Exploring Self-Regulation

As a Student Work Study Teacher, I have a had the rich opportunity to explore self-regulation with students at different grade levels.  In the Grade 3, 4, 5 and 8 classes at one of my schools, the host teachers and I showed the YouTube video "Me Want It (But Me Wait)" video with Sesame Street's popular Cookie Monster.  In the short music video inspired by Icona Pop's "I Love It", the Cookie Monster sings about his struggle between his love for cookies and self-control.  Through this fun video, he teaches viewers self-regulation strategies and why they are important.  The video can be seen here.  Here is what transpired in various classrooms:

Grade 3/4 Class

Along with the host teacher and myself, the students proceeded to discuss what the main message of the video.  Then, they listed the strategies that Cookie Monster mentioned in the music video.  This also fostered a discussion on what the term self-regulation is and why it is important in the classroom and the school as a whole.

Following this, the students broke out into groups to write their own ideas of what self-regulation is and how they, as individuals, can demonstrate it at school and/or in class.  Here are a few snapshots of their ideas.

Finally, as a class, the students and the host teacher co-constructed a chart that the students could use to refer to their discussed strategies on self-regulation.

Grade 4/5 and Grade 8 Classes

The students in the Grade 4/5 and 8 classes also enjoyed watching the Sesame Street video.  Although the music video is ultimately aimed at a younger audience, the students were still able to focus on the main message of self-control and self-regulation.  They were also engaged in a very interesting discussion on what self-regulation is, why it is important at school (and at home) and ways they can show it at school.  The following week, as an extension this, the host teachers and I conducted a variation of the marshmallow experiment to help the students foster a deeper understanding of self-control.

In this activity, each student was given a marshmallow on a napkin that was placed on his or her desk.  The students were instructed not to eat the marshmallow (they could clearly see that we had a full bag of them as they were distributed) and that they would get more if they could wait five minutes.  The host teacher and I stepped outside of the classroom for a few minutes.  We also returned, circulating the room, sometimes even snacking on a few marshmallows.  Within the designated timelime, most students were able to resist eating the marshmallow.  However, I was able to notice a few behaviours (which was discussed as a class) including:

nibbling tiny bits of the marshmallow corners

pushing the marshmallow away from oneself

pushing other students' marshmallows away (in one case, onto the floor)

turning oneself away from the marshmallow

engaging in reading, writing or other activities to not think about or notice the marshmallow

eating the marshmallow

Together, through a class discussion, we listed the strategies students used to resist eating the marshmallows (see pictures below):

Strategies students used to resist eating the marshmallow in the Grade 4/5 class

Additional strategies students used to resist the marshmallow

Following this, we then tallied the difficulty of resisting the marshmallow.  No one (interestingly enough) found it terribly difficult, some found it somewhat difficult and many found it easy.  What stemmed from this activity was a rich connection of how self-regulation is important not just at school, but at home and for their futures.  Everything from handing assignments on time to maintaining focus so one can finish a task correctly to focusing on goals (i.e., finishing high school, saving for a car, keeping your grades up, persevering with difficult tasks, resisting peer pressure).  Overall, this activity opened up avenues and discussions I hadn't imagined.

A summary of the class discussion on the experiment and the marshmallows used in the activity