Beyond Behaviour Charts

In my work as a consultant, I wish I had thought of using a behaviour chart like this with educators.  What better way for them to see and feel the impact that this approach can have on student engagement and motivation. Imagine if at your next staff meeting your administrator called you out in front of all of your colleagues and made you move your clip for scrolling through email on your cell phone, digging through your purse, or talking to the educator seated next to you.  And imagine how much more upset you'd be if your transgressions were actually work related - checking email for a field trip confirmation, looking for a pen to write notes during the meeting, talking to your colleague about the meeting content!

Behaviour charts do not help educators to determine the underlying causes of behaviour.  Instead of dealing with the problem, we are only reacting to the symptom.  If we don't address the cause, the 'problem behaviour' is most likely going to continue to happen.  So the child who is rummaging through their desk when the teacher is teaching a lesson - maybe they are looking for a pencil because it helps them to remember instructions if they write them down, maybe they need a fidget toy in their hands to help them listen - we'll never know if we don't ask.

And while behaviour charts may shame students into compliance, they do not help students to develop skills they need to be successful in school and life, like self-regulation.  Often, instead of focusing on the behaviour, the use of behaviour charts focuses on the child. The child who is frequently moving their stick into yellow or red is seen by their classmates and, often in their own mind, as 'the bad kid.'  

See Aviva Dunsiger's great blog post on this idea: When and How Do Perceptions Matter?

For the child who is seldom asked to move their clip, having to do so can impact their learning for the rest of the day.

So what can educators do instead of using behaviour charts?

• when thinking about student behaviour, ask 'why and why now?'  All behaviour is communication, so what is the student telling us with this behaviour? 
• reframe behaviour: Is this stress behaviour or misbehaviour?
• keep conversations about behaviours private, when possible
• build community in the classroom rather than compliance. A great resource for this is Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community by Alfie Kohn or the articles listed below
• help students to develop skills of self-regulation in age appropriate ways. What does calm feel like? How does being calm help them learn? What helps them to feel calm? What are classroom appropriate ways that they can use to manage their energy states, emotions, behaviour and attention in ways that are socially acceptable in the school and classroom context?
• read and reflect on our own practice.  

Here are some articles that discuss why to remove behaviour charts as well some alternatives to use instead. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments or to send them to me in a DM. 

Tear Down Your Behaviour Chart by L. Jung and D. Smith, Educational Leadership, September 2018

Hey Teachers, Stop Using Behaviour Charts. Here's Why from PBS

Death to the Behaviour Chart! 3 Reasons to Resist the Lure of Punishments and Rewards - Education Week Teacher

5 Reasons I'm Against Behaviour Charts (What I Do Instead) from WeAreTeachers.com

When Behaviour Charts Don't Work, Throw Them Out from Edutopia

Step Away From The Stickers - a previous blog post I wrote for the MEHRIT Centre

NOTE: Jon's original tweet generated a lot of discussion on Twitter and, if you follow him, you can see the responses he posted to clarify his Tweet.  His post, and my blog, are not meant to blame and shame teachers but to prompt educators to reflect on what we do, why we do it, and the impact our actions may have on our students. 

Creating Opportunities for Sharing

Since we know that supporting adults and students with self-regulation is so important, we were asked in our course this week to think about 'what are the barriers to supporting others in developing their understanding of self-regulation? and then to brainstorm when we might be able to create opportunities to share our knowledge of self-reg and how we can reframe behaviour as stress behaviour rather than misbehaviour, and then go about recognizing and reducing stressors for students.

In an earlier post, I shared some of the barriers, so this post we are going to look at the opportunities to support others, including parents and educators, in developing and deepening their understanding of self-reg.

Some of the opportunities we identified included:

If the teacher is able to engage in discussion, then we can talk about 'what is your goal?'  Just like our students, teachers are not ready to engage in discussion if they are dysregulated themselves. Here's an example from my work as an education consultant.  A kindergarten teacher complained that a student wouldn't sit for whole group time (sometimes called 'circle time') and he was always disruptive.  The only thing that would work was if he sat at a nearby table and played with play doh.  If she did that, he would sit, play with the play doh and listen to what was happening at the whole group.  If she tried to get him to sit at the carpet, he would run out of the room and down the hallways.

So I'm thinking, great - you've already solved this problem.  What do you need me for?  But the teacher was really focused on having him sit at the carpet.  That was her goal.  We had the discussion - why do you want him to sit at the carpet?  Well, that's what they are supposed to do.

Is it disrupting the other students when he sits at the adjacent table?  No.

Are the other students asking to sit at the table because he is at a table? No.

Is he able to listen and learn when he is at the table? Yes.

Can we try letting him sit at the table during group time for a week and see what impact it has on him and also on you?  Okay.

So we did.  And not only was he able to sit and be part of the class, but it really reduced the teacher's stress because she wasn't worrying about him bolting from the class.  She was much more relaxed when she was teaching so group time became more enjoyable for her, for Jacob and the rest of the class.

Sharing our own self-reg success stories from our personal self-reg journey may encourage others to try self-reg themselves. I have used this blog and other social media like Facebook and Twitter to share my self-reg learning journey. By articulating the stressors that we observe - how we recognize and reduce stressors in our own lives, others may begin to recognize and reduce stressors in their own lives. And once they see how self-reg works for them, they will be more willing to try self-reg with their students or their own children.  

Suggestions from others included:

Create opportunities to gently challenge a perspective or belief in a way that creates just enough dissonance for the person to feel the impact of the concept of Step 2.  This is so powerful but such a tricky 'sweet spot' to find. You want to push their thinking far enough to cause some dissonance and create an impetus for change.  I think that's the good stress Stuart Shanker is often talking about - stress that creates growth. Yet you have to be careful not push them so far that you've created too much stress and they go into 'fight or flight' or freeze.

Another suggestion is to edit language choices, protocol descriptions, etc in documents used within the school, the district and with parents. Language is a powerful yet subtle way to promote thinking and this method can be a terrific accompaniment to more overt teaching.

Opportunities to teach the science of self-reg as well as the five steps at regularly scheduled meeting as the brain science behind why self-regulation works can inspire and persuade some reluctant educators and parents.

Modelling self-reg practice for teachers and parents is another practical strategy. If we have an opportunity to show someone how self-reg can help return a child or adult to calm, then we can ignite their curiosity to learn more.  Articulating what we are doing and why we are doing it is part of this modelling practice.

Using the increase in social media attention on the topic of stress - on Twitter, Facebook and other discussion boards and blogs - to heighten interest of our colleagues. Mental health and well-being is 'a hot topic' right now.   

What strategies have you used to share the principles of self-regulation? How can we support teachers and parents with looking at stress behaviour vs misbehaviour; co-regulation instead of punishment; self-regulation instead of self-control?

Barriers to Self-Regulation

Since we know that supporting adults and students with self-regulation is so important, we were asked in our course this week to think about 'what are the barriers to supporting others in developing their understanding of self-regulation?'

Barriers:

I think one of the big barriers to developing others' understanding of Recognizing Stressors in The Shanker Method is the self-control paradigm and all of its accompanying beliefs and practices.  If a child is disruptive in class, and someone (the VP, the support worker, whomever) comes and helps the child by using the steps of self-regulation, this is sometimes upsetting or disappointing to the teacher who is firmly entrenched in the self-control paradigm.  It's not enough that the disruptive behaviour has stopped and that the child (and the classmates) can now learn.  There needs to be a consequence!  He/She must be punished!  It's not about digging deep to find the stressors causing the problem and then reducing them so the child can be calm and ready to learn. It's about applying the rules.  

In addition, if I am a teacher moving from self-control to self-regulation as a way of looking at classroom behaviours, then that is going to have a huge impact on my practice.  In the self-control paradigm, as the teacher I may have a role to play in terms of creating a behaviour plan and handing out rewards or consequences, but the majority of the work for changing the behaviour rests with the student.  If it's a self-regulation paradigm, that changes my work as a teacher.  I need to be a stress detective, and then when the stressors are identified, I need to be part of the solution of reducing those stressors.  If the child is stressed by all the visual clutter in the room, and the bright lights and noise, then I need to make changes, not the child.   

Another barrier is the confusion around 'what is self-reg?.'  There are so many different ideas about what is self-reg and so many different resources that teachers may feel overwhelmed or may look for a product with flashcards and posters rather than learning the Shanker method of five steps.

Other barriers that were mentioned included the disregulation of the staff, especially now at this busy end of the year time.  This disregulation doesn't allow them to reframe student behaviour. When they are feeling tired and overwhelmed, they fall back on what they know - behaviour management and control. 

Time is also a barrier - so much curriculum to cover; no time to stop and reframe, recognize, and reduce stressors for disruptive students. 

What barriers have you noticed?

The Summer Symposium this year, on July 4 - 7 at Trent University in Peterborough, is about "Bringing Down Barriers." After analyzing all the feedback about barriers our Self-Reggers have come across along their Self-Reg journey, MEHRIT centre staff identified 10 key areas which are critical for understanding Self-Reg and moving beyond some of the barriers regularly experienced when embarking on a Self-Reg journey. As well, the final day will be focused on bringing energy to your self-reg initiatives. 

Next post, we'll look at creating opportunities to support educators and parents in developing their understanding of self-reg.

Five Misconceptions about Self-Regulation

A short video blog on Five Common Misconceptions about Self-Regulation

5. It's  about stuff - exercise bikes, glitter bottles, etc

4. It's only for kids with formal identification such as ADHD, ADD, ODD

3. It's just for kids

2. We do self-regulation as a whole class

1. It's about controlling your behaviour and your emotions

View the video on youtube at https://youtu.be/XHE1pBdOO9I

(Please excuse some of my editing errors - I'll do better next time!)

Self-Regulation and Mindless Eating

When I was working full-time I would come home from work and, sometimes before I'd even changed my clothes, I would head to the kitchen for something to eat.  I would often just stand in the kitchen and graze - eating crackers from the box, a slice of cheese, cookies, whatever.....  If you had asked me an hour later what I had to eat, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell you.  It was truly mindless eating, and I look back now and realize I was definitely in the lower right box of the Thayer Matrix  - high stress all day at work and then coming home as a single parent to two busy teenagers.  I have no family here in the city so I was pretty much on my own for dealing with any minor or major issues with the kids, the house, the car, etc. Definitely high tension/low energy by 5 pm.

Recently the urge to snack and the mindless eating have been late at night. I had been looking at those cravings through a self-control lens but I decided this afternoon to try to look at them through a self-reg lens.  At first I thought, you can't be/shouldn't be low energy, high tension, you're retired!  But there are still stresses in life, even when you're retired:

• after six months of working close to home, my husband has been back to travelling all the time for work since early January.  He is usually gone from early Monday morning to late Friday night, and sometimes longer if there are flight delays, etc.  This means I'm in charge of anything that goes wrong with the car, the house, etc unless it can wait till the weekend
• since I'm retired and hubby's away at work and my kids are both away at university/college, I'm alone a lot more and that's stressful.  I volunteer, and I meet friends for lunch and all of that, but compared to when I was working, I'm still adjusting to the reduction in social contact in retirement
• being alone at night is more stressful than during the day.  Our house is old and there are weird noises at night!
• my mom passed away in December 2014 and there is some residual stress from that to deal with
• my dad is on his own and has some health and mobility issues.  I'm fortunate that my dad also has support from my brothers and sisters-in-law, but there is the stress of making sure he is taken care of - shopping for groceries, cooking meals, running errands, paying bills, and worrying about his mental and physical well-being.  Every time the phone rings and I see his number come up, I hope it's not someone calling to tell me the ambulance is on the way.  It's happened before; it will likely happen again.
• all the fun physical stresses of menopause - hot flashes, night sweats, slower metabolism, insomnia
• I submitted the first draft chapter of a book to a publisher who said he'd get back to me in a week.  It's been three weeks.  He must hate it. What was I thinking?
• studying for my doctorate online through Western.  It's starting to get real, the courses are getting harder, there's so much more writing, I have to defend next spring.  What if I fail?  What was I thinking?

Funny how I am getting better at looking at other people's behaviour with 'soft eyes' but sometimes have a hard time doing that for myself.  I really thought - you're retired, you shouldn't have stressors. I wonder how often people think, 'he's only in kindergarten.  He can't have stress.'  

Anyway this reflection today was very timely since I was beating myself up last night for giving in to my cravings. After eating healthy all day, at about 9 pm I had a glass of red wine and ate a very large Hershey Kiss that I bought as a Christmas stocking stuffer for my husband.  Since he hasn't eaten it by now, I'm hoping he forgot about it.  Change 'son' to 'husband' and this may be my life when he gets home!

Self-regulation and Procrastination

Inspired by my amazing colleagues, I decided to write a professional learning book based on a journal article I wrote last year and began the process with a book proposal to a publisher during Christmas Break.  This is part of my One Word Challenge - to stretch myself out of my comfort zone.

I submitted the proposal and the publisher was interested.  They requested a draft chapter by March 20.  I wrote the first draft by mid-February and sent it to two of my colleagues for their input. I respect both of them as educators and writers, and I knew they would give me the honest truth.  They sent me their suggestions and I got right to work on revisions.  Within a short time, I had revised everything except one section - about two paragraphs.

And that's when the procrastination started......

After a few days of diligently working away at revisions, I came to a screeching halt.  I moved my work down to the dining room table so I couldn't avoid seeing it all day, every day, but I kept avoiding those last two paragraphs.

Then I saw this on Twitter:

and I had an aha! moment.  How could I reframe my writing and more specifically my procrastination through a self-reg lens?  Why was I procrastinating?  It seemed to be causing stress but was it also a way of avoiding stress?

The last section I had to revise was about teacher self-efficacy.  One of my reviewers has just published a book on teacher self-efficacy.  So who am I to write about that when she's written a whole book?   I've read some articles and understand the theory behind it, but obviously she knows more than I do and I should probably just stop before I reveal my inferior knowledge to everyone.  I think there was a bit of imposter syndrome happening for me.

And secondly, once that section was done it would be time to submit this draft chapter to the publisher for peer review and committee consideration.  Maybe they'll say 'yes' and then I'll have to revise and revise again for this chapter PLUS I'll have to write the rest of the chapters.  Or, maybe they'll say 'no' and that will be so disappointing.  So by not finishing this draft chapter, I may have been trying to avoid the anxiety of clicking submit.

This self-reg lens helped me to understand why I was procrastinating. Instead of beating myself up for my lack of willpower and self-control, which I had been doing for days, I understood the reasons for the procrastination.  And once I did, I was able to finish the revisions in one night.

This morning, I mustered my courage and clicked send.  Draft chapter one is on it's way out into the publishing world for consideration and review, and hopefully, acceptance.  And best of all, I get my dining room table back!

I put the leaf in but still managed to cover the entire surface.
Luckily no one else was home this week.

Self-Regulation vs Self-Control

Through the self-reg courses that I've taken so far I've been working on deepening my understanding of "what is the difference between self-regulation and self-control?"  Here are some of the resources from the MEHRIT Centre and Stuart Shanker's work that have been supporting my thinking on this question:

This infographic on Self-Regulation and Self-Control from the MEHRIT centre has helped me to continue to refine my understanding.

from self-reg.ca

Psychology Today article - Self-regulation vs. Self-Control 

NPR - Why It's Self-Reg, Not Self-Control, That Matters Most for Kids


Stuart Shanker's book: How to Help Your Child (and You) Break the Stress Cycle and Successfully Engage with Life

I've also learned from reading other people's blogs about the same topic such  as this blog by Aviva Dunsiger on The Connection Between Self-Regulation and Self-Control.   

and The Visible Parent Blog - Busting the Myth of Self-Control

My understanding is still developing; I'm a learner not an expert.  I'm sure if you ask me this same question six weeks or six months from now my answer will have changed based on my ongoing learning.  My current explanation, when people ask what's the difference is:

Self-Regulation is non-judgementally looking at your impulses and cravings and asking why and why now?  It takes into consideration the social dimension, external factors and hidden stressors.  With self-regulation we learn to be stress detectives.

Self-control is judgmental. It focuses on why you as an individual can't control your impulses and your external behaviours.  In self-control we ask what's wrong with me? Why can't I control myself?   Self-control focuses on internal factors and on learning to control your weaknesses. 

Self-control is about inhibiting impulses and cravings while self-regulation is about reducing impulses and cravings by developing awareness of our stress levels and learning how to return to a calm state when we are hypo- or hyperaroused.

Many times in our readings we are reminded that self-regulation makes self-control possible.  

How do you explain the difference between self-reg and self-control?

What resources have you found helpful in learning more about self-reg and self-control?