What's that Zone?
Sam walked into class this morning and immediately upon sitting down fell asleep. When anyone tries to start a conversation, all they hear are dispassionate grunts.
Blue (tired)
Is there a "bad zone"?
No, all of the zones are simply a reflection of our current emotional experience for us to be alert to. It's okay to be in any zone at any time, but we want to teach kids to cope so they can still make appropriate choices no matter what Zone they're in.
What is a zones toolbox?
A list of or physical space where we keep our coping strategies with labels based on the Zones to access throughout our day.
What is the goal of self-regulation, self-control, impulse control, self-management, co-regulation, coping skills, self-soothing, etc.?
To allow a person experiencing an emotion to manage that feeling in a given moment.
Who can teach the Zones?
Anyone! The more we all use the Zones of Regulation with fidelity, the better students will understand it.
It's almost time for the class field trip and June is talking loudly and fidgeting as she socializes with her peers about the trip. It sounds like she has a lot of positive thoughts about the trip and really wants to get going right away.
Yellow (excited)
Is the goal to be in the green zone?
No, although the Green Zone is the optimal state alertness, we cannot force ourselves to be there. Feelings can last a long time and that's okay.
A student is engaged, focused, and respectful throughout the lesson. This is not a time in which they will need to access their coping skills, right? Explain.
Wrong. Even when we're in the green zone, we still need to use our coping skills to maintain that space and be alert to our experiences.
What does the Zones of Regulation provide people with?
A way to identify and express specific emotional experiences or more broadly understand emotional experiences along with ways to cope with those different experiences.
Where is the best place to keep our Toolbox?
As close as is safely possible. When experiencing strong feelings, it's unlikely that someone can get up and walk over to a bin when triggered.
You attempt to talk to Felix after he's made a few careless mistakes on his work. He looks away and will not make eye contact (which is not typical for him). As you continue to talk with him, he starts to clench his fists and shifts his gaze to glare at you, threatening to hit you if you don't stop talking.
Blue (shame, embarrassment), yellow (frustration), and leading to Red (anger)
Give an example of an expected behavior for a student during a lesson. Why are expected behaviors important to be aware of?
If a student has come up with three coping skills and they haven't worked right away when tried. Are these coping skills ineffective?
Not necessarily. All coping skills don't work for everyone, but all coping skills take time to work and practice.
How is it helpful to be able to recognize each other's triggers?
By understanding other people's triggers, we can be better prepared to respond in the event that someone is triggered or proactively make adjustments to avoid escalations.
How can modeling the Zones be helpful to students?
Modeling of the zones can help students remember the Zones of Regulation. It can normalize the use of the language and of using the zones. It could help students that are nervous about judgement for talking about the zones open up more.
Alex has stopped talking during an activity after no one picked them for their team and has begun muttering under their breath. You hear quiet swearing and see their legs shaking.
Blue (lonely, sad) and Yellow (frustrated, jealous) [possibly going into red]
What is the danger in pushing students to be in the green zone or talking about the green zone as the goal?
You can create a culture around emotions that creates greater emotional dysregulation for students. Additionally, many of our students have experienced trauma and may rarely experience green feelings, so talking about the green zone as the goals could be alienating for them.
When the classroom or group is engaged in an activity, what are some things you can do related to the Zones of Regulation?
You can model Zones language and remark how you feel based on what you observe.
"I'm having green, happy, feelings watching you all working hard."
"Seeing folks doing unexpected things give me blue, sad, feelings. I'd be happy seeing everyone join us."
What can happen to create a misunderstanding that often confuses younger children related to expected and unexpected behaviors? How can we all help to correct this misunderstanding?
They learn that an unexpected behavior is expected from observing others. We can help students redefine those behaviors and understand other ways to behave more expectedly.
What is the purpose of a sensory tool? How is it different than using something as a toy?
Unlike a toy, which distracts and possibly dysregulates, a sensory took helps someone cope with their given experience and possibly help them either increase their energy or lower their energy to be more productive.
Franky has been talking through his check-in and will answer questions about his actions leading to being asked to step out of class. As you talk with him you notice that his fists are clenched and his tone of voice is louder than normal.
Green (calm, focused), yellow (frustrated, tense), possibly red (angry)
Name that trigger -
The class is engaged in quiet free-time before morning meeting. Paula is working on a Lego project. It's almost time for Math to start. Paula's classmates are all nearby and engaged in free-time activities. Nearby someone has just opened a seltzer can and is slurping their drink.
Time of day, proximity of peers, smells around her, transition, noise from can opening or slurping of drink. The trigger could also be carry-in from before school or implicit memories.
What's the benefit to using the Zones language rather than paraphrasing?
The zones language works to be non-judgmental to avoid shame or negative feelings related to one zone over another. For instance, "exploring tools for calming" rather than "learning ways to be good".
What benefit is there in routinely "tracking my tools"?
By keeping a record of what tools you're using and how often they work, you can find the tools that work best for you in different situations.
One thing we do here is Howling PAX. In what way could we incorporate the Zones of Regulation into this practice?
Celebrating My Use of Tools is a practice of routinely celebrating a person's attempts or successes when using their sensory tools throughout the day.
Other answers may also be acceptable.