Touching

My kids were super touchy-feely today, always in each others' faces flicking their fingers, touching their arms, pounding their fists on other classmates' hands. We had the 'no touching your classmates' speech at the end of the day (it was more at the end of the day than the beginning). Sigh. I am pooped.

Last night my brain couldn't shut off about behavior management, so I looked up the zones of regulation. One of my students has been learning this at home/other classes, and his mom thought I could use it with him at school. I think it might work for my whole class! I did a bunch of reading up on it and (of course) ordered another book from the library to try to learn more about how to teach the lessons. This philosophy is focused on self-regulation and identifying the triggers that cause each individual to lash out. The idea is that if each person knows their triggers and can identify them, they can use their tools to prevent the blow-up before it happens. There are four different colors: blue (sad, tired, sick), green (ready to learn), yellow (lots of energy/excitement/difficulty focusing), red (blow-up). I'm going to say that over half my class is typically in the yellow zone. Now I need to figure out what to teach them so they can move themselves into the green zone.

I counted and have five classroom management books checked out/borrowed from other teachers waiting for me to read at home. Thankfully, I have less than 10,000 words left to write on my NaNo. I'm hoping I can finish it early and spend some of Thanksgiving break reading up on different things I can try with my students. If only I had a time-pause button...