There are a couple of terms being used in some of our schools these days that you may have heard: Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). These two concepts have emerged from a growing body of research that is finding that many of our students benefit from having intermittent or regular opportunities for movement breaks and individual or small group social skill instruction. The mainstream support teacher at Jarvis Elementary, Christy Domonkos, has a strong interest in supporting these needs in the students she supports, as well as others at her school. Last year she had the opportunity to attend a series of workshops with the author of the book, The Zones of Regulation (the Zones), and has since become certified as an instructor for this program. In a nutshell, “The Zones is a systematic, cognitive behaviour approach used to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete zones. The Zones curriculum provides strategies to teach students to become more aware of, and independent in controlling their emotions and impulses, managing their sensory needs, and improving their ability to problem solve conflicts.” (http://www.zonesofregulation.com/)
This year, in consultation with the district occupational therapist, Jan Quinn, Christy has developed the Zone Room at Jarvis Elementary. This is a space where students are able to work with an education assistant (EA) to learn and utilize strategies for increasing their levels of self-regulation. This has been a low-budget initiative (there was an initial budget of $150), and has incorporated some supplies already available within the school as well as some donated materials. All EAs working with these students have been trained by Christy and Jan in order to learn more about the four Zones:
The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, explosive behavior, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone. A person is described as “out of control” if in the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions; however, one has some control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.
The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.
The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness, such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored. (http://www.zonesofregulation.com/)
These strategies have been linked to school-wide SEL goals, and since most students visiting the Zone Room have individual education plans (IEPs) to support their learning needs, the Zones and the Zone Room are included as objectives and strategies in their IEP goals.
To facilitate the use of Zones language by everyone, Christy recently held a school-wide assembly using a slideshow and video clips to teach and demonstrate the various emotional states of the Zones of Regulation. This helped increase the understanding of the entire school population that personal emotional control and self-regulation must be learned and practiced. Christy and the school counsellor, Arlene Bradley, are additionally collaborating to teach lessons about the Zones in the classrooms, as this program supports the district-wide initiative of the creation of SRL spaces to support all students with challenging behaviours.
When students and staff visit the Zone Room, they identify which zone they are in using a coloured ball system and staff sign in to track the time of day and specific activities the students perform. This data collection is helpful with identification of behavioural triggers (ex: a particular subject, like math, or transitions between activities) as well as what types of activities the student finds most effective and calming. After the student reports that they are in the Green Zone, they return to class. This typically happens within 5 – 20 minutes, based on individual need, so the students are out of class for relatively short periods of time. Zone tracking may continue within the classroom for some students, depending on their mood or behavioural presentation that day. Once back in the classroom, students are encouraged to use colour-coded strategy cards designed by Christy along with “tools” from the classroom-based toolkits to support their self-regulation throughout the rest of the day.
Christy consults weekly with the school-based behavioural EA, Tanya Hume, EAs working with the students and classroom teachers in order to review each student’s and the program’s progress. These conversations are extremely helpful with being able to proactively implement strategies that help reduce anxiety and escalating behavioural outbursts, such as allowing students to use the space to take a break. The Zone Room is already having a positive impact: students are increasingly able to stay in class longer where they are able to work on their IEP goals in-class and learn more effectively. The University of British Columbia has also been in consultation with Jarvis Elementary for observation and tracking long-term self-regulated learning for students in the primary classrooms.
What started as a strategy for mainstream support students is becoming more accepted as a school-wide support with posters in every classroom, and Christy is hopeful that they will be able to maintain the program and room for the coming years to support self-regulated learning of all students.