How Teachers and Principals Are Helping Students Manage Their Emotions

Several years ago, educator Kareem Farah traveled to 15 districts around the country to observe student-centered instruction in action. Amid the inspiring examples of innovative teaching practices, he noticed something: student outbursts and mood swings so severe that they were eating up class time and derailing lesson plans. The pandemic was still casting a long shadow in those classrooms, Farah noted back in 2023, leaving teachers at a loss for how to manage their students’ heightened emotional dysregulation.

Farah offers four strategies for teachers facing a similar challenge in “How to Manage Emotional Distress in the Classroom”—and he’s far from the first to take on emotional regulation in Education Week Opinion pages.

Last year, researchers Eliya Ahmad and Zi Jia Ng suggested a counterintuitive strategy for self-regulation in the classroom: distraction. In the “The Hidden Benefits of Distraction in the Classroom,” they explain that distraction can be a powerful tool to reset during an emotional moment. Check out their evidence-based tips on how educators can harness distraction to reenergize students—without letting them slide down the “slippery slope toward avoidance.”

Another strategy for helping students manage their emotions in class might lie in making it easier for them to avoid boredom and frustration in the first place. In “Get Kids Moving During Math Lessons. Trust Me, It Helps Them Learn,” 1^st grade teacher Kendall Stallings explains that integrating physical activity into class time can not only curb disruptive behaviors but also reinforce content mastery. For several movement-integration techniques to try out next time you’re staring down a class of fidgety students, check out her essay.

In a 2023 essay championing mindfulness in the classroom, teacher Lisa Mazinas recounts how she also noticed a change from just a few brief exercises—so much so that her students soon noticed the difference themselves. “It feels crazy when we come back from lunch,” she recalled one 2nd grader telling her. “Can we try some mindfulness?”

Longtime educator Larry Ferlazzo has been interested in self-regulation for years. Back in 2016, he asked 25 educators and researchers how teachers can help students develop self-control. Check out the four-part series here in which they offer their best advice:

• Self-Control Can Be Learned. Here’s How
• Student Autonomy Is a Prerequisite of Self-Control
• Self-Control Doesn’t Just Happen, It Needs to Be Taught
• Learning Self-Regulation Is Needed on Path to Academic Success

One useful reminder for learning self-regulation is learning what it’s not. More than a decade ago, policy analyst Sara Mead explained that teaching self-regulation in schools isn’t about stifling nonconforming kids.

In fact, she argues, resisting conformity itself represents a high level of self-regulation: “A four-year-old who decides that today she is [My Little Pony character] Princess Celestia, adopts an accent and behaviors reflective of her Princess Celestia personality, and demands that adults and other children refer to and treat her as Princess Celestia, is in fact demonstrating self-regulatory skills even while driving the adults around her completely nuts.”

It’s not always just students who need to work up to regal levels of self-regulation. In “How Teacher Confidence and Emotional Regulation Can Drive Student Success,” professional development trainers Houston Kraft and Jenni Donohoo explain that the emotional intelligence of students and the adults who teach them are intertwined. A collective sense of emotional self-efficacy—the confidence to understand and regulate our strong emotions—is a core component of a healthy campus, they argue.

Principals, too, can get in on the self-regulation action. That’s the message of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence’s Marc Brackett, James Floman, and Robin Stern in a recent essay that situates emotional intelligence as one of the most essential tools in a school leader’s toolkit.

“How a principal manages emotions—their own and those of their staff (known as interpersonal regulation)—isn’t just about being ‘nice,’” they write. “It’s about being emotionally skillful. And our research shows this skill set is a game-changer for teacher retention, job satisfaction, and school sustainability.”

In addition to honing their own regulation, principals have an important role to play in supporting dysregulated students in the classroom, argues elementary school principal Ian Knox in “Kindergartners Are Struggling With Self-Regulation. How Principals Can Respond.” He explains that the challenge has become all the more pressing in recent years, as a rise in dysregulated youngsters has been sparking stress, burnout, and unsafe conditions for their teachers and peers. Read his three actionable steps for addressing the crisis.

(Curious about what’s behind that surge in emotional-regulation challenges? Check out recent EdWeek news reporting, “‘Crying, Yelling, Shutting Down’: There’s a Surge in Kindergarten Tantrums. Why?”)

Finally, if you want to delve deeper into emotional regulation, you’re in luck. Register for this free, virtual roundtable discussion about “The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Well-Being” moderated by EdWeek Opinion contributor Peter DeWitt on Sept. 18.