Calm, Alert and Learning: Classroom Strategies for Self-Regulation

by Stuart Shanker

Recent research tells us that one of the keys to student success is self-regulation – the ability to monitor and modify emotions, to focus or shift attention, to control impulses, to tolerate frustration or delay gratification. But can a child’s ability to self-regulate be improved?   Canada’s leading expert on self-regulation, Dr. Stuart Shanker , knows it can and that, as educators, we have an important role to play in helping students’ develop this crucial ability. Distinguished Research Professor at York University and Past President of the Council for Early Child Development, Dr. Shanker leads us through an exploration of the five major domains—what they are, how they work, what they look like in the classroom, and what we can do to help students strengthen in that domain.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Parenting, Psychology

182 pages, Paperback

Published August 24, 2012

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a professional book club through work because our Department (we do not have districts or school boards, our territorial Department is the umbrella organization to which schools report) is using this as one of the resources as we work increasingly on developing students' social-emotional capacity and resilience.

Stuart Shanker worked extensively with Stanley Greenspan before Greenspan's death and in many ways, Dr. Greenspan is truly a co-author of this work, as their collaborative research in the field of child development forms the foundation of this book, and it's recommendations for teachers and parents.

Shanker and his colleagues break down the basics of the human capacity to self-regulate into 5 realms or "domains" -
- The Biological Domain, where they speak speak specifically to neurobiology, neurochemistry, sensory-motor and sensory-perception, and basic temperament.
- The Cognitive Domain, which examines metacognition (thinking about thinking), attention, planning, decision making, learning etc. This is the domain most often associated with skills employed in typical pencil-and-paper models of classroom learning.
- The Emotional Domain, which considers how effectively people integrate their experience of emotions in day-to-day life situations.
- The Social Domain, which examines how people interaction with each other, resolve conflict, repair relationships/rapport after conflict etc.
- The Pro-Social or Moral Domain which considers the importance of individuals developing a sense of empathy and viewing themselves as members of a community.

I very much enjoyed reading this book - the writing is accessible to most people who have completed high school, but scholarly in that it consistently refers to the studies that back up the reasons behind Greenspan's and Shanker's theories and claims.

There are specific, bullet-pointed suggestions for teachers and parents of behaviours to use in classrooms and at home, to help support social and emotional regulation in children, and ultimately, in themselves.

There are consistent reminders that kids learn self-regulation as a social skills - that it is CO-regulation - and that they need to learn it in practice with peers and most importantly with trustworthy, regulated adults. There are explanations of why behaviour management systems based on punishments and external rewards have limited effect, and can in fact backfire in many situations, particularly when you are considering a whole-society big-picture view.

The book provides case studies to illustrate points, and reiterates key points frequently in order to ensure that readers are clear on what the author feels are the priorities.

The use of sidebars for key definitions, text boxes to break out specific useful resources or techniques are helpful as ways to bring reader attention to key information that might otherwise get lost in a text-heavy book.

My one argument with the book would be that it is rather idealistic. I have attended a keynote with Dr. Shanker as the speaker, and as part of our book study we are working with one of his academic colleagues. While they can and do work with teachers and parents in the field, in general, those are small scale applications of the work that Shanker would like to see happening with every student in every school in the world.

In an ideal world, Shanker is correct - absolutely correct. He and his colleagues are essentially suggesting nothing less than looking behind the behaviour of children to underlying causes, trying to help kids deal with the causes healthily rather than assuming the worst of kids based on the symptomatic behaviours, and as such, developing a more mindful, dynamic and empathetic society of self-aware citizens. It's a fantastic goal.

There are, however, some difficulties with some of the suggestions that Shanker proposes, the most notable of which is that the level of individualized attention to each student's underlying needs and the classroom adaptations suggested can be truly challenging in very large groups, on limited budgets, especially if local administrators, trustees and politicians, parents and communities are not on board.

What is proposed in this book is nothing less than a change in paradigm that aligns very well with shifts that are being seen in adaptations to curriculum across Canada (this is a Canadian book, with Canadian resources, which was also a refreshing change, speaking as a Canadian educator!). The challenge is that while many politicians and parents will agree that there needs to be some sort of "change" in society and many will happily point to the education system as one of the arenas that "needs to change", when change is actually proposed --- that is change rather than reversion to a romanticized or imperfectly recalled past model --- it is often resisted, because change brings uncertainty, fear and suspicion.

While it is certainly possible and plausible to implement some of Shanker's strategies in any classroom or home, the piecemeal approach that may result due to limited budget or top-down-support will not necessarily provide results that will substantiate the true value of this work.

Although this book is aimed first and foremost at teachers, the people who really need to get behind this - and need to understand it - are parents. If parents begin to understand the potential for healthier families, kids and parents alike, if these strategies are supported in schools, they have the leverage with politicians to see these things supported in the schools. While we, as teachers, can implement some of this in our classrooms, if parents, administrators, and politicians are not on board, and/or communities see this as being flakey or as schools over-reaching their purview, the value is negated.

[Reading Rediscovered · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as one of the four books for my Professional Development Plan - specifically focusing on classroom management and self-regulation.

As an early-career teacher, I still struggle with classroom management and see that children are increasingly having more difficulty with self-regulation, so this book seemed to be a perfect fit to see if I could implement some strategies to help my students out.

Stuart Shanker goes through the five domains of awareness - biological, emotional, cognitive, social and prosocial, and outlines the key attributes of each one, as well as uses statistical data and real life examples to explain the various concepts. I appreciated his use of connection between the chapters and the examples used in each, as it echoed his overall message that the five domains are connected, and not stand-alone domains.

I did find some good pieces of information in this book and hope to be able to implement them soon in order to improve the classroom for the last three months.

[Roger MacRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book knowing that it would read more like a textbook than anything else. I had no idea how dry it would really be though. This book was a total grind for me.

It's not that the book was bad, because it wasn't. It had really great information in it that I can take and apply right away. In fact it left me wishing I had more examples and made me hungry to go searching for them.

At the end of the day, this is definitely worth reading. Just know that it is like reading a long winded research paper.

[Carrie Froese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been following @StuartShanker's daily posts on self regulation. Thought it was time to revisit this classic. Such a good book with easy to implement practical strategies that make all the difference to students needing support to self regulate. A must read for educators and parents.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Stuart Shanker's "Calm, Alert and Learning" for the school division's book club for May 2016. I am also using it to fulfill the category of "A book I should have read in/for school" category of my 2016 Reading Challenge. The book intrigued me due to its focus on practical strategies for teaching self-regulation in classroom settings. As a high school teacher, I have found that students struggling with executive functioning are at a distinct disadvantage in achieving both their personal and professional goals. I was hoping that I might find useful advice in the book which I could apply in my class. Unfortunately, while the book has an excellent overall framework for analysis, I found it to be far too oriented to early years educators.

From a high school perspective, the most important element of the book is it's focus on helping students to achieve optimal self-regulation. As noted in the introduction, this involves helping students to be able to recognize the state of being calm and alert, recognizing stress and stressors, dealing with stressors, and recovering from dealing with the stressors. The remainder of the book describes how a student's sense of calm and equilibrium can be shaken by events/stressors emanating from 5 different domains: biological, emotional, cognitive, social and prosocial (empathy). Each chapter explores how to help students identify when they have been pushed out of a state of homeostasis in a domain and activities to help them learn to return quickly and confidently to equilibrium. Shankar also explores the linkages between the domains and the ways in which a stressor in one domain can quickly create a cascade effect that ripples across all domains.

Ultimately, Shankar concludes that the ability to be calm, alert and self-regulated are important not only for learning, but for overall mental health as well. He notes that, "children cannot thrive, or be resilient, unless they develop the ability to remain calmly focused and alert. While problems of self-regulation cannot be said to cause mental health problems, they can exacerbate them. By the same token, the ability to self-regulate contributes significantly to the development of the key attributes of mental health." (pg. 138) Explicitly teaching these skills to all ages can help to promote life-long learning and health. I would encourage high school health teachers and advisory mentors to review the ideas from the book with all grade 9s as part of activities to promote readiness to learn.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the ever increasing expectation that teachers can do and know all, this easy read with case studies and ways to respond, is a must read for all teachers.