in students. The more we model self-awareness, active listening, and vulnerability, the more our students learn to do the same.
So let’s make space to check in with ourselves, too. The curriculum can wait five minutes for a breathing break.
What It Looks Like in Action
You don’t need to overhaul your entire classroom to start weaving in emotional intelligence. The study outlined specific practices that have big impact—and many of them will feel familiar (because we already do so much of this intuitively as art educators).
Here’s what helps:
Dramatization
Turn stories, poems, or even historical events into mini stage performances. Let students explore voice, tone, and gesture. When a child pretends to be a character, they don’t just learn—they feel. This helps them build empathy and recognize emotions in others.
Improvisation
Give your students permission to explore without a script. In movement, in conversation, or even in visual journaling. Improvisation encourages self-expression and emotional agility, especially when it’s celebrated—not graded.
Artistic Interpretation
Use art to reflect inner emotional states. Create "mood portraits" or color-coded collages based on how they’re feeling. Let students draw, paint, or sculpt an emotion—not just a person or object. This builds emotional vocabulary and self-awareness.
Pair and Group Work
Working with others—especially when it involves shared decision-making—teaches compromise, communication, and perspective-taking. But here’s the trick: it only works when the culture is safe enough for risk-taking.
Emotionally-Tuned Texts
Use literature that evokes real feeling, then pause and ask: How did that make you feel? Why? Have you ever felt that way? You’re not just deepening comprehension—you’re deepening connection.
Multi-sensory Integration
Play music before or during work time. Use dance or movement to reflect narrative shifts in a story. Sensory experiences anchor emotional learning in memory. We feel it and we remember it.
Even Math Can Feel This Way
Here’s something unexpected from the research: emotional intelligence doesn’t only grow in the art room—it can be developed in math class too.
How?
Use real-world examples that tie into students’ lives.
Offer reflection prompts: How did it feel to solve that problem? Frustrating? Satisfying?
Embrace collaborative problem-solving.
Celebrate process over perfection.
Even in left-brain-heavy subjects, the right environment and tone make all the difference.
Games, Fairy Tales, Cartoons, and Yes—Puppets
The Ukrainian model emphasizes something we too often brush aside: the power of play.
Games provide opportunities for emotional risk in low-stakes ways. Fairy tales offer metaphors that help kids process complex emotions. Cartoons help them see emotional nuance in exaggerated form. Puppets allow students to say things they’re not ready to say out loud.
These aren’t distractions from “real” learning—they are the real learning.
Measuring the Magic
The researchers used empathy as a key indicator of emotional intelligence. And guess what? The students who engaged in these creative, emotionally-tuned strategies made significant gains compared to their peers in the control group.
This wasn’t accidental.
It was the result of intentional practices, layered over time. Practices that saw students not just as academic performers—but as full human beings, capable of deep emotional growth.
A Reminder for All of Us
You might not be part of a nationwide educational reform like the New Ukrainian School. But you don’t need to be.
In every sketchbook, every class discussion, every choice-based project, you’re already building something far more powerful than a final grade: you’re building emotional fluency.
And in a world that too often asks kids to mute their feelings in favor of performance, your classroom becomes a counter-narrative—a place where joy, grief, frustration, and hope can live together on the page.
Final Thoughts (and a Gentle Invitation)
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the buzzwords—EQ, SEL, trauma-informed teaching—just remember this:
You are already doing the work.
Your art room is already a safe space.
You are already a steward of emotional learning.
All we’re doing now is naming it. Honoring it. And saying: yes, this matters.
So here’s your invitation—to keep going. To keep feeling. To keep creating spaces where students don’t just learn how to make art—they learn how to be human.
Because emotional intelligence? That’s not an extra. That’s the point.