During elementary school, children become increasingly self-aware. With heightened self-awareness comes the ability to regulate their emotional responses to undesirable tasks, minor set-backs, frustrating events, and unexpected situations. Kindergarten and first grade teachers can easily swap stories about student shedding tears over skinned knees. By fifth grade, most students are able to regulate their emotional response enough to not cry over that level of physical injury (i.e., a minor “set-back” by most standards).
Skinned knees are one thing… they are a pretty concrete concept after all. But what about the more nuanced events in school life? How do students learn to monitor their “time-on-task” while working independently or in a group? When they should write down homework in their assignment notebooks? How to regulate their behavior enough to “get to work” once the bell rings? To remember that they should always bring gym shoes of Tuesday and stay after school on Wednesdays for Band? Elementary school is busy!
The answer, as to previously alluded, is increased self-monitoring skills. Self-awareness, unlike monitoring, is not a skill per se. For example, we cannot quantifiably change student’s attention span. We can, however, teach him skills make his school day qualitatively better; we can focus on self-monitoring.
Self-monitoring skills is akin to reading comprehension skills. Within both domains, there is large student variance and contextual ambiguity. Above all other comparisons both should be explicitly taught and regularly practiced.
“End Of the Day” Checklist
Before I am “finished” for the day and leave for home…
Student Check Mark
1. Have I filled out my assignment notebook?
2. Did I put all of my materials in my backpack?
3. Did I put my assignment notebook in my backpack?
