“Our feelings are not there to be cast out or conquered. They're there to be engaged and expressed with imagination and intelligence. ”
— T.K. Coleman

Written by: Joshua Richardt, Elementary School Counselor at American Community School Tunis

For me, teaching kids about emotions is right up there with teaching them to read, tie their shoes, and understand that storing snacks inside their library books is a fast way to ruin both.

As an elementary school counselor, I’ve always believed in the importance of emotional literacy. So when Joy Marchese came to our school for a three-day Positive Discipline training, I figured I’d sit in the back, listen, and collect a few tips to help navigate the emotional rollercoaster that is school life. Naturally, things didn’t go quite as I imagined them.

Joy had other ideas.

Instead of quietly soaking up a few tips, I found myself in the middle of a game called Crossing the Line, miming and bribing like a silent film star, trying to get my partner to cross a rope without uttering a word. Some people quickly realized that if both partners crossed at the same time, they could both win—but that required trust and resisting the temptation to sabotage at the last second.

This wasn’t your typical “sit and get” training.

We played Rock-Paper-Scissors Math, tackled emotional problem-solving, and learned that connection—before correction—is key. By the end, it was obvious: self-awareness and self-regulation (of self and for our students) is the foundation for everything, and building trust often begins with simply listening—or, in our case, staging an occasional staff-wide rainstorm.

One big takeaway from the training was how kids express emotions through behavior. Because they don’t always have the words, those emotions often come out in less convenient ways (say, a hallway meltdown).

This is especially true at our international school, where many students are navigating English for the first time or adjusting to an English-speaking environment. When words fail, emotions don’t—and that’s when things can get interesting.

That’s when Joy suggested something that clicked: using real faces instead of generic emoji-style feelings charts might engage students in a way that feels more relatable. Familiar faces—the people they see every day—could be the key to helping them identify emotions. I took that idea and ran with it.

To create this “real faces” feelings chart, I recruited staff members who were already icons in the eyes of our students, from the principal to the music teacher.

Honestly, there was no need to convince anyone. When I floated the idea, everyone was immediately on board, eager to channel their inner actors for the cause.

We had the librarian clutching a Goosebumps book in sheer terror, the P.E. teacher nailing a perfectly confused expression, The Head of School feeling hopeful, and the elementary administrative assistant looking disgusted—like she’d just found a week-old tuna sandwich in the office fridge. Everyone understood the assignment.

The idea is simple: when students see the chart, they’ll not only learn to name their emotions, but they’ll also realize that the adults in their lives are on the same emotional rollercoaster.

If their P.E. teacher can feel confused, maybe it’s okay to feel that way in math class too. Instead of blank cartoon faces, they’ll see their principal beaming with pride, the art teacher flashing a winning smile, and me—mid-yawn, failing miserably to hide my end-of-day exhaustion.

Joy explained that, ‘Teaching emotional literacy helps us to “name it to tame it,” and allows children to get unstuck from their emotions, to regulate, and then to move on to focusing on solutions.’

At our school, emotions aren’t just tolerated; they’re celebrated. They’re as much a part of the day as snack time and world language class. And if seeing the librarian get goosebumps from Goosebumpshelps a kid feels a little less alone in their own swirl of feelings, then I’d say we’re definitely doing something right.