Key Points

This technique involves setting a timer for a few minutes and asking the student to use relaxation techniques. The student can mold clay, doodle, listen to calming music, or count slowly as part of the relaxation techniques. The teacher can also direct the student to a cooldown area, where the student can do a low-grade activity to calm him- or herself, such as flipping through a magazine, putting a puzzle together, drawing or coloring, or journaling. The cooldown area should always include relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing or muscle-tension reducing exercises, or an emotion-processing worksheet like the reproducible “Cooldown Considerations” (page 151) in which students respond to statements such as, “I’m feeling because ” “What I need is ” and “What I can do is .”

Teachers should instruct all students in use of the cooldown area before they require someone to use it. When a student uses the cooldown area, the teacher sets a timer to ensure the student doesn’t use the area to escape work. The student can use the area for ten minutes, after which the teacher checks to see if the student is ready to return to the work area or if he or she needs one more ten-minute break. After that ten-minute break, the student must return or the teacher determines if additional support, such as the supportive discipline framework, is needed. The cooldown technique is different from a time-out because time-out is about removing reinforcement from the student. Conversely, the cooldown area is about regulating emotions and using coping skills. Additionally, use of the cooldown area is a voluntary choice; never force a student to use it. By having students use and practice emotion regulation skills, teachers can assist them in bolstering their resilience.

As a technique for teaching students self-management of emotions and de-escalation, active response beads can help interrupt heightened emotional states (Grskovic et al., 2004). When a student is agitated or when behavior is escalating, the teacher can give the student a string of beads and instruct him or her to use them to calm down by sliding the beads back and forth. Specifically, students count a bead, slide it from one end of the string to the other, and exhale after each bead. If making a string of beads is not possible, the student can also receive a chart that has numbered dots on it. The student can count each dot and exhale after each one, moving from one to ten. This method stops the unwanted behavior and focuses the student on a task to allow his or her emotions to calm down. From there, the teacher can debrief and get the student back on track for the day.

Use a Neutralizing Routine

Another effective approach when working with students who are agitated is to stop the escalation of the situation by using a neutralizing routine (McIntosh, 2020).

When interacting with students who find themselves feeling stressed or escalating, a teacher can offer a neutralizing routine to offset those emotions. A neutralizing routine is a response to unwanted behavior that is instructional rather than punitive or harsh. Where the previous section discussed a coping skill for the student to interrupt the heightened state, the neutralizing routine can be used by both student and teacher to offset emotions each is experiencing. For example, a teacher can recognize that he or she is agitated or not feeling very patient with a student. Instead of interacting in a manner that could inadvertently escalate things, the teacher can first recognize his or her vulnerable point and then use a neutralizing routine. For example, the teacher can say, “Let’s talk at a break,” rather than continuing to engage with the student; the teacher can tell the class they are feeling frustrated and lead them all in taking a few deep breaths to calm down. The routine allows time for emotions to cool by delaying a decision or lengthy interaction, and also stops the teacher and student from going down a previously predictable and unhealthy pattern, such as the teacher reprimanding the student, the student responding with further escalation, and the situation becoming bigger and more destructive.

Neutralizing routines are used as a means to reduce implicit bias (McIntosh, 2020), but we suggest it’s an effective way to interact with students who present challenging behaviors that teachers may sometimes find difficult to address. Examples of neutralizing routines include asking to see the student after class, taking two deep breaths before intervening with the student, modeling a cooldown strategy aloud, such as, “I’m feeling stressed, so I’m going to count to five and take a deep breath,” or asking the student to redo the situation in accordance with classroom expectations by saying something like, “Try that again in a way that’s safe, respectful, and responsible.”

Practice in Action: Neutralizing Routine

Mrs. Ladino teaches history to sophomores. During teacher-led discussions, Janice often blurts out and makes comments unrelated to the topic. One day, Janice made a sarcastic comment that the class laughed at. “Please be appropriate in class, Janice,” said Mrs. Ladino. Janice continued making off-task comments and jokes during the teacher-led discussion. Mrs. Ladino felt herself getting frustrated. (“Here we go again,” she thought.) Rather than reacting in the moment and providing discipline by sending Janice out of the room, Mrs. Ladino