Yaxche’s curriculum incorporates the teaching of Emotional Intelligence, or EQ (Mayer and Salovey, 1997). This experience-based program addresses a student’s emotional needs, building emotional literacy and creating conscious choice in thoughts, feelings, and actions. Research demonstrates that emotional intelligence is associated with academic success. Emotional literacy enhances learning, and emotionally literate students perform better on standardized tests, such as the SATs.

Facilitated by Amy McConnell-Franklin, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.Ed., Yaxche’s EQ professional development sessions give teachers tools to help students understand and communicate their emotions effectively. Parents attend at least three EQ seminars annually, to develop a school-home connection. Yaxche’s EQ parenting sessions are open to all Taos community members free of charge.

Dr. Franklin explains the utility of incorporating EQ in educating children:

“Children’s behavior is often their means of communication. Rather than just addressing the behavior, you can look for the thoughts and feelings motivating or driving the behavior. Merely managing behavior is a missed opportunity. When you are in an environment like Yaxche that strives, as a community, to understand the interrelationship between thoughts, feelings, and actions, the whole child is considered and engaged. Learning to be conscious of our own thoughts and feelings and choosing how to interact with others, rather than being at the mercy of emotions, prove to be sources of strength and insight and generate a positive atmosphere. The children’s self-awareness is contagious and impacts their proactive decision making.”

Mayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In P. Salovey & D. Sluyter (Eds.). Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence: Implications for Educators (pp. 3-31). New York: Basic Books.