The Mood Meter for Google Sheets™ App
Enhancing Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom
Have you ever wondered how the emotional state of your students impacts their learning experiences? Or have you found it challenging to track and understand the emotional climate of your classroom? Today, I want to introduce a digital tool that could help us perceive and respond to our students’ emotions: the Mood Meter Google Sheets App. This project was inspired by Marc Brackett’s pioneering work with the Mood Meter, as outlined in his book “Permission to Feel“, and my passion for Google Sheets and Apps Script.
The Mood Meter was designed to elevate emotional awareness and enhance our overall well-being. Marc Brackett is the Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. He and his uncle developed the RULER method—an evidence-based approach to social-emotional learning. It focuses on improving 5 skills of emotional intelligence: Recognizing emotions in self and others, Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions, Labeling emotions accurately, Expressing emotions appropriately, and Regulating emotions effectively. Managing emotions effectively allows us to navigate challenges and setbacks with resilience and adaptability, fostering a fulfilling and harmonious life.
The Mood Meter Google Sheets app, which is currently in development, focuses on tracking and analyzing the emotions and moods of students on a daily basis. This can be particularly useful in understanding students’ well-being, identifying patterns or trends, and addressing potential concerns. It generates a heat map of the aggregated moods in each class over time, showing which emotions were more often felt over time. The student mood table tracks how each student felt each day and can provide valuable insights for teachers and administrators.
The tool I’m developing is an interactive version of Marc Brackett’s Mood Meter, enhanced with Google Apps Script. It enables concurrent editing by an entire class, providing a dynamic visual snapshot of the collective emotional state. This can be implemented in a Homeroom, Advisory, or other class setting.
The sheet records user data, generates daily and cumulative heat maps, and can manage multiple sub-sheets for educators overseeing various classes. Though we are on summer break and I’ve yet to test it with students, I’ve strived to make the code robust, anticipating a large group of students using it simultaneously.
Foremost in the design is the privacy and security of students’ emotional data. The tool ensures that such sensitive information is accessible only to authorized individuals.
Demo:
Detailed Walkthrough:
Understanding Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence (EQ) refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions, as well as understand and empathize with the emotions of others. It encompasses skills such as recognizing emotions, understanding their causes and consequences, accurately labeling emotions, expressing emotions appropriately, and regulating emotions effectively. Developing EQ empowers individuals to navigate emotions, build healthier relationships, and make informed decisions.
The Role of Emotional Awareness and Metacognition: Emotional awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence. It involves consciously recognizing and understanding our emotions, as well as the impact they have on our thoughts, behaviors, and overall well-being. By cultivating emotional awareness, individuals can develop metacognition skills, which involve the ability to reflect on and regulate one’s own thinking and learning processes. The Mood Meter serves as a powerful tool to enhance emotional awareness and metacognition, enabling individuals to explore and express their emotions more effectively.
The Power of the Mood Meter in the Classroom: The Mood Meter provides teachers with a valuable resource to gauge the emotional well-being of their students in an engaging and efficient manner. Unlike traditional methods of checking in on emotions, such as asking “How are you today?” or using simple thumbs-up, sideways, or thumbs-down indicators, the Mood Meter offers a technologically-driven solution that encourages active participation. Teachers can easily create a class-specific Mood Meter using the app, enabling students to select their current mood by clicking on corresponding checkboxes.
Data Aggregation for Valuable Insights: One of the key advantages of using the Mood Meter is its data aggregation capability. The sheet automatically aggregates and analyzes the data, providing valuable insights to teachers. By monitoring trends and patterns, educators can identify students who consistently experience negative emotions, detect classes that exhibit low energy levels, and gain a comprehensive understanding of the emotional well-being of their students. This information empowers teachers to offer timely support and interventions when necessary, leading to a more nurturing and inclusive learning environment.
Exploring Color Psychology: Colors play a significant role in the Mood Meter, representing different emotional states and energy levels. The hex color codes assigned to each quadrant (red, yellow, blue, and green) were chosen to reflect the emotional experiences associated with different energy levels and pleasantness. The heat map creates a visually stimulating and educational experience. Exploring the impact of colors on emotions enhances students’ understanding of color psychology and contributes to their overall emotional awareness.
Empowering Homeroom Teachers: Homeroom teachers, in particular, can greatly benefit from using the Mood Meter as a tool to monitor the emotional well-being of their class. By using the Mood Meter, teachers can efficiently gather data about their students’ emotions and energy levels without relying solely on verbal or non-verbal cues. This technology-driven approach provides a comprehensive view of the emotional climate of the classroom, fostering empathy, open communication, and targeted support for students.
Conclusion:
The Mood Meter offers a powerful platform for enhancing emotional intelligence, fostering emotional awareness, and promoting metacognition skills. Its gamified and interactive nature engages students, enabling them to explore and express their emotions effectively. Homeroom teachers and educators worldwide can harness the power of the Mood Meter to create inclusive learning environments, gain insights into students’ emotional well-being, and provide targeted support.
By integrating the Mood Meter into their teaching practices, teachers empower students to navigate emotions, develop essential social-emotional skills, and lead happier and more fulfilled lives.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this tool. How do you think it could be improved?