When I feel upset, sad or unfocused at school, I can…..

Self-management tools can help students stay calm and focused at school, allowing for motivating themselves and setting and reaching goals. Self-management allows students to follow through on plans to complete assignments, study for tests, and stay focused in class. Students with strong self-management skills follow directions, allow others to speak without interruption, and work independently with focus. Self-management is a key skill that will help you throughout your life.

There are many ways to help students realize and develop these skills. We are sharing just one strategy in this post.

Try this activity with your students to help them identify strategies to self-regulate., Ask students to brainstorm ways they can manage their emotions at school. A few ideas to do this are as a whole group, in small groups, or individually.

You may have to share strategies to get them started such as, “take three deep breaths, write down my thoughts and feelings in a journal to calm myself down, write down 3 positive things in my life that I am grateful for, etc.

Whole Group: Ask the students to share ideas for how they can manage their emotions. Jot these ideas as the group is sharing. Make sure everyone has a chance to share. This may mean using anonymous ways of sharing such as using a Padlet or other tech tool that gives all students a voice.

In small groups: Students use large poster-size post-its and share ways in which they can manage their emotions.

Once students are complete in their small groups, post the small group posters around the room. Have students do a gallery walk to each poster and allow them time to write down new ideas they find that may be helpful to them.

Individually: After the large or small group activity, have students write down strategies that may work for them. Have them keep this in a place where they can easily access it when needed.

Another idea is to take all the ideas and have students or yourself write them on a large poster to visibly post in the classroom as a reminder to students.

This is just one idea of bringing awareness to students and how they can manage their emotions to help them develop these very important skills. These ideas can allow students to learn from one another and also learn more about each other.

Share with others in your professional learning network an image of how your students worked through this activity to help develop self-management skills! Use the #BLinAction when sharing!