Welcome to VIUBlogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Self-Regulation and the Zone’s of Regulation
I think a big part of incorporating self-regulation in the classroom, is making sure you set up your expectation and models up in the beginning of the school year. Making sure your students know what you expect from them, and what they should be expecting from each other. Of course, not every teacher decides that socio-emotional education is important, but if you were to decided to teach self-regulating, I think a step in the right direction is socio-emotional education. By teaching students the basics and making sure you model this “proper” behavior and how to recognize their behaviors and deal them. The Zone’s of Regulation is a key concept when teaching students about self-regulation. Each zone has a color that corresponded to the emotions that they are feeling (Blue- sad, sick, tired, bored. Green – happy, calm, okay, ready to learn. Yellow- frustrated, wiggly, excited, losing control. Red- mad, terrified, out of control, yelling and hitting). By teaching students what each zone means and what their emotions/ feelings correspond to you will be able to incorporate the Zone’s of Regulation in to your classroom. One thing I saw during my observations at Georgia was a thermometer with the zones labeled, so the blue zone was on the bottom (indicating cold) and then the green zone was places directly above, and then the yellow and with red at the top (indicating hot). Each student had a clothes pin with their name on it and each morning they would attached their clothes pin to whatever zone they were in. The teacher also added a character to each zone from the movie, “Inside Out”. I thought this was a really good way to connect students to the Zone’s of Regulation, and help them get a better understanding of their emotions they were feeling in the classroom. I also think its important that the teacher also uses the chart to demonstrate how they are feeling, and that even adults experience all kinds of feelings/ emotions that range all over the spectrum (or thermometer).
Why is Self Regulation Important?
I decided to do my inquiry on self-regulating in the classroom because in my previous practicum I had a class with little or minimal behavioral issues. Therefore I thought it would be important for me and my peers to understand why self-regulation is needed in the classroom, and why it is a skill that is equally as important as academics. Personally, I have never had this issue nor have I ever noticed it while going to elementary school. However as I go on in this program I notice it become more apparent in the classrooms. So what is self-regulation is why is it so important in the classroom. Self-regulation is a learning process that helps students manage their emotions and behaviors in the classroom. I really stress the importance to teach students these skills in the primary level because it I think it can really benefit them and their classroom community. After watching this video, I thought back to myself, and realized that even some adults (and even in university) can not regulate their emotions properly in a classroom setting. Subsequently, I really do think that self-regulation can be a very difficult concept to grasp as a child.
Digging Up the Roots
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” -Ignacio Estrada
Hello blog!
I have been spending these past couple weeks researching my inquiry on how to manage violent behaviours in the classroom and I have come to the conclusion that there are many different approaches depending on the root cause of the issue. My experience with violent behaviour in children have come from a wide range of situations whether that be in the classroom as a pre-service teacher, in the gym as a behaviour interventionist, or parent meetings as a person of rapport. From my own personal experiences and research, I have decided to discuss 3 main reasons for aggression within children:
- Complex Trauma
- Mental Illness
- Mental Disabilities
In each blog post I will be delving deep into each category, define them, outline strategies, and give resources. My goal is to shape my own understanding of classroom management and increase my ability to form an inclusive classroom.
What Reading Assessments Programs are Out There?
In this blog, I will be referencing both my experiences and research with the PM Benchmark assessment tool and the literacy company Fountas and Pinnell.
Along with a reading record or reading continuum assessment, some districts choose to also use a screener on their primary students. The screener is a compilation of different activities that help to assess phonemic awareness, letter recognition, and concepts of print.
In the PM Benchmark program, there are 30 levels from kindergarten to grade three, each level is accompanied by one book and a sample of about 100 words to determine the reader’s fluency and reading level (1-30). Does one sample on one book provide us with a fair understanding of where a child is in their reading? Would the child perform better if they are interested in the book, have personal experiences with the topic, or if the book felt more like a book they might read at home?
Screeners and running records tell us what level the reader is at, where they are with their reading, and where to go with future instruction. But what do these tools not tell us?
This question along with other questions such as:
How do these levels affect children?
How are reading levels used in schools around North America?
How accurate/ fair are these levels?
Will be addressed in future blog posts.