Self Regulation and Behavior

Self Regulation 

People are able to modify their behaviors through self regulation. A process that takes time and requires the investment of the person who wishes to change, self regulation can be effective. 

Self Regulation requires that people:

• Set goals and standards - acknowledging that there is a behavior that needs to change and setting a goal to change it. 
• Self observe - an awareness of what's working and what's not
• Self evaluate - creation of personal standards and examining if their behaviors fit those standards
• Self react - reinforcement and punishment inflicted by oneself in accordance to behaviors and goals
• Self reflect- examining and reflecting on goals and the process of achieving or failing said goals. 

Last year, I was faced a difficult class. In a class of sixteen, I had seven students who had a difficult time controlling their own behavior when the in the presence of one another. Alone, each student was respectful and willing to do work, but when together, they were toxic. I had one student who attempted self regulation in order to change his behavior.

This student's trigger was another student in the room. When together, student A acted up in an aggressive manner. The thing was, however, that he chose to sit next to student B. When student B was absent or even across the room, he could focus and was a positive contributor to class.

One day, after a particularly large blow up, he approached me asking to drop the class because he didn't think he could continue being in the same room with student B. I knew he was enjoying the subject matter and would do well, he just needed to understand his own behavior. I refused to let him drop the class saying that throughout life, we encounter people we may not get a long with, but we come up with ways to survive. He needed to learn those tools.

Ormrod states that in the Social Cognitive Theory, humans "eventually develop their own ideas about appropriate and inappropriate behavior, and they choose their actions accordingly." (p137) Through understanding what his trigger was, he made the decision to change his own seat. He set a goal to achieve a certain letter grade in order to maintain status on his sports team. He knew that part of his grade relied on his behavior in class. He created a plan and approached me about the use of a signal if he needed to take a break from the classroom situation in order to cool off.

Behavior changes didn't happen immediately, but happened in small ways. Ormrod states that "People must believe they can make the necessary behavior changes." (142) and while my student thought he could do it, he found it was harder than anticipated. He would take break when needed, and could stay focused on a task, but often times was dragged back into social situations he was trying to avoid.

At the end of the first quarter, he wrote a beautiful self reflection on his behavior and that he was happy that he was trying to improve. He was proud of the work he did. Sadly, however, I had to deliver my response to the school suspension room. He was not taking the self- regulation skills he was developing in my classroom over to other parts of his life.

As frustrating  as that was to see, I understand that self regulation is a tough thing to do. On page 142, Ormrod states, "Techniques designed to promote self-regulation work only when learners are motivated to change their behavior." Its hard to look at oneself in this manner and ask what you can change, especially for egocentric teens. Its our job as teachers to help lay the framework for students to be introspective and teach the skills of self- regulation in order to achieve goals.