Emotional Intelligence Curriculum
The study of human behavior. The development of independent thought.
Who am I? What shapes the way I think and feel? How do I understand another person’s perspective? What makes a relationship meaningful? How do I build a life that reflects what matters to me?
At Middlebridge School, these questions are part of the curriculum.
Our signature Emotional Intelligence program engages students in the daily study of human behavior, relationships, identity, and purpose. Students examine the connections between thought, emotion, and action, and how their choices influence the people and communities around them.
Through discussion, reflection, mindfulness, and experiential learning, students deepen their self-awareness and develop their voices as leaders. They practice communicating with conviction, considering different perspectives, navigating conflict, and bringing people together.
Students explore what they stand for, how they want to lead, and where they can make a difference. They put their ideas into practice in their academic pursuits and relationships, while shaping their ambitions for college, careers, and community life.
Self, Society & Human Behavior
Identity & Self-Knowledge
Exploring how experience, beliefs, and learning shape identity. Students examine their strengths, question assumptions, and develop the self-understanding to articulate their needs, advocate for their ideas, and pursue their goals.
Emotion & Human Behavior
Studying how emotions influence perception, motivation, and judgment. Students explore the connections between thought, feeling, and action, and practice strategies for managing emotional responses, navigating uncertainty, and making thoughtful decisions.
Mindfulness & Attention
Exploring how attention shapes awareness, experience, and response. Through mindfulness and reflection, students practice observing their thoughts, sustaining focus, and responding with intention.
Communication & Perspective
Examining how people express ideas, interpret meaning, and understand different viewpoints. Students develop empathy through listening closely, considering others’ experiences, presenting their thinking, and engaging thoughtfully in disagreement.
Digital Culture & Media
Investigating how online environments shape what we see, believe, and share. Students examine credibility, persuasion, digital footprints, and the influence of social media on public conversation.
Ethics & Relationships
Considering questions of trust, boundaries, and responsibility in personal relationships and digital communities. Students examine how their choices affect others and what it means to act with integrity.
Leadership & Collective Action
Exploring how individuals build trust, contribute ideas, and work toward shared goals. Students practice collaboration, navigate competing perspectives, and consider the responsibilities of leadership.
Purpose & the Examined Life
Investigating what makes a life meaningful. Students connect their values, interests, and ambitions with choices about education, work, community, and the contributions they want to make.
Psychology & the Brain
Studying anxiety, stress, and the relationship between mind and body. Students examine how psychological experiences affect daily life, consider attitudes toward mental health, and explore approaches to well-being.
Knowing what you stand for, and understanding how you affect others, is central to leadership.
Students explore their strengths, values, and motivations while examining how emotions influence their decisions. They practice expressing their ideas, recognizing assumptions, and responding thoughtfully under pressure. This work helps students develop a leadership approach grounded in self-awareness, sound judgment, and responsibility.
Leadership Begins with Self-Knowledge
Understanding Others. Building Connection.
How do you earn trust? What makes collaboration successful? How do you move a conversation forward when people disagree?
Our curriculum examines the communication and relationship skills behind these questions. Students practice listening closely, interpreting context, articulating a point of view, and considering another person’s experience. Through discussion and role-playing, they explore how to navigate conflict, establish boundaries, and build meaningful relationships.
These are skills students bring to a classroom discussion, a team, a friendship, and any setting where people work toward a shared goal.
Inquiry in Practice
Emotional Intelligence asks students to examine ideas, explain their thinking, and put their understanding into practice. Daily classes combine guided discussion, reflection, mindfulness, and experiential exercises.
Students consider different interpretations of a situation, rehearse challenging conversations, and use feedback to refine their responses. Units typically unfold over four to six weeks, giving students time to explore a subject in depth and connect it to their experiences.
Improvisation & Creative Risk
Our collaboration with the Contemporary Theater Company in Wakefield, Rhode Island, brings the study of communication into performance.
Improvisation asks students to listen closely, think on their feet, and build on another person’s ideas. Without a prepared script, they must make decisions, adapt to changing circumstances, and contribute to a shared creative outcome.
The stage becomes a setting for practicing leadership: knowing when to step forward, when to support someone else, and how to move a group’s work forward.
Leadership as a Life Skill
How do you bring a different perspective into a conversation? Move a group through disagreement? Speak up for an idea while remaining open to others?
These are the everyday demands of leadership. Throughout the Emotional Intelligence curriculum, students develop approaches they can bring to academic discussions, collaborative projects, friendships, and new opportunities.
As they consider college and careers, students connect their strengths and values with the communities they want to join and the contributions they hope to make.
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