At the beginning of every class I check-in with my students. I want to see how they are feeling both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Check-ins help me build relationships with my students and lets them know I care about them. I want them to understand that I am always there to listen and support them and that I authentically care about them as a person. Currently, I do this through the Zones of Regulation which is an amazing visual for both my students and me.
The Zones of Regulation is a systematic approach used to teach students self-regulation by categorizing all the different emotions they are feeling into four colored zones. The red zone is used to describe feelings of anger, rage, feeling out of control, feeling terrified, etc. The yellow zone describes feelings of frustration, fear, anxiety, excitement, etc. The green zone is where we would like our students when learning. This zone is depicted by feelings of calm, focus, and feeling ready and eager to learn. The blue zone is used to represent feelings of sadness, sickness, boredom, tiredness, etc.
The zones teach my students to become more self-aware of how they are feeling in the present moment and allows me an opportunity to give my students different tools to maneuver through the zones to help them manage their emotions. Throughout the day, students may fluctuate between many different emotions and zones. There are no bad emotions or zones. Our job as educators is to teach the students strategies so they can effectively regulate these emotions. As they enter my gym, they “tap in” to tell me how they are feeling at the moment. I have posters attached to the entrance of the gym and the students will touch pre-pandemic, or elbow tap (i.e., post-Covid), the zone in which they currently find themselves. After “tapping in” they immediately engage in a warm-up activity. This might consist of a jog around the track, tag game, or instant activity. An instant activity is a task students begin immediately upon entry into the gym, such as a warm-up.
When the students are engaged in the beginning activity, I walk around to check in with them. I always attend first to any students who tapped into the red or yellow zone. These are students who are feeling frustrated, anxious, angry, etc., and most in need at that moment. This gives me some time to talk to them about what’s going on in their life and offer strategies to help, such as advice to help them solve a problem or strategies to help them cope with and manage their emotions. I address any students who tap into the blue zone next. I want to assess if they are feeling sick, injured, or maybe just tired. I may have to adjust or modify their physical activities for the day depending on the information they give me. Lastly, I check-in with the green zone students. These are the ones who are ready to learn. I may ask about a sports event they were involved in the other night, what’s happening in school, ask about a new pet, etc. I want all the kids to know I care about them and always have their best interests in mind. Usually, my check-in with the green zone students happens through-out the class period.
I was blessed to be introduced to Yoga 4 Classrooms through my district and I became certified in Yoga 4 Classrooms a year ago. Through Yoga 4 Classrooms, I learned invaluable strategies the students can use to help them focus, calm down, energize, gain perspective and clarity. The Yoga 4 Classrooms curriculum and the Zones of Regulation marry perfectly together! The Zones teach students to identify the emotions they are experiencing and the Yoga 4 Classrooms curriculum offer tools to maneuver through the zones effectively. The Yoga 4 Classrooms curriculum sells activity cards that combine Yoga and mindfulness to help support students with social and emotional learning.
After the beginning activity, where I check-in with my students, I have the students report to their floor spots for attendance. During this time, the students are instructed to practice one of the Yoga 4 Classrooms strategies (previously taught), that correlate to the zone they are currently in (see below poster). For example, if the student feels they are in the red zone, they are instructed to “stop” and perform a “Balloon Breath” to calm and center themselves to move from the red zone to either the yellow zone or the green zone. If the students are in the yellow zone, they can do a “Flying Bird Breath” to move from the yellow zone to the green zone. If the students are in the green zone, they can perform a “Half Sun Salute” to stretch and release anything that doesn’t serve them positively in order to maintain the green zone. If they are in the blue zone, they can perform an “Energizing Bunny Breath” to help clear their mind and move from the blue zone to the green zone. The below poster is hanging all around my gym to remind the students what strategies would be helpful to move from the different zones. For a link to the instructional cards for each of the below activities, click here.
Once the students learn one strategy for each zone, then I will slowly introduce more strategies. This allows the students more options to choose from to see which technique works best for them. Below is the poster I hang around the gym after all the techniques have been taught and I want to give students more choices.
It is extremely important right now to address the Zones of Regulation during the pandemic. Students are experiencing greater anxiety due to their daily routines being disrupted, fear of loved ones or themselves getting sick, and experiencing the constant focus of the media and daily conversations. Children do not know how to take a break from it all. Many parents are having a hard time dealing with the pandemic and they may be inadvertently passing on this anxiety to their children. In addition, we have a lot of students who are remote learning and because of this, they do not have as many opportunities to build relationships with trusted adults. We need to teach students strategies to help them take care of themselves and manage their emotions through these difficult times. Teaching one tool a week would go a long way in helping students manage emotions.
Resources
For more information about the Zones of regulation, visit https://zonesofregulation.com/index.html
For more ways to implement SEL strategies into your classroom, view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvDnsKjExaA&feature=youtu.be
Here you will be able to view the B.R.E.A.T.H.E presentation my friends Lori Bifarella, Tom Micucci, and I presented at the EPWP conference over the summer. For more great presentations, visit https://epew-cp.weebly.com/tuesday-july-21.html
— Contribute an Article on HPE —
Contact: pheamerica20@gmail.com
