This week I paired “Let’s Draw,” our new self-regulation tool with our previously used self-awareness tool “Let’s Talk.” There is plenty of research outlining the benefits of drawing with helping students de-escalate in order to regulate their emotions. It’s because of this research that we developed “Let’s Draw” as a complementary tool to “Let’s Talk.”
Early in the week I had a student brought to my office. He was highly emotional and clearly not ready for a productive conversation with me. All my attempts to engage in conversation were met with closed off body language, a look of anger on his face, and no verbal responses. I saw this as an opportunity to try the “Let’s Draw” self-regulation tool.
I asked the student if he liked to draw. He immediately looked at me and said, “Yeah, I love to draw!” When I pointed to the drawing board on my wall which held two blank sheets of paper and said you can take some time and draw if you’d like, he immediately moved towards the board. I gave him a pencil and some colored pencils. I told him he could either stand or sit while drawing and he could draw whatever he wanted. It could be things he is good at drawing and likes to draw, or things that reflect how he’s feeling.
He started off standing, but it didn’t take long before he pulled up a chair and sat down. It was incredible to feel the energy that radiated from him body. As he moved from a standing to sitting position, his energy and emotions also lowered. When I could feel he was in a better place emotionally and seemed to be effectively self-regulating his emotions, I asked if he was ready to talk about what was going on. He said he was ready, so I suggested he take a few minutes to finish up his drawing and then we would talk. It was powerful to hear his responses to me asking how the drawing made his body feel and if he would share what he was drawing. He said it made his body feel calm and that the bright circle was because he was feeling “bright” and “happy” while drawing. We finished up our problem-solving by working through the “Let’s Talk” self-assessment. He shared that he was feeling “good/happy” because he got all his feeling out and got to talk to someone about what happened.
The entire experience with this student validated the research and beliefs we have about the power drawing can have in aiding a student’s ability to self-regulate their emotions. “Let’s Draw” has already proven to be a successful and valuable resource when working with students to de-escalate their emotions. I can problem solve with them and get them re-entered into their classroom.
-Jim
