When students chronically misbehave and act disengaged in school, how do we know what they're really feeling? In this article, Marc A. Brackett and Dena Simmons of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence describe how understanding the science of emotions can help both students and teachers take charge of their emotions to achieve their goals. Emotional intelligence, write the authors, comprises five key skills: recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotions. Teachers should not only attempt to cultivate these skills in their students, but should also ask themselves how well they model these skills. Although U.S. schools have not traditionally devoted much attention to emotional intelligence, research showing how it improves learning may be turning the tide and leading more school districts to adopt evidence-based approaches to social and emotional learning.