The Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Kinship: Lessons My Students Taught Me

Abstract

For all students, cognitive and social and emotional needs go hand in hand. Teachers of academically advanced students should address these intertwining needs in ways that are sensitive to what is unique about how these students think and feel. Over the years, my students have taught me several lessons about how to do just that. These lessons have prepared me to respond better to students’ perfectionist tendencies and their belief that school should be easy, to keep students engaged, to support the particular learning styles of my female students, and to help students be comfortable with their abilities. In this article, I explain how each of these lessons relates to students’ cognitive, social, and emotional needs and offer suggestions for helping students deal with each issue. In each explanation, I draw heavily on what many of my former students have shared with me.