Troubled Hearts, Troubled Minds: Making Sense Of The Emotional Dimension Of Learning

In Troubled Hearts, Troubled Minds: Making sense of the emotional dimension of learning, Peter Nelmes delivers key lessons on how we can better connect with both the head and the heart during the teaching and learning process.

How are we to think of the disruptive or destructive child?

Drawing on over 25 years of experience working with children with challenging behaviour, Peter Nelmes argues that such children are members of a community who are possibly the least understood and accepted in society – and whose problems are often met with condemnation rather than understanding and support.

Through his insightful explanation of this phenomenon, Peter gives anyone who works with such children a framework for understanding how the heart and the mind relate to each other in practice.

Writing with warmth and compassion, he shares a range of real-life case studies which illustrate how emotional difficulties can often diminish a child’s capacity for learning and delivers key lessons on the importance of nurturing pupils’ self-regulation and providing them with supportive interventions.

Troubled Hearts, Troubled Minds is divided into two parts: the first comprising lessons from practice and the second looking towards a coherent theory that can then inform practice.

Part I begins by exploring the emotional background of teaching and learning, and the following three chapters enquire into the three components of shared meanings in the classroom: the teacher, the context and the learner. The final chapter in this section turns the focus onto what it means to attune to the emotional dimension of classroom interactions, putting greater emphasis on the lessons for practice.

In Part II, Peter explores the best modes of talk to use when teaching troubled children and presents a way of conceptualising all that has been described in the book into a simple theoretical model which educators can relate to and apply in their own setting.

If you have ever struggled to teach – or even just connect with – a troubled child, then this book is for you.

"Troubled Hearts, Troubled Minds is deeply rooted in Peter Nelmes’ extensive experience of working with children who have struggled in the standard mainstream schooling model. It is replete with warts-and-all examples and, refreshingly, Nelmes is very honest about his own past mistakes. He lays bare his learning from these experiences in a coherent framework that will influence your thinking, reduce your frustrations and improve your teaching."
- Jarlath O’Brien, author of Better Behaviour: A Guide for Teachers

"This book shines a spotlight on the complexity behind troubled behaviour and the skills needed to deal with it effectively. Using ‘creating shared meanings’ as the key concept to drive professionals’ actions, and writing with total authenticity, Peter Nelmes uses real-life examples to help the reader make sense of what is required. He also provides really helpful tips on how to work with a student’s internal dialogue as well as a range of other behaviour management and emotional well-being strategies. Heartbreakingly accurate in its description of ‘hard to reach’ children, unapologetically truthful in its commentary, and ultimately reassuring to all staff and agencies working in special education that their work makes an enormous difference to young people’s lives, Troubled Hearts, Troubled Minds is essential reading for all educators."
- Gill Kelly, Co-director, Making Stuff Better Ltd, educator, author and Independent Thinking Associate

"Troubled Hearts, Troubled Minds gives us a refreshing perspective from a teacher who has actually walked the walk and doesn’t just talk the talk. A true expert! Drawing from his years of experience working with ‘troubled children’, Nelmes is able to use anecdotes and real examples that focus on the reasons why children challenge their teachers and the education system. Without making excuses he skilfully explores how children’s anxieties, their traumas and their environments can manifest themselves in seriously challenging behaviour. He then explains how, after years of reflection, learning and soul-searching, he is able to deal with these disturbances and make a real difference to the lives of the children he has taught. Using real-life stories and examples from schools where he has worked, Nelmes draws upon the ‘nitty-gritty of practice’ that so brilliantly frames the work of teachers dealing with their pupils’ social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs. This is a book that should be read by any Ofsted inspector charged with inspecting an SEMH school, pupil referral unit or alternative provision setting, and by any teacher who has ever encountered challenging behaviour in the classroom. Troubled Hearts, Troubled Minds will restore your faith, help explain those dark moments, reinforce the reasons why you choose to do the job you do, and encourage you to continue."
- Dave Whitaker, Director of Learning, Wellspring Academy Trust