During the interaction, Melissa monitored Lucy’s
responses, mentally comparing them to her knowledge
of Lucy’s skills. She considered the types of support she
had previously decided Lucy needed. Melissa recognized
when Lucy needed hints and cues. Knowing gentle touch
often helped Lucy regulate anxiety, Melissa rubbed Lucy’s
back to soothe her, kept her voice low when offering suggestions,
and refrained from solving the problem for her.
Melissa intentionally removed direct adult support and
regulated her attention so she was aware of the girls’ continued
interaction even as she moved away to engage with
other children. Melissa’s self-regulated teaching practice
created an environment that allowed her to scaffold the
children’s self-regulation through an everyday classroom
experience.
Conclusion
Teachers of young children play a vital role in helping
children develop foundational self-regulation skills.
Fortunately, young children’s everyday experiences offer
abundant opportunities for developing self-regulation.
Teachers can take advantage of these opportunities by
• identifying each child’s self-regulation zone of proximal
development and planning the kinds of modeling, hints, and
cues the child needs to continue his or her development,
• watching for opportunities in everyday classroom experiences
to scaffold self-regulation,
• withdrawing direct support as
children begin to demonstrate
new skills, and
• monitoring children’s
activities to ensure they are
successful.
When teachers deliberately
teach self-regulation as part
of everyday experiences, they
help children become actively
engaged learners, laying the
foundation for years of future
success in school and life.