Author: nicolebentley

What new professional learning did you acquire as a result of this project?”

The Writer’s Self-Regulation Project gave me a deeper understanding of stress and how it impacts behaviour. This project has expanded my classroom management skills to include new ideas and strategies about teaching students to self-regulate. Following our learning about identifying the domains of stress, naming the stressors and noticing them in the moment, I became a stress detective. I collected data, watched for trends and recurring stressors, which provided me the knowledge to co-regulate with the students in order to reduce the stress. My learning progressed throughout the year, as our team met, observed, discussed and expanded our knowledge through reading, research and conversations. Our presentations to educators at different schools generated excellent conversations and strengthened the network between educators with a common goal.

What was the impact of your TLLP learning, if any, on your students? How do you know?

Throughout the year, I observed students becoming increasingly aware of what they needed to be calm. As I learned to be a stress detective, I used variety of strategies to co-regulate with the students. The data collected presented stressors in common domains across the classroom and I used a pro-active approach to present lessons and role playing activities to address those needs. As I identified effective techniques to meet the needs of individual students, I was able to use the appropriate strategy immediately when needed. The end result was a faster turnaround time for students to return to being ready to learn.

What questions or goals do you have to sustain your learning? What are your next steps?

Starting next school year with this knowledge, what will the results be beginning the year as a stress detective? Each new class has different learners with unique needs. My goal is to continue the work we have begin, getting to know the students and any stressors they may have as I build classroom community in September. Also, I will be noting common areas that I can address through whole group lessons, as well as self-regulation strategies that work for the whole class. This will lead to a pro-active approach to meeting students needs. A combination of applying these strategies, as well as supporting and co-regulating with students as individual stressors arise, will build each student’s repertoire of strategies that work for them, as they learn to self-regulate.

During the holidays, I had the opportunity to observe self-regulation beyond the classroom.

I traveled to Cuba and upon arriving at the airport, there was quite a long line waiting to clear immigration.  In front of me was a family of two parents and three children.  One child, about 7, was poking his siblings and name calling, clearly bothering them.  After the sibling asked the other child to stop, the parent stepped in, asking them to stop.  When this was not effective, the parent threatened that the child would have time-out when they arrived at their hotel.  This also did not stop the child’s behaviour and it continued the entire time we waited in line.

My learning through this self-regulation project had me looking at this situation through a different lens.  It was an early morning flight and the child likely did not get enough sleep.  Then, they spent 4 hours sitting, had a different eating schedule and were still dressed for Canadian weather while in a tropical country.  We were entering a strange country which would have created uncertainty as well as the excitement of new experiences.

While there was nothing that could be done about the line however, there were things that could have been done to lessen the child’s stress.  Examples include, a change of clothing or snack, engaging the child in a discussion “I can’t wait to get to the hotel!  Should we eat first or go swimming?” Another option would be to give the child a task, “Can you count how many people are in front of us?”

My learning on self-regulation provided many other options to react aside from a time-out that may have achieved better results.