Cultivating a Classroom of Calm: How to Promote Student Engagement and Self-Regulation

Transform your chaotic classroom environment into a classroom of calm by fostering community, trust, and self-reflection. Calm is a choice. The key to a calm classroom isn't students who are obedient or quiet but students who feel empowered and safe. It starts with you as the teacher and your ability to foster an environment that supports emotional awareness, psychological safety and belonging, and connected relationships. In Cultivating a Classroom of Calm, mindfulness coach and former principal Meredith McNerney will help you promote student engagement and self-regulation using strategies grounded in neuroscience research. The book provides all the tools you need to Discern the characteristics of a truly calm environment. Explore the four dimensions of engagement. Discover how trauma often affects students. Balance empathy with accountability in the classroom. Develop practices to regulate emotions and stress. As you explore how the brain can learn to make calm and responsible decisions, the book will guide you in building a personalized plan to cultivate calm for your students and yourself. When you understand your own basic emotional and relational needs, you can instill your own calmness and help your students learn how to do the same, cultivating a classroom environment in which every learner can grow.