Teachers continue to face some of the biggest challenges in education history: dysregulated students, overly involved caregivers and parents, and budget cuts are all triggers for anxiety, fear, and hopelessness.
So, um, how are you doing? Hopefully, you are hanging on tightly!
While we can stay informed and engaged, we can also be mindful of our own ability to self-regulate. At breaking points like having piles of grading on your desk or listening to a student tap their pencil over and over, it’s helpful to have a strategy to ensure you don’t let your dysregulation get the best of you.
Just as listening to the sound of rain allows you to take in the sensory experience of calm, the RAIN acronym—courtesy of Mindful.com(Open Link in new tab) – can guide you to take a few minutes to notice your emotions, treat yourself with self-compassion, and get back into the flow of your day. Here’s the way it works:
The acronym of RAIN stands for:
It empowers us to:
- Regularly check in with our emotional state throughout the day.
- View situations with empathy and from the student’s perspective to understand their reactions.
- Recall calming techniques to stay grounded and centered.
Let’s say a student is on the verge of large-scale deregulation because they earned a low grade on a test. This happens frequently, despite the student’s understanding of coping strategies when they become frustrated. You are losing your patience with the student not applying the strategies they know (for some reason unknown to you).
- Begin by recognizing what is going on. The student is frustrated because they got a bad grade.
- Then, allow the experience to be there, just as it is. Despite the frequency of these tantrums, they are just that: tantrums. There is de-escalation on the horizon.
- Next, you will investigate the situation with kindness. Students are uncomfortable when they are disregulated, so there must be a reason behind this one. Did the student study for the test? Where specifically does the frustration lie- in the lack of preparation, not understanding the material, or needing different support other than the coping strategies she’s been taught?
- Finally, rely on your natural awareness, which comes from not identifying with the experience. You’ve discovered your student needs additional support to understand and demonstrate her learning, but doesn’t have the self-advocacy skills she needs to ask for help. You have agreed upon a signal between the two of you to indicate when she needs more explanation, and she is determined not to throw a tantrum next time she is upset or frustrated.
Try RAIN out for yourself(Open Link in new tab) using these examples for each step! Being mindful of your triggers (yes, that kiddo continues to tap his pencil), you can use RAIN to walk yourself through a thinking process to bring yourself back into a regulated state of mind.
In a world where things seem upside down, it’s important to take care of ourselves in every way we can. RAIN could be the very thing to remind yourself of your best self for the benefit of both you and your students.
About the Author
Betsy Butler (she/her) is a Professional Learning Specialist at Teaching Channel. She holds a B.A. in English, a Master’s in Education, and has been teaching since 1992. Betsy uses her three decades of teaching experience to write and revise our courses while selecting the perfect accompanying texts. Her specialty areas include ELA, special education topics, behavior management, and mental health.
Fun Fact: Betsy’s daily conquest is solving the New York Times crossword puzzle!
