North Otter teaches and practices Self-Regulation

Self-Regulation

Helping our students develop self-regulation is a major emphasis this year, not only in our school but throughout the district, and we are excited about how this will help our students realize their potential and find success and joy in their learning. We will be providing lots of information to you throughout the school year. One major component of our SR project is that continual reinforcement of our STAR values:

Safety

Teamwork

Academic, Active

Respect

Please note we have added another term to our “A” – Active. We believe this is so important for the health of our students: physical, promoting healthy bodies and the development of a healthy life-style; emotional, allowing for better regulation of emotions and developing cooperative social interactions in the course of games; and cognitive, neuroscience providing evidence of the relationship between physical and mental health and growth in reasoning abilities.

What is Self-Regulation?

 Self-regulation is not a mental ability or an academic performance skill; rather it is the self-directive process by which learners transform their mental abilities into academic skills (Zimmerman, 2002, p. 65)

Self-regulation is not simply self-control. It encompasses:

1. Metacognition – possessing an awareness of personal strengths and limitations and the ability to use that self-awareness to solve problems and cope with challenges.
2. Motivation and Emotion – engaging in and expressing affective responses; embracing positive beliefs about ability (growth vs fixed mindset); possessing a willingness to try and expectations of success.
3. Strategic Action – choosing from a repertoire of strategies those best suited to the situation and applying them effectively and efficiently.

What are the Characteristics of the Self-Regulated Child?

The SR Child…

• recognizes and manages his/her emotions
• interacts respectfully with others, understanding and responding to their needs
• believes in his/her ability to learn and do
• is fully engaged in the learning process
• takes control of his/her own learning by ensuring he/she understands learning tasks, planning what to do, using effective strategies, self-assessing progress and adjusting as necessary

Why is Self-Regulation Important?

Research shows:

Self-regulation predicts early school achievement more powerfully than IQ scores and knowledge of reading and math.

Successful self-regulation in kindergarten predicts achievement through grade 6.

Self-regulating learners are successful in and beyond school

• Higher motivation and confidence
• More productive thinking skills and strategies
• More task relevant behaviour
• Higher achievement

For more information about self-regulation, please go to www.mehritcentre.com.