Self-Management

Impulse Control- MANY students believe that they are in a one-on-one setting with me despite having 20 other classmates in the room with them! I use a wheel of names to select participants in my classroom because students who feel confident will likely answer any question I ask, whereas weaker students will never participate. This also forces students to hold onto an answer that might be burning a hole in their brains and allow other students to display their understanding. I still have plenty of students shouting out answers in the classroom or telling me "wait" before they have even developed a working understanding of what I just said, but the wheel helps with the shouting out of answers regularly. 

I perceive self-management as taking responsibility for ones actions. This includes the ability and belief that you can control your own thoughts, beliefs, choices and actions. Self-management is a highly important skill when functioning within a school system and later in life in the professional work force. Self-management in the Jr. High school tends to include things like not yelling things out in class, working positively in groups, not touching other students, and not getting overly upset when tasks are difficult or setbacks are encountered. In my classroom I encourage self-management through agenda usage, checklists for readiness, reflection and goal setting, rubrics and time management logs. 

Self Management is how we  manage our emotions, stress and stay focused.  It is how we understand that we have the power to make a difference, and we can take responsibility for our actions.
In the classroom we set goals and monitor the progress on those goals.  Then have discussions on how to keep improving.

I see self management as a big component to a teenagers life.  They need to learn how to do this at a young age so that it can serve them well into adulthood.  I see self management as not only a student managing their emotions but also managing their tasks and stress levels.  I have had students that do minimal work throughout the quarter and then the day before the end of the quarter they ask me what they need to do to pass or if I am going to give any extra credit.  This shows that they mismanaged their tasks and priorities.  If they stayed on top of their work and were able to manage their responsibilities better they may not have put themselves in this situation.  So what I try to do is give them several reminders a few weeks before the end of the quarter and ask them to get their work in, come in for help if they need it and ask for a list of assignments they need to make up but also give that list in the form of what would they benefit most from doing as far as point values.  I know that this could cause stress because it can be very overwhelming when they've dug themselves such a deep hole, so that is why I give them weeks in advance of a heads up.  "We have three weeks left in the quarter, two weeks left in the quarter, etc." so that they know their timeline if they are unaware of it.  Also, most days my students have time to start their homework in class, so I tell them if they finish early use the extra time to work on some other work that they may owe me so that they are utilizing their time in class.

Self-management is the ability to take responsibility for your own behavior and well-being.  The ability to regulate our emotions and stress is important because it leads to making good decisions.  In my classroom, I help the students by encouraging them to make good choices and to have a calm classroom environment.  Often high school students are stressed about managing their school work, jobs, and extra-curricular activities.  If a student gives me a heads-up about not being able to do a homework assignment, I will accept it the next day.  If a student who was absent needs some time to make up their assignments, I reassure them it is ok to take more than one day to make up their work.  Often I see a big sigh of relief from the students.  

Not only learning to self-regulate when our emotions get big but also being able to make good choices and decisions.

I use mindful breathing to help with self-regulating but also modeling behaviors and educating my students with lots of picture books on kindness, gratitude, forgiveness, and managing our feelings. With such young kids, I think it is so important to help them understand what self-management looks like.

Self-management is the ability to understand how we behave, persevere in the face of challenges, and how we stay focused and motivated to achieve our goals.  I encourage self-management in my classroom by encouraging students to set a goal and helping them create steps to allow them to attain that goal.