MARY ANN WOLF & GRIFFIN GURKIN: Knowing your students, helping them with choices

Being aware of the students -- knowing that what they experienced at home may be very different from what they are getting here and even what you've experienced in your life -- making sure you think about that with the choices they make.

Asking yourself the reasons behind why they make their choices, instead of just going straight to: “Why did you do that?” and then reprimanding them. Just making sure you're thinking about trauma and have the appropriate atmosphere in your classroom. Also, thinking of the things that might trigger them and how to avoid them.

I make sure every morning we start with a morning meeting. That helps clear their head and get them focused on the school day. We always start with a greeting.

They have to go greet a friend. There are different greetings we do.. They're just fun silly greetings. We always do a breathing practice. I love doing in that first thing because a lot of times they'll carry that over throughout the day.

I have a random question I ask them and they get to discuss it with their peers. It's a way for them to form a bond with one another.

I also implement “zones of regulation.” At the beginning of the year we created posters. We really talked about what colors means – sad. Blue and yellow, being silly. I love referring to that because a lot of kids have a hard time expressing how they feel. But for a lot of them, I've noticed, it's really easy for them to go “ I'm in the Blue Zone.”  Then I know right away they're feeling sad.  We're able to talk things through and get them telling me why they're feeling sad.  If they are in the Blue Zone or the Yellow Zone, it's a way for them to go there.

A lot of people think – oh, they've got to be angry to go to the “calm down corner.” But a lot of times they're just like over stimulated or they're feeling silly. It's a way to get them calm and just get their mind off of something. It helps if they're frustrated with the task and they're just sitting there.

If I see they've shut down, I give them like five minutes. They can go and get their mind off that task. Usually, they're able to get back and complete it.