The Role of Student Needs

2a. What does the following phrase mean, and what you think about it? “…emotions trump learning.”

Emotions trump learning is a simple way of saying that children can not direct their energy and attention to learning when they do not yet feel safe, secure, and cared about in a classroom setting.

This relates back to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Children need to have their most essential physical and emotional needs met before they can turn their attentions to learning academics. I really like the way the book elegantly sums this up: "if a child feels unsafe, threatened, or insecure, the brain blocks off the pathways to learning and attends to the more basic human needs instead.

I feels like this makes it clear why so many students are unsuccessful in the academic settings. It isn't that the majority of those students are dumb or unmotivated it is the fact that these students have more essential things to attend to before their focus can shift to learning math or grammar rules. This is just another reason why it is so important to know our students and their needs so we can help them feel safe and secure and unblock the pathways to learning.