Dalisay 1

Justin Dalisay

Professor Nancy Barber

English 101

April 27March 24, 2016

Shaping Another Generation

Principal Anderson, Dear Principal Anderson, upon reading the book Search Inside

Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan, I realized that there were life lessons in the book that could

possibly be implemented into young peoples lives (Specifically, to a class of kindergarteners);

specifically, a class of kindergarteners. Although the book was written towards young adults and

older readers, by rephrasing some of the lessons taught in the book to a lesson plan more

suitable for children, kindergarteners can learn important life lessons from the book if we

rephrase some of the lessons taught into a lesson plan more suitable for childrenthat would

benefit them in the long run. For example, Tan teaches us a term called emotional intelligence,

which is The ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate

among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions (10). The issue

with most people (including myself) is that they dont discover emotional intelligence until they

are much olderrealize how much or how little emotional intelligence they have until emotional

intelligence is defined to them. Some dont even discover it at all. By teaching kids positive

morals such as emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and even the affects of meditation while

they are young If we define emotional intelligence as well as other key terms from this book to

kindergarteners while they are young, itwe have the potential to will impact the way their

generation behaves in the future..

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The first lesson from the book I would teach a class of kindergarteners is self-awareness.

Self-awareness is a key attribute ofto emotional intelligence. However, when teaching it to kids,

I would call it The Emotion Game. The book teaches us that by being aware of our emotions

the moment they occur, we are not as immersed in them no longer fully engulfed in it (82).

The Emotion Game is a game where the entire class sits in a circle while the teacher sits in the

middle and reads 2-3 sentences that portrays one of the children someone in the class emitting

a certain emotion. For example, the teacher might say Johnny took Sarahs juice box without

asking for permission so Sarah yelled at Johnny. Is Sarah angry, jealous, or happy? The first

child to correctly answer angry would earn a point. In addition to answering a question

correctly, if a child can also create a positive solution to the problem, they get extra points. The

child with the most points is the winner of The Emotion Game and receives a prize. How would

this game help children gain self-awareness? The Emotion Game does 2 things: it helps children

be aware of a certain emotion and also helps them desire to solve the problem because the

emotion game gives them good practice to do both. By rewarding children for a positive answer,

they then associate seeing an emotion and correctly acting on that emotion with a positive

feeling of reward. Perhaps, in the future when a certain emotion stirs up in one of the childs

life, they recognize it and would then desire to act on it rationally in search of that positive

feeling again. Although, observing and solving someone elses problem is easier than solving

your own, the emotion game still teaches children the importance of being aware of an

emotion, which is key to gaining emotional intelligence. There is no guarantee that the emotion

game will solve a childs problem in the future however, it gives them a guide to encountering

the problem when it first comes up. Children are clever enough to understand the lesson of this
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game because they are said to be some of the most emotional human beings out there; they

can see emotions quicker than we think. By making children more aware of that, they gain self-

awareness. Along with learning self-awareness, they also need to be aware of what emotions to

feed and what emotions to starve.

Along with learning self-awareness, they also need to be aware of what emotions to

feed and what emotions to starve. The second lesson I would teach a class of kindergarteners is

to understand what emotions are good to keep feeling and what emotions are good to let go of.

Tan already teaches this lesson in a manner that kindergarteners would understand. He says

that one should pretend that monsters cause our distress (112). I would explain to kids that

emotions are like creatures; there are good ones and bad ones. Imagine that a flock of geese

continued to come to your house for food. If you keep feeding them, they will keep coming

back, but if you stop feeding them, they will go away. It is the same way with our emotions.

Some emotions are good to have, so you need to continue to feed them, but some emotions

are bad to have, so you need to starve them to make them go away. This analogy is easy for

kindergarteners to understand because they can connect real life emotions with fiction

characters. I would also show the Disney movie Inside Out to them because it depicts real

emotions as animated characters. The movie teaches the audience that its necessary to have

both good and bad emotions , however, it is important to know when they are needed or not.

The movie is a funny, family-friendly movie with morals that align to Tans teachings about

emotions such as the importance of anger, sadness, fear, joy, and disgust. The movie teaches

kids that each of these emotions are needed by showing how each of them contribute to Rileys

(The girl who hosts these emotions) childhood. Self-awareness and emotional stability are both
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important factors to emotional intelligence, however, there is one more key term to achieving

emotional intelligence.

The last thing I would take from the book to teach to kindergarteners is meditation (.

How do we teach kindergarteners to meditate? Well, first, take meditation in its simplest form:

its a state of complete calmness and resting of the mind. Im not saying to have children sit

crisscrossed apple sauced on yoga mats and to light candles around the room. What I intend is

to simply have kindergarteners sit in chairs or on the floor for five minutes in complete silence

and for them to just breathe and think about being calm. The trick is to give them the choice

between a 30-minute naptime or a 5-minute period of silence and clear thinking. Most children

would pick the uncomfortable silence over naptime. How would this benefit them? What if

theyre not intentionally trying to calm their minds, but instead just sit in silence? Even if it is

just 5-minutes of complete silence for them, the important thing is that it becomes routine. If

they get into the habit of doing this everyday, one day they might become accustomed to the

idea of sitting in silence for just 5-minutes every day. This routine also helps them embrace the

affects of silence. Silence has the power to calm the mind. However, one issue that we might

run into is that the silence might actually make some children antsy and even more hyper. The

trick is to give them the choice between a 30-minute naptime or a 5-minute period of silence

and clear thinking. Most children would pick the uncomfortable silence over naptime. As they

get older, they will begin to be more open-minded about this exercise and usefully think and

calm the mind. This is a clever way to get children to experience small forms of meditation at a

young age.
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One might wonder what the point of teaching a class of kindergartners life lessons that

are meant for adults might be. Although it sounds unlikely that kindergarteners even

understand,T the reason they would benefit from the lessons in this book is because they

remember much of what they hear. Children are observant and can be influenced positively or

negatively by what they see and hear. You would be surprised by how much children are

influenced by the morals they are taught at a young age. When I was a kid, my parents clearly

implemented positive life lessons such as honesty, kindness, and forgiveness into my life.

Although, at the time they might not of thought that I was learning the importance of those

lessons, I was and it shaped me into who I am today. However, Aas childrenthey grow older,

they are given the decision to follow or turn away from what they were taught. This is a decision

that is usually made in a pivotal point of their lives. For me, I made this decision when I got into

high school. I decided to follow the lessons I was taught when I was younger. By teaching

children them valuable life lessons at a young age, we are giving them the opportunity to

potentially ingrain positive virtues that could potentially shape who they become one day.into

their lives.
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Works Cited
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Tan, Chade-Meng. Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving

Success, Happiness (and World Peace). New York: HarperOne, 2012. Print.

Paragraph Analysis:

By revising this essay, I learned that I am often too vague when I am describing a specific

idea I have in an essay. I realized I dont give enough concise information when I am explaining

my ideas. I also learned the importance of verb and subject agreements. Twice in this essay, I

used a plural subject and a singular verb. This made my sentences hard to follow, which is

something I need to pay attention to better.