Student Contributor: H. Tate
The cool-down buddy tool is a corrective strategy that can help students who are going through emotions during class time and need a chance to cool down. When the student is upset, they can quietly walk to tap their cool-down buddy on the shoulder, and walk to the designated cool-down spot in the classroom together.
With this tool, students are able to tap a friend on the shoulder and go to the cool-down corner together. Going to the cool-down corner individually can be done as well, but the cool-down buddy’s job is to help the other student regulate their emotions by asking them questions. Questions like these can be helpful for the buddy to ask: how do you feel? What will help you get back on track? A few other things the cool-down buddy can do are to draw a picture with the student, listen to a song together, or even use given strategies to cool down. Having a buddy present can help the student regulate their emotions, reflect on their actions, and have someone to talk to. Something that I suggest doing is making sure you let the students know that whatever happens in the cool-down corner, stays in the cool-down corner. This is so other students in the classroom refrain from asking what’s happening and what they are talking about in the cool-down corner.
The phase of management this goes along with is both the supportive phase and the corrective phase. Having a buddy to talk to in the cool-down area is helpful where the student can talk to a peer about what they may be feeling and what things may work to calm them down. This tool is in the corrective phase because big emotions can occur during class time, so it's important for the student to be able to tap a buddy on the shoulder and go back to the cool-down zone to reflect on their behavior, whether that be inappropriate, negative, or overstimulation. This tool can support students when they are in the classroom and need to cool down with someone they know at a point in a lesson or activity. This is a student-directed tool because students are able to go to the cool-down corner on their own, manage their emotions, or regulate their behavior.
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Tool Source: This idea came from my mentor teacher
In my classroom, I thought that this would be a real good idea to try out. I am placed in a 1st grade class which men that this is the first year in a school for the majority of my students. All my students are between the ages of 7-8 and I have 18 students in my classroom. They all have big emotions sometimes and they need someone to talk to. I introduced this idea to a group of my students that would benefit the most from it. I would see that if they were overwhelmed they would take the initiative to find a stuffy and sit with it for a while. After my student would share their feelings with their chosen stuffy they were able to join the class again and be fulling engaged. After my mentor and I saw the benefits we introduced this strategy to the whole class. Every single one of my students loved this because they could hug the stuffy the whole time and they were able to say anything they wanted.