Model for teachers to recognize and enhance emotional intelligence in themselves and urban students

Research studies investigating emotions has revealed a link to intelligence. Teachers face an abundant amount of challenges in urban settings. Many teachers in urban settings reach burnout and leave the profession within the first three years. Without developing a specific set of skills, teachers may not be equipped to handle the emotional load of teaching. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to explore how teachers conceptualize their own levels of emotional intelligence and their ability to recognize the five domains of EI in urban students. The research encompassed a qualitative examination of the behaviors teachers observe in urban school students associated with emotional intelligence. Research methods included: (a) an EI survey, (b) classroom observations of the teacher, (c) one on one descriptive interviews, (d) a pilot study, (e) and qualitative grounded theory processes. Through analysis of the data and the grounded theory design six, significant, emerging themes derived from the teacher participants. Based on the findings there is a need to advance emotional intelligence within urban settings, explore the phenomena of human interaction and social processes, and improve emotional intelligence in teachers. The population of teachers in the study varied in content area and years of teaching experience. The resulting themes supported the development of a theoretical model to illustrate how teachers can recognize and enhance emotional intelligence characteristics in urban students.