Self-Regulation in Practice

Example: “Self-regulation is the ability to manage your emotions, your thoughts, and your behaviors to get what you want.”

Example: “Self-regulation helps you focus attention and avoid distractions. This helps you learn better and get along better with people. It also makes you feel better about yourself.”

Example: “Self-regulation requires you to do four things: plan, monitor, control, and reflect. What are some things you might to do better? Okay, let’s say you want to start a weight-lifting program, what might you think about in your plan?” Teachers also can model and demonstrate their own thought processes necessary to complete an activity or make another change” (Boekaerts & Corno, 2005).

Example: One way to do this and build in motivation is to have students inventory what they are doing now and what they might like to change. Teachers can assist this process by preparing a list or knowledge survey of learning objectives framed as questions for students.

Example: For an upcoming test, you can encourage students to make a concept map to determine study plan actions. For monitoring, students might use a check-in sheet as seen in the introductory video and complete an assigned reflection report. Teachers also might implement Think-PAIR-Share activities by asking students a question that they first consider alone for a minute or two and then discuss with another student. Planning journals, charts, and notebooks, too, can be used for students to record observations and activities while still fresh in the mind. The recording promotes retrieval practices that aid learning and provides data for later self-study. It also acknowledges they are learning new content that builds on existing knowledge and promotes the idea that learning is an ongoing process. For any of these activities, provide explicit instructions and guidance and then gradually diminish support to encourage students to become more self-regulating.

Example: If using notebooks or other recording methods, collect them periodically to check student progress and provide meaningful feedback. Or you could use student-teacher conferencing to guide students in self-regulation and goal setting (Montalvo & Torres, 2008). Research indicates progress feedback about what students did well, what they need to improve, and steps they can take to improve their work (Labuhn, Zimmerman & Hasselhorn, 2010) promotes student motivation and self-regulation as well as academic achievement (Wigfield, Klauda & Cambria, 2011).

Example: During student self-reflection and self-evaluation, ask them to do causal attribution, that is, ask students to offer opinions about the causes of various outcomes. Steer them away from causes relating to inability and toward problems that can be fixed with changes to encourage subsequent motivation (Zimmerman, 2002).