The RULER Approach

Students need more than warnings about harmful online spaces. They need tools for the feelings those spaces exploit.

Building on .brackett’s new Education Week essay, we think schools have to move past “be careful online.” When “I was just joking” protects harm, when belonging comes at someone else’s dignity, and when shame gets turned into contempt, adults need more than concern. They need language, routines, and the confidence to interrupt the script without turning every moment into a lecture.

Emotional intelligence and digital literacy belong in the same conversation. Read Marc’s full essay in Education Week and bring this conversation into your school community.

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-a-school-leaders-guide-for-countering-the-manosphere/2026/04

We forget that teachers are feeling the school day too.

If Teacher Appreciation Week only rewards endless calm, we miss the harder human work happening in classrooms every day. Students are not learning from perfect adults. They are learning from adults who can feel pressure, care, concern, frustration, and all the things a school day brings, then pause, name what is real, repair, and keep the room safe enough for students to do the same.

Debra Turner () reminds us that RULER is not just language students use. It is a culture adults live in front of them. helped build the foundation for it, and .brackett and RULER keep asking schools to take this seriously.

How can we support students navigating AI while strengthening authentic connection at school?

Join us, May 13 @ 3 PM ET, for a RULER webinar focused on emotional intelligence, AI use, and keeping human relationships at the center of school communities.

👉 Register on RULER Online. https://ruler.online/login

If you’ve been around schools long enough, you know some thank-you notes are not really about the lesson at all. They are about what a student was living through while the lesson was happening.

Ms. Alicia shared one of those notes, and it opens up a bigger question for Teacher Appreciation Week: what do students actually carry with them when the year is over?

Not only who taught the content, but who made school feel less lonely, who helped them stay connected to themselves, and who made them feel more at home in who they are. .brackett, , and Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence have been asking schools to take that part of teaching seriously, too.

Thank you, Ms. Alicia, for sharing such a beautiful story with us.

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