Last year our school began its journey with Self- Regulation for our students. What was it? How could we possibly do that at school as well as all the other things and how will this help our students were many of the initial questions. Our project started off small with some support from a team at the Board office. We selected a couple of groups of students to work on a project with the team. We felt this group would benefit the most from regulating themselves in the classroom and on the yard. After seeing the success this brought, we decided to go school wide.
Last spring our school improvement team met and discussed this topic specifically. How could we do this as a whole school? Is it possible? Will it benefit all our students? Will the teachers buy in? It was at that point that the TLLP group came together and decided that this could also be a focus of their proposal. In August our SIP team gathered and put together the 5 in 10 SEAS activities. These were prescriptive activities for the entire school to follow for the month of September. It included activities and videos that would be consistent across every division.We had intentionally focussed activities that created discussion on social awareness and building relationship skills. The team decided that the best way to have whole staff ‘interest would be to provide the specifics and let them branch out from there.
The month of September was a huge success. The students were using the SEL language to describe their emotional states and were able to up and down regulate to the best of their abilities. Our next step was to have the parents involved more. The TLLP group organized an evening for our parent community. They also had other staff members, who were using the strategies presenting to parents. As our enrollment was changing it was decided to make our SEL strategies live for all students. This would also benefit the students who came new to our school. As a team of teachers we gathered before and after school to help create a live Zones of Regulation Wall. This wall is used by our students daily. They can actually stand in front of it and physical describe their feelings and begin to move as the up or down regulate.
As our SEL journey continues, so will the resources we provide to our students. If we can equip them with the strategies and provide them time to practice them, they will succeed. As our TLLP team progresses through their journey, they bring multiple options to our school. And for that we are grateful!
Jody Prevost
Principal
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
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