Ever tried to teach self-regulation? We have noticed that self-regulating is one of the hardest skills for students to learn and it is arguably the single most important factor in helping students focus and concentrate. We, as a staff, have come up with a plan to teach it to our students!
We are a K-8 school in a low income neighborhood.
Our students struggle with transition and self-regulation, any kind of transition, but especially after physical activity. Knowing how important physical activity is for learning and the brain, we as a staff are using movement breaks.
The transition back from physical activity is key. We want to keep their brains activated and engaged yet be able to transition back to classroom activities for the academic learning, without losing the stimulation. They need to be able to self-regulate. One transition activity we are teaching for self-regulation is regulated and diaphramatic breathing. We use regulated breathing not only after the brain break but after other difficult transitions such as movement through the hallway, returning from recess or PE, and after lunch. We are being trained on the brain breaks and self-regulation techniques and need the equipment to help the students with the visual part of the breathing techniques.
My Project
The breathing sphere is equipment that provides a visual of breathing and at the same time captures the attention of the students. Using it signals them it is time to regulate their breathing and to focus their attention on the classroom, all non-verbally. The sphere manually expands and contracts and can be used by the teacher or a student who has that responsibility, to calmly get the class' attention. They are hand held. When the leader is inhaling, they expand the sphere, and when they are exhaling they shrink it back to original size. The group sees this and begins to follow.
Students will learn to self-regulate their behavior through breathing first in a class setting, then individually but still with their class, and finally by themselves.
Students will also learn that they are responsible for and in total control of their own behavior and will be empowered by the fact that they can self-regulate.
The entire staff is being trained on teaching self-regulating techniques to our students.
We will be using it with all students consistently. Our goal is to have students be able to use movement and brain breaks to get their blood flowing and activate brain cells without wasting time to have them settle down afterward. This will not only save time and gain more teaching time, it will help eliminate behavior problems in the long run.
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