What Every Teacher Should Know About The Anger Cycle (And Why It Matters)
May 30, 2021
auto_awesome
Understanding the anger cycle is key to managing student emotions effectively. The podcast highlights the biological changes that trigger fight, flight, or freeze responses. Personal anecdotes illustrate the suddenness of anger outbursts in educational settings. A five-step guide is shared for educators to tailor their de-escalation strategies. The hosts discuss how recognizing the various stages of anger can enhance interactions with students and lead to improved emotional management. Engaging in constructive dialogue post-crisis is crucial for building a calmer classroom environment.
21:43
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
Understanding the anger cycle allows teachers to respond appropriately at each stage, ensuring effective de-escalation of children's emotional crises.
Recognizing the aftermath of an emotional outburst is crucial, as children need comfort and time to regain stability before addressing the incident.
Deep dives
Understanding the Anger Cycle
The anger cycle involves a sequence of physiological and psychological responses triggered by perceived threats. Initially, when a trigger occurs, the brain releases stress hormones like adrenaline, preparing the body for a fight-or-flight response. It's crucial to recognize that what may seem like an overreaction is often a misfiring of evolutionary instincts; the child’s brain interprets a situation as life-threatening even when it is not. Understanding this process helps adults to intervene effectively, ensuring that their response aligns with the child's current emotional state.
Effective De-escalation Techniques
Choosing appropriate de-escalation techniques at each stage of the anger cycle is essential for effectively managing a child’s emotional crisis. For instance, early stages call for distraction or removing perceived threats to lessen stress, while later stages require maintaining physical safety away from triggers. During the peak of the cycle, children may display fight, flight, freeze, or play dead responses, necessitating a calm and safe environment to allow them to regain control. Mismanaging the timing or type of response can exacerbate the situation, so it’s critical to align adult interventions with the specific phase of the anger cycle.
Post-Crisis Reflection and Recovery
The aftermath of an emotional outburst often leaves children in a vulnerable state, where they experience a dip in energy and heightened emotions as stress hormones dissipate. This period is crucial for emotional and physiological resettlement, focusing on comfort rather than immediately addressing the underlying issue. Once the child is back to a stable state, productive conversations about the incident can occur, allowing for reflection and learning. Tailoring approaches to individual needs remains vital, as different children may process their experiences and recover at varying rates.
Knowing what to say and do when a child becomes angry (or highly anxious) can be difficult. One wrong move and the child’s emotions can seem to explode!
The secret to de-escalation is understanding the anger cycle - the biological changes that lead to the fight-flight-or-freeze responses that are so difficult to manage in school. In this episode of School Behaviour Secrets, we look at the key stages of the anger cycle - and how to adjust your response for each one, so you approach de-escalation calmly and successfully.