The authors note that the one area of trauma that students can control is oneself.
How could you help students focus on keeping themselves in their upstairs brain?
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The authors note that the one area of trauma that students can control is oneself.
How could you help students focus on keeping themselves in their upstairs brain?
For starters, we, as teachers, need to stay in our upstairs brain in order to help our students focus on staying in their upstairs brain. It is only when we are in our upstairs brain that we can truly and effectively relate with our students. If we can continually strive to show them that we deeply care by taking time to build a stronger relationship, demonstrating empathy, showing grace, staying positive, complimenting them, and just trying harder to understand them by really listening (and asking questions). Then, they will more likely be able to stay in their upstairs brain more often, and realize that (the way the author put it), forever changed doesn’t necessarily mean forever damaged.
Love this answer Bob, as building a relationship is huge to making an impact with kiddos.
I also think it would be helpful to remind students when you yourself start to leave your upstairs brain. Modeling what it feels like and how you can get back to your upstairs brain can go along way with others. I have also helped students calm when they are super emotional by having them describe what they see around them while they are sitting with me. Having them use their “smart brain” in the moment helps them calm and get back to using their upstairs brain.
Teaching mindfulness is helpful as it allows students to understand themselves so they can recognize when they are starting to fall into their downstairs brain. When students start to upset, I find that helping them focus on their breathing can be calming and set them back to “right”. No matter how upset and out of control a student gets, remaining calm/talking to them in a calm voice helps them to regulate themselves. Continuing to keep the discussion focused on them – what are they feeling right now? what do they want? How can they change thing right now? If we keep things focused on them, they can as well.
These types of things help them to focus more on themselves and not everything and everyone else.
We need to first start by establishing a relationship with our students. Once we have a good rapport, we can begin teaching them strategies to help balance themselves. It is also important for us adults to remain in our “upstairs” brains and model these behaviors to our students. Teaching students strategies to self-regulate should also be done when everyone is in a good state or their “upstairs” brain. This will help them to learn the strategies as well as how and when to use them. They cannot respond appropriately and process the strategies when they are already in an elevated state. Some strategies that might be good to start with include taking a walk/break, chewing gum or a mint, breathing, writing, drawing, or talking to a safe person. Once these have been taught and role-played, ideally it would be good for the teacher to introduce some one or two word reminders to prompt students to engage in a strategy.
Providing support and demonstrating self-regulation skills are critical in order for students to be able develop and learn the differences and benefits of an upstairs vs. a downstairs brain. Opening that discussion of what constitutes the upstairs/downstairs brain activity and outcomes of working in these mindsets will help open the discussion for self-reflection.
Aiding in the development of coping skills and exploration of different means of responding to situations can help remove the emotions from these situations prior to exposure. This way, students can brainstorm and practice how they believe would be the best way to respond without the emotional response. This can increase their likelihood of resorting to their downstairs brain kicking in. Just like an any new skill, practice makes for increased skill and proficiency.
Developing a non-verbal cue to help prompt a student to take a breath and think could also be effective in increasing that cognitive response vs. emotional. Providing that safe space to refocus and reflect are always a great start.
Strategies to help them regulate their emotions are huge. Relationships are the place to begin, but it’s important for us to then teach them how to manage their emotions so they are not reliant on one teacher to calm them down. If they are too dependent on one person, then they start at the bottom again each year rather than picking up on where they ended the year before. Using the strategies that everyone else mentioned are good ways to begin practicing with them at a young age so they can then master those skills themselves by the time they are in high school.
I agree that as adaults we help by modeling the behavior. Relationships are important because if there is trust between people it is much easier to,learn and respond without emotion or at least being willing to back down from emotion. We need to teach students the difference between upstairs and downstairs brain and what each looks like. Then we could teach strategies and coping skills. We may help teach students awareness of triggers which eventually will allow them to practice positive ways of coping with stress. Also reinforcing that we are all ultimately only in control of what we do.