This summer I am writing a book with a colleague about self regulation and the common core.  This blog began as book notes and now that I am nearing the end of the project I realized I have not been able to find the time to blog.  I cannot complain, I have had great work space and time, maintained focus, and approached each writing session with self-set goals and self-instructions.  However, I should have set aside time to blog…….

Self instruction is the way we focus our attention on the task at hand.  I think we all do it at times, some call it “self talk” others call it “self-verbalizations” – however, training in self-instruction is critical for even our youngest learners.

I find that before I begin a day I self-instruct with a plan of action, make a list, and check the list to evaluate my progress.  If I have made significant progress and am satisfied with my performance, self-efficacy goes up! If I have struggled to find a resource, citation, or idea for a new chapter, my self-efficacy goes down. The self-instruction helps me manage my self-efficacy beliefs when I taking a closer look at my progress and I can attribute success or failure to a particular behavior.  When I add a comment next to each of my goals that attributes my behaviors to whether or not I accomplished the goal, I can realistically evaluate my progress.  At that point, I know what to do, what to change, and how to reset my goals to make those I did not attain manageable and realistic, to try again.

So today’s self-instruction included blogging, and now that I have accomplished the task, I can attribute specific behaviors that led to my satisfaction.  First, I planned how I would set aside the time early today…Second I decided to use one of my writing breaks….Third, I considered the importance of keeping up with the blog (which made it a priority)…..Fourth, instead of procrastinating over a cup of coffee, I did it!!!!

What does this have to do with the common core?  Self-instruction can help teachers manage their classrooms and their lesson planning in a way that can turn the standards into goals, and instead of becoming overwhelmed with what we cannot do, we can consider our accomplishments and keep going……