The kids are dysregulated. That’s one constant thing I see in schools and hear from teachers. It makes sense to some degree: Self-regulation relies heavily on prefrontal cortices (PFCs), which are still developing in students. Compounding this, the more a student is dysregulated, the further inhibited their PFC is. But putting the onus on students to “fix this” won’t work.
If we want more calm in our students, we have to be partners in the process—playing the long game. “It is by being regulated [that] a child develops the ability to self-regulate” (Shanker, 2016). We can start by seeing calm as a continuum, not a dichotomy.
The Continuum of Calm
Rather than a calm/hyper or regulated/dysregulated dichotomy, envision a Continuum of Calm, an idea adapted from Stuart Shanker’s work on self-regulation (2016).
What moves us up and down this continuum is the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The sympathetic part is the gas pedal, triggering Activation Mode. When it engages, neurochemicals like norepinephrine increase heart rate and raise blood pressure, preparing us to fight or flee. Our brake pedal is the parasympathetic, which cues Inhibition Mode—slowing heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and reducing muscle tension.
Think of every stressor as an Activation Multiplier, accelerating students higher up the continuum, away from calm. Normally, when we think of stress, we think of direct problems, perceived pressures, or conflicts—paying bills or our principal dropping in for an unannounced observation. But do we think of fluorescent lights as stressors? Hunger? Noise or air pollution? How about social interaction, reading a complex text, or lack of sleep? These all tax our energy systems and can trigger Activation Mode.
Our goal, then, isn’t just to teach students self-regulation skills, but to reduce the Activation Multipliers that thwart regulation efforts. Here are a few ways to do that.
1. Prioritize our own self-regulation: The most important strategy for reducing Activation Multipliers is being self-regulated. Dysregulation leaks through our vocal tone, facial expressions, and gestures, often activating our students. It’s no wonder that when teachers are stressed and exhausted, students suffer with diminished performance on achievement tests, worse grades, lower school satisfaction, and feel less supported by teachers (Mielke, 2023).
On the other hand, when teachers prioritize their own self-regulation, they have more positive interactions with students, take more calming deep breaths, remain curious instead of rushing to judgment and punishment when students misbehave, and even smile more (Jennings et al., 2017). The “affective” teacher—who applies a proactive, emotion-based pedagogy to facilitate learning—thinks, By prioritizing my emotional state, I’m improving my students’ learning states.
2. Leverage one-on-ones: The size of social groups matter, as we worry about how others perceive us. Provide students one-on-one strategies to overcome problems before they arise. Whenever possible, shift coaching or corrective conversations to one-on-one interactions, out of hearing from students’ peers. If we can’t always coach kids in private, we should at least avoid criticizing them in public.
Importantly, school leaders must have systems in place for students at fight/flight or flooded levels of activation. Transitioning the student to a quieter setting for one-on-one regulation support helps that student move toward calm while reducing stress for classmates affected by their peer’s dysregulation.
3. Adjust the physical environment: Our classroom environment is often an invisible source of stress. Bright lights, particularly blue light from screens, directly activate our sympathetic nervous system. Reducing screen time or adding lamps or string lights with warmer lighting is a simple adjustment. Low tempo music (60–80 beats per minute) can also reduce sympathetic activity—cue it up when students are entering class or in moments where calm is needed.
Exposure to high levels of fine particle air pollution also affects our stress response (Pieters et al., 2012). Schools can improve indoor air quality through measures like using air purifiers, opening windows when outdoor air is clean, or ensuring HVAC filters are maintained.
Compared to sparsely decorated rooms, students in cluttered classrooms have diminished executive function, perform worse on recall tasks, and struggle more to maintain attention (Rodrigues & Pandeirada, 2018). Every couple weeks, do a 10 percent edit. Ask yourself, “How can I reduce the visual clutter of this space by 10 percent?”
4. Use “calm before content” strategies: Affective teachers use explicit strategies to cue Inhibition Mode, like body calming exercises or helping students process feelings before focusing on academics.
You can facilitate deep breathing, like box breathing, to instantly activate the parasympathetic system and reduce stress. Have students breathe in for a count of 3, hold the breath for 3, exhale for 3, then hold again for 3.
You can also give students a process-to-progress prompt:
Before we begin, we’re going to take three minutes to process some thoughts that might make it hard to learn today. For the first minute, you’re just going to vent out what’s on your mind right now. For the last two minutes, I want you to respond to these two prompts on the board:(1) These thoughts/feelings are important to me because. . . .(2) To move forward from these thoughts I’m going to. . . .
As a nonverbal strategy, use an emotion chart with various facial expressions. Placed on a desk, students can put a sticky note on the emotion that matches their current state, or students can indicate on a poster as they enter the room.
Small Steps Toward Calm
These are just a few ways that affective teachers are partners in student self-regulation. What’s key is that we are proactive—that we reduce the Activation Multipliers within our control before students are flooded. We can’t reduce every stressor or reach an unrealistic whole-class state of Zen, but we can move students one step closer to calm.
