Guided Collaborative Learning

Activity 5: Check for Understanding

Using response cards or an online quiz platform, gather individual students’ responses to the items displayed in figure 1.3. Review the responses to ensure that students understand the concept of self-regulation. Reteach as necessary. [The answer key for figure 1.3 is: 1–b; 2– false; 3–true; 4–false.]

Understanding Self-Regulation

Multiple Choice

1. Choose the best description of self-regulation. a. When you proactively plan for how to reach a goal, learn a skill, or accomplish a task. b. When you proactively use a process (such as planning, monitoring the plan, adjusting as needed, and reflecting) to reach a goal, learn a skill, or accomplish a task. c. When you follow your teacher’s detailed plan (including making changes as suggested by your teacher and reflecting on your progress) for reaching a goal, learning a skill, or accomplishing a task. d. When you make progress toward reaching a goal, learning a skill, or accomplishing a task.

True or False

2.  Self-regulation is important for academics, but it doesn’t really help improve athletic or musical ability. 3.  Building your self-regulation skills can also help build your perseverance and improve your goal. 4.  You are self-regulating if you check your grades every week.

FIGURE 1.3: CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING—DEFINITION AND PURPOSE.

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Scenario-based activities address an array of circumstances to which adolescents can relate. Through these collaborative-learning activities, students gain a deeper understanding of self-regulation concepts. Your goal is for students to be able to articulate the components of self-regulation and describe the complexity of the self-regulation process.

Activity 6: Is This Self-Regulation?

In groups, have students complete figure 1.4 (page 22) to determine if each scenario is an example of self-regulation and explain why or why not. Refer to the definition from activity 1 (page 16) to guide students’ analysis of the scenarios.

Scenario

Example: Your mom sets a timer and tells you to work on your homework until the timer goes off. No

1. You realize that you forgot to study for a test, so you cram five minutes before it starts.

2. You have a big project that will be due in one month. Your friend says that she’s not going to worry about it until next week, so you decide to do the same.

3. You write down all of the homework that you need to complete and check it off your list as you finish it.

Is this selfregulation? (yes or no) Why or why not?

It is not self-directed—my mom would be driving the effort, not me.

FIGURE 1.4: IS THIS SELF-REGULATION?

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Debrief with the whole class. Scenario 1 is not self-regulation because no process was followed—you did not plan in advance. Scenario 2 is not selfregulation because you were relying on someone else to guide your efforts— you were not self-directing your efforts or creating your own plan. Scenario 3 might be self-regulation—you self-directed and proactively planned by writing down your assignment, and then you monitored by checking off completed assignments. This scenario does not provide details about how you might have adjusted your plan or reflected on your efforts, but in general, it follows the definition of self-regulation by being a proactive, self-directed process for accomplishing tasks.

Activity 7: Connecting Outcomes and Behaviors

Explain that even things that seem simple involve a set of actions and considerations. For instance, when trying to avoid being written up at work like in scenario 1 of figure 1.5, it’s not enough to say that the person should just return to work on time. Example steps or tasks might include understanding the length of the break and what can be accomplished in that amount of time; estimating time for tasks such as texting, eating a snack, using the restroom, and clocking back in; and setting an alarm for a few minutes before the break is over. Go through the completed example in figure 1.5 with students. Then, in small groups, have students read the scenarios and complete the rest of the table. Encourage them to think creatively; the scenarios do not provide much detail, so students can hypothesize the actions that need to be considered based on their own experience.

Scenario What is the outcome if the person successfully self-regulates? What behaviors, thoughts, and actions could the person selfregulate to accomplish the goal?

Example: A friend didn’t make the varsity volleyball team her sophomore year. Making the varsity volleyball team her junior year

1. Your friend was written up at work for not returning on time after a break.

2. The voting age is eighteen, and your civic-minded friend will be turning eighteen three months before a big election.

3. A teammate missed every free throw in her last four games.

4. Your classmate scored much lower on his SAT (college entrance test) than he had hoped.

5. A friend was grounded for gaming instead of doing chores.

6. A classmate in English didn’t turn in the writing assignment on time.

7. You get really stressed before your verbal tests in Spanish class and forget most of the words you’ve learned.

FIGURE 1.5: CONNECTING OUTCOMES AND BEHAVIORS.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/SEL for a free reproducible version of this figure.

• Increase practice to three times a week in the off-season.

• Ask friends or coaches to help identify areas for improvement. • Pay attention to nutrition and exercise.

• Keep grades up to be eligible to play on the team.

Using a modified jigsaw approach, regroup students into seven expert groups and assign each group to discuss one of the scenarios further, building on the ideas of each person to create a more detailed list of behaviors that the individual could self-regulate to meet his or her goal. Return students to their home group to discuss the additional actions that they identified for their assigned scenarios. Due to class sizes, home groups will likely not address each scenario when they return from their expert groups. This is fine,

as the point of this activity is for students to recognize that numerous behaviors likely need to be self-regulated to reach a goal.

WHAT TEACHERS SAY

“When I asked them to think about, ‘In the future, how do you think this process might help you?’ they came up with things that I didn’t think they would come up with. One student talked about self-improvement, which I asked him to clarify. He said, ‘You want to learn to play the guitar or you want to work out more, you want to lose weight or you want to learn a different skill like maybe karate or whatever.’ The kids have really bought into it, and I even had a couple of kids say they want to use this process to help them save money for college because they don’t have anybody and they’re worried. They are seeing so many applications for this.”

—Melanie, AVID teacher

Activity 8: Ten Steps to Homework Completion

Delve a little deeper into scenario 6 in figure 1.5 (page 23): a classmate in English didn’t turn in the writing assignment on time. Challenge students to identify ten steps between being assigned the homework and turning it in. Using a shared visual document, work as a whole group to list and order the steps. Reiterate that every time students complete homework and turn it in on time, they are demonstrating self-regulation. Keep the student-generated steps, as we will return to this list in activity 21 (page 44).

Activity 9: Situational Judgment Assessment

Ask students to independently read the scenario and answer the prompt. This scenario extends through each chapter, building on prior answers. A reproducible form with all situational judgment assessments and the corresponding activity numbers is provided in appendix A (page 153).

SCENARIO

In health class, Alex and his classmates learned about the benefits of drinking an adequate amount of water each day. Alex has decided that he does not drink enough water.

Write three questions that Alex should ask himself to become more aware of his water consumption and behaviors that he may need to change in order to meet his goal of drinking an adequate amount of water each day.

Review each student’s answers to determine whether the questions they identified would increase self-awareness. Questions might include: How much water do I drink each day? When do I drink water? What do I drink instead