My Work Profile 3
Emotions on the Job
Created by Elana Himmelfarb May 2017
Applies To: Work and Career, Awareness Development and Executive Function, Self-Awareness, Critical Thinking
Purpose: To increase awareness surrounding one’s emotional experience of work, workplace social interactions and workplace environments
Objectives: To understand and connect one’s emotions to work-related experiences
- To predict one’s emotional reactions to work related stimuli
- To raise awareness of the importance of emotional regulation at work
- To identify potentially positive and challenging work scenarios to inform future internship matches and career development work
Materials needed:
- Provided Worksheet with images
- Provided Summary sheet (adjust spacing if printing these and filling out by hand)
- Talking points prepared for each picture that guide student to reflect on emotional reactions
- Pens/Pencils
- iPads (for those who prefer typing/FC)
- Blank paper for those who need to dictate to rewrite
- Energy and attention—a stretch or movement break as needed
Activity Steps:
1.Look at pictures of various work scenarios. Use descriptive language to identify the student’s emotional reaction to each environment, the task demands and associated social interactions. Be prepared to explain environments, tasks, and social demands consistent with each image to support comprehension – but continually reinforce that the focus is on the emotional reactions to each, and loop back to emotions if the student over focuses on facts
2. Capture emotional reactions to each image on provided worksheet as you progress through each image. If student has momentum and wants to keep going, see if they can generate more ideas for images to Google and continue as long as there is traction. This exercise is intended be stretched over several sessions depending on stamina and engagement, and can be returned to when new job categories arise as potential interests.
3. Making predictions and drawing conclusions: facilitate reflection on the various emotional reactions elicited and have student assess which work scenarios might be good matches for having a higher likelihood of a positive emotional experience on the job.
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