Defining Terms

In a recent Twitter conversation around this article on school violence, Lisa Corbett responded that she wished that everyone knew more about self-regulation, and Paul McGuire responded that he wasn't interested in the definition of self-reg as part of the discussion. This response surprised me.

I think that developing a common understanding of the vocabulary being used in a discussion is critical. Whether we are talking about self-regulation, technology, play-based learning, inquiry or any other topic, we need to ensure that we are all talking about the same thing.

The 2016 Ontario Kindergarten Program document contains six overall self-regulation expectations and eighteen specific self-regulation expectations which educators must understand, teach, document, assess, and evaluate. These expectations are based on Stuart Shanker's definition of self-regulation: “the ability to manage your own energy states, emotions, behaviour and attention in ways that are socially acceptable.”
 A recent study found over 600 definitions of self-regulation. In conversations with educators and administrators, it seems that people are using a variety of definitions of self-regulation instead of or in addition to the one in the curriculum document. Some of these definitions focus more on mindfulness, or are grounded in a self-control paradigm, or are part of a commercial program such as Zones of Regulation or MindsUp.


Will Rogers reportedly said: “You can’t teach what you don’t know any more than you can come back from where you ain’t been” 

Since self-regulation is central to a child’s capacity to learn and provides the underpinnings for essential skills needed throughout life, we need to ensure that all educators and the educational leaders who support them have a common, clearly articulated understanding of what is self-regulation and why it is important.

Educators with knowledge and training in self-reg, will be able to reframe their own behaviour and that of students as stress behaviour or misbehaviour. In cases of stress behaviour, they will follow the steps of self-regulation to recognize and reduce stressors, as well as reflect and restore themselves to a state where they are calm, alert and ready to learn/teach. 

As educators develop their self-regulation skills and note the impact self-regulation has on their ability to deal with stress, they gain a deeper understanding of why self-regulation is important, not only for their students but for the adults in the school as well. 

I agree with Paul - self-regulation will not solve all the problems that exist in our school system. But it can provide educators and students with a powerful tool to not just cope with the stressors in their lives, but to thrive.

One of the challenges of Twitter conversations, is the limit on the number of characters, so we aren't always able to clearly express our thoughts. Luckily Paul McGuire and Aviva Dunsigner have explored this topic of self-regulation and school violence in greater depth in their blog posts. I feel so fortunate to be able to engage in these great online discussions with educators who I may never meet in real life!