Creating Non-violent Classroom Environments: Tools to Support Physical, Mental and Emotional Health
It is helpful for teachers and educators to develop and model skills and beliefs that foster physical, mental and emotional health, and to guide students to do the same.
Promoting this approach is a valuable violence prevention tool for both staff and student safety. The following steps provide a structured way to identify, assess, and regulate both our own and our students’ emotions for greater empathy, clarity, cooperation and well-being.
Name and accept the emotion
Accept reality and our emotions. Identify what you are feeling, or what the student is feeling, in a calm and non-confrontational way—sadness, anxiety, frustration, anger, fear, disappointment, shame etc. Remember that feelings may not be facts, but they ARE important information.
As things continue to change rapidly—in education, globally, in our society—it can be very overwhelming. We can find balance between protecting our own personal space and boundaries and concern for students in our care.
Measure the intensity
Rate the intensity of the emotion or mental state on a scale of 0–10:
- 0–3: mild
- 4–6: moderate
- 7–10: severe
This can help determine the type and level of urgency of the response needed.
Notice escalating behaviours:
- Escalation of your own or students’ behaviours is significant information.
- Escalating behaviours can include questioning/arguing, non-compliance, defiance/confrontation, signs of aggression.
Avoid arguing or trying to reason with a student who is showing signs of escalation.
Identify triggers
Ask: “What caused this feeling?”
- Examples: social media, news, reading or hearing something difficult, a conflict with peers, feeling unsafe, a memory, lack of sleep, hunger, tiredness, a feeling of disconnection, etc.
- Be knowledgeable about potential triggers, de-escalation strategies (see De-escalation: The Language to Say It), and emergency procedures for individual students who have a history of violent behaviours.
- If you are an occasional teacher, ask if there are safety plans for any of the students.
Identify needs
Determine what you or students need in the moment to feel supported and safe.
Examples: reassurance, feeling safe, feeling confident, understanding, a calm space, time out, opportunity to speak to someone, needing water.
Recognize internal resources (strengths)
Identify the personal strengths or skills that can be used to manage the emotion or mental state.
Examples: self-awareness, situational awareness, problem-solving, self-control/-regulation, patience, empathy, courage, or reflection skills.
Recognize external resources (supports)
Identify external strategies or supports that can be used to regulate the emotional or mental state (yours or your student’s). For your own self-regulation, you may consider pursuing one or more of the following options, once you have completed your workday:
- Talking to or calling someone you trust.
- Practicing intentional breathing or deep breathing: inhale five seconds, exhale five seconds, repeat until calm.
- Journaling, reading, writing, drawing, art, listening to music.
- Watching a comedy movie or video.
- Thinking of a pleasant memory.
- Taking a power nap (e.g., 20 minutes) or nourishment (food, water, etc).
- Moving your body (walk, stretch, exercise).
- The above strategies may also be useful to recommend to your students.
Choose and apply a resource
Similar to the pre-flight safety instructions on airplanes that advise putting on your own oxygen mask before putting one on your child, as teachers, we need to attend to our own distress before we can effectively respond to our students’ distress.
Pick one internal resource and one external resource to take immediate action to regulate your own emotions. Example: Use patience (internal) and take deep breaths (external) to calm yourself before responding to a student.
When things are calm, consider creating a compilation of strategies together with your students that they can try. If one option doesn’t work at a particular time, encourage students to try another!
“We can be more compassionate, respectful to students AND have the students be accountable in line with the amount of cognition they have at that age or in that situation.”
“Use natural consequences instead of ‘you can’t go to recess’—they need to move their bodies!”