The way they make me feel Exploring teachers’ momentary emotional experiences in response to individual students

Today, behaviorally diverse classrooms elicit a wide variety of emotional experiences in elementary school teachers. From felt powerlessness and suppressed anger when a disruptive student does not listen, to enjoyment and feelings of connection during a good chat with a usually quiet student. Isolated emotional experiences might seem of minor importance. But when experienced on a daily level, they could have lasting consequences for both teachers and students. Daily emotions, for instance, may impact teachers’ occupational wellbeing and students’ engagement.
Given the diverse student population, it is not surprising that teacher-student interactions differ significantly across students in the same classroom. Accordingly, different students also trigger different emotional experiences in teachers. This dissertation aimed to gain more insight into teachers’ emotional experiences in response to classroom events with different individual students.
Findings indicated that teachers seem primarily emotionally affected by classroom events in which students threaten interpersonal relationships. Moreover, teachers’ emotional experiences in response to classroom events seem, in part, colored by how teachers generally view the student or their relationship with the student involved in the events. For instance, a student perceived as generally disruptive elicits more negative and less positive emotions compared to a less disruptive peer in similar classroom events. When teachers experience higher levels of negative emotions, especially anger, they also report lower occupational wellbeing. Taken together, results suggest that teaching one student may impact teachers’ occupational wellbeing more than teaching another. Supporting teachers in their emotional interactions with specific students may thus be a profitable challenge.