As children return to school in September, many may find it hard to stay focused for extended periods of time, or may need more emotional support than usual. This is to be expected after a long period of learning from home in lockdown.
What can teachers do to help? One way to provide emotional support while also helping children to take responsibility for their own learning and development is to start incorporating the ideas around self-regulation theory in your classroom.
What does this mean? Self-regulation is the ability to identify one’s current emotional state. When you can do this, you are then able to identify when you are not in a state of calm and engage in behaviours to help bring yourself back to that calm level.
For example, a child entered my classroom one morning in tears. He told me he was sad about being late. I suggested he take a walk to the water fountain, have a drink of water and return to class. When he returned, he was no longer in tears and was ready to begin the day.
The idea of self-regulation is that an individual can do this independently without intervention. We are not born with these skills; we need to learn them. We learn that the walk to the water fountain allows ourselves to take a few deep breaths and the drink of water helps us stop crying. These behaviours helped that pupil return to a state of calm.
As teachers, we are responsible for teaching children these lifelong skills so they can act independently in their day-to-day existence.
Self-regulation strategies
So, how do you do this? Here are five simple self-regulation strategies that you can employ next term.
1. Mental health ‘check-in’ board
Each morning, the children arrive at school, enter the classroom and need to “check-in” with how they are feeling in the morning by placing a card with their name or face on a list of emotions. This will allow you as the teacher to understand the emotional state each child is in before even beginning the day, as well as allowing you to get ahead of any potential meltdowns and deal with them in the moment.
For the children, this repetitive behaviour will also help them develop the subconscious habit of identifying their own emotions without someone prompting them.
2. ‘Calm down’ cards
A handy resource to have is a pre-made set of “calm me down” cards.
These are laminated cards (which can be downloaded for free here) with actions on them. A child can pick and execute an action to help them get back to that calm state. By choosing the card themselves, they are identifying with a behaviour they need to engage in that will help calm them down, which is the basis of self-regulation.
3. Movement breaks
We ask a lot of our pupils to sit in a chair for hours on end and remain at optimum concentration efficiency. By incorporating movement breaks between lessons, children can move their bodies, close the chapter on a completed lesson and then start the next lesson with a refreshed spirit. Try creating a set of movement cards. A pupil randomly picks a card and the whole class executes the action on that card before the next lesson begins.
4. Water breaks
This sounds simple, but a water break can be the saving grace for a pupil who is struggling in the moment. When you see a child is not coping, offer them a chance to go and get a drink of water. It is amazing to see how magical this strategy can be.
5. Emotion check-ins throughout the day
When you notice a pupil is having a difficult time, ask them to show you the emotion they are feeling. This could be by using an emotions fan or by asking them to pick a colour from the self-regulation zones of proximity. Ask them why they are feeling that way and then what they think they could do to get them back to calm (or the green zone).
Any task that you do in class that allows children to identify what they are feeling and pick a behaviour to help remain in a calm state, is the foundation of self-regulation. Give it a go and see the wonders it can produce.
Shayleen Slade is a SENCO in a North London all-through academy
