The Turtle Technique for Teaching Self-Regulation
The turtle technique is a resource used to support young children in dealing with various emotions, such as anger, disappointment, frustration, threat, or danger. This resource was created as a visual tool to support children’s self-regulation and uses the analogy of a turtle that withdraws into its shell when experiencing the various emotions listed. A story is provided that explains the turtle technique to young children and a turtle puppet can be used as well to prompt students to begin the calming practices.
Steps:
Initially, the turtle technique was developed as an adult anger management tool, but it has since been adapted for school age children. The research shows that this technique has successfully been used with preschool and kindergarten aged children (Joseph & Strain, n.d.). Additionally, it is used within social school programs for preschool students (Joseph & Strain, n.d.).
I believe this activity would be very useful in the classroom for students of various ages. Not only is this a great practice within the classroom, but it is also something that can be sent home to families with physical or virtual copies. The teacher can provide a step-by-step guide for families and even a video example that guardians can view (Suffolk family carers, 2020). The University of Florida’s NCPMI organization explains young children’s emotions and their ability to self-regulate. As students are exposed to emotion regulation, they continuously develop their understanding and ability to control their emotions. Something significant to note about this process is that it must be taught before students are feeling upset. This needs to be introduced and practiced throughout the introduction because when children are feeling upset, they will likely not be able to engage in the actions necessary without first being exposed. As an educator, you will need to schedule time throughout the day to engage in the practice and demonstrate the skills for it to be affective when it is needed. Therefore, educators play a significant role in this exposure. The turtle technique is a simple and effective practice to implement within the classroom to supports students.
https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/Pyramid/pbs/TTYC/tools.html
1. Recognizing that you feel an emotion (e.g., anger, frustration, danger, etc.)
2. STOP your body (i.e., do not engage in any behaviour)
3. Curl into your protective shell and take 3 deep breaths. Think of calming thoughts (e.g., “it was an accident”, “I am a good problem solver”)
4. Come out of shell after you have completed breathing and thought of solutions to the problem
By teaching the turtle technique, educators can support students in learning to self-regulate. This process can be used with small and large groups of students to help manage their behaviour. As an educator, I would implement a turtle puppet into this exercise so that students can engage and interact during the process (Joseph & Strain, n.d.). Introducing this activity would be straightforward which is what educators want within the classroom. By first introducing the puppet students can be exposed to the turtle before and introduce themselves. Following this, the teacher would explain the turtles’ special tricks and skills for calming down. This would be a great opportunity to introduce the story of Tucker Turtle to the students and read the book as a group. The book walks the reader through the steps it takes to calm down and demonstrates it through pictures. Throughout the story, the educator can have the students participating in the actions that the turtler does (e.g., deep breathing, curling into shell). As an educator, one of the best approaches that can be easily followed is to model the behaviour, remain calm throughout the day and express emotions. The images of the turtle technique can be easily displayed throughout the classroom as a reminder to students. This would provide support to educators because it is a visual reminder for students, students are not required to remember the steps, and the teacher can simply point to a step without disrupting the class or lesson for a student (Suffolk family carers, 2020).
Teaching students to regulate their emotions is a crucial part of early childhood education, we must remember that students will not know how to do this until they are show (Hauck, 2018). Therefore, we must demonstrate to students how to self-regulate in a safe way. The turtle technique shows students how to communicate compassionately and empathetically to find a calmer state (Hauck, 2018). This resource is accessible online for free that can be downloaded or viewed on a web browser. It can be saved as a pdf and printed to share. Students do not need to be able to read to use this resource because there are pictures of the demonstrations attached, as well the classroom teacher would instruct students and practice with them before they begin feeling the upsetting emotions (Joseph & Strain, n.d.). The website also includes a story to be read to students and a guide for teachers when implementing to a group. I believe this is a simple and effective resource that can be used within groups to supports students’ self-regulation and communication.
Weblinks:
Tucker Turtle Story for Educators- https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/docs/TuckerTurtle_Story.pdf
Tucker Turtle at home- https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/docs/TuckerTurtle_Story_Home.pdf
Hauck, C.R. (2018). Calm, Cool, In Control: How the turtle technique helps kids manage big feelings. Retrieved from https://www.kindercare.com/content-hub/articles/2018/january/tucker-the-turtle.
Joseph, G. E., & Strain, P.S. (n.d.). Helping young children control anger and handle disappointment. The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning, p. 1-5.
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