Student Contributor: Yulianna Godinez
It calms down students while also giving them a brain back to help them zone back into the task at hand.
– This is a corrective phase, calming down strategy. When students become too loud and rowdy, my mentor teacher does this creative strategy that works so great. First you call the students’ attention and have them become silent. Then, have students hold out their arms (palms facing down), then have them overlap their arms, then have them interlock their hands, and then finally have them fold their arms into their chest. Once students have their arms folded and interlocked, she has them slowly take 3 deep breaths in and out. Sometimes when they’re too rowdy, she will have them then unlock their arms and touch their toes a couple times too. Once this strategy is complete, it is effective in calming the students down to listen to further directions.
I placed this strategy in the corrective phase because of the fact that this strategy is meant to correct misbehavior going on during instruction. I do not want to support the misbehavior any further, as you do with supportive strategies, so a correction is needed before we can continue with the task at hand. You could argue that this could be a preventative strategy as well, to zone into the lesson, but it is more often used during instruction when students become too rowdy.
I would say that this strategy coincides with a collaborative & teacher directed theories of influence. I believe so because within these theories students are still given much responsibility and choices but when needed, the teacher may override the thoughts and ideas in favor of something else that they believe will better meet the needs of the whole class. This strategy is not a punishment or a consequence but more of a positive & corrective strategy that is better suited to calm down students with no negativity attached.
More Information –
Tool Source: My mentor teacher.
