Self Management

Self management skills do not come naturally. Students need tools to learn to self-manage and maintain their desired learning state.

Here are some of the tools we use in Action Based Learning strategies

Metacognition the concept of thinking about thinking. Learning and practicing proper responses to environmental cues, such as how to be part of a group, prepares students to react more appropriately.Metacognition strategies boost problem solving skills academically, socially and emotionally

Awareness - being aware of how our bodies and brains work together can be used to calm down or energize appropriately. More body awareness also strengthens the part of the brain that is associated with interpretation of the emotions and bodily sensations of others which strengthens empathy.

Mindfulness - Implementing mindfulness strategies helps students pay attention to the information being taught, as well helps with calming their behaviors. Through research we can now see that even as little as 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation per day can, in fact, change the brain, through neuroplasticity. Over time, mindfulness meditation practice builds more connections between the areas of the brain, slows down the reactivity and increases the sense of the body as a whole. These changes can lead to greater emotional regulation and the capacity to tolerate the ups and downs of everyday life as well as the frustrations and setbacks that are simply a part of life.

A few things to understand about a child acting out, or behaving inappropriately...

Acting out, is a natural response.
Regulating behavior is a learned response.
If a child has not learned to practice metacognition, they will be unaware that they are acting inappropriately. In fact, on an innate level, their "bad behavior" is exhibiting a perfectly natural response to their environment.
Students will continue to behave inappropriately if they have not learned how to regulate their behavior. To help students, we must teach them about self-awareness and appropriate and inappropriate behaviors in different situations as well as metacognition, making students aware of their actions in the moment.

Understanding Emotions...

Joy, anger, surprise, disgust, sadness and fear are the six basic emotions our minds are hard wired with. Basic emotions are innate and universal, automatic and fast, and trigger behavior with a high survival value. For example, if you open a drawer and a lizard jumps out, your first reaction is to jump back in fear. The same goes for children reacting to different situations based on their environment. Implementing mindfulness strategies helps students pay attention to the information being taught, as well helps with calming their behaviors.

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ABL-102 THE 12 FOUNDATIONS OF LEARNING READINESS COURSE