Keeping The Calm

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Keeping The Calm

gender-1459661_1280 Children learn well when they are fully engaged with their learning activities. Keeping that enthusiasm going is critical for retaining their interest but in some scenarios, their enthusiasm can quickly turn into overexcitement.

While this can be great to see, it can also be detrimental. When over excited, children can be less aware of their surroundings and place themselves in danger. They can also stop engaging with the task at hand and fail to understand it fully. Therefore, their education becomes compromised.

Learning to remain relatively calm and not lose control is an aspect of their personal development – how to manage their emotions. It is our responsibility to help them develop this skill so that there is a level of controlled excitement within the classroom.

So how can you provide an educational environment that encourages enthusiasm without it becoming too much for your class?

Monitor Your Volume

When trying to motivate children, or gain their attention, we often raise our voice which is the wrong approach. Instead, you should try to quieten your voice. This encourages children to lower their volume so they can hear you, and then they will be more likely to concentrate on what you have to say.

Flat Tone

A flat tone is important if you are trying to calm children down or maintain a certain level of engagement. Using an enthusiastic tone will just add to their excitement.

Low Pitch

Try to have a low pitch to your voice. This encourages calm and relaxation. Having the right posture will help with this, including a relaxed neck. Also, try for slow movements.

Level

Maintain eye contact with your students by being on their level. Get down to the ground and speak to them face-to-face to encourage engagement with you, and not just with the activity.

Recognise The Signs Of Over Excitement

It is important to recognise the signs of when your class could become overexcited. Notice what engages them the most and what triggers any escalations, to avoid it having an adverse impact on their learning.

Conclusion

Learning to control emotions is part of growing up. You can support the development of this skill by having an awareness of when your class is about to get rowdy and calm them down with relative ease before it has any effect on their learning for that session.

How do you control the excitement levels of your students? What techniques work for you?

Let us know in the comments.

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Keeping The Calm

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