One of the most important things a teacher can do is to create a safe space for learners. To do this, teachers need to reduce potential threats and distractions in the learning environment. When learners have to focus their attention on having basic needs met or avoiding a negative experience they cannot concentrate on the learning process. While the physical safety of a learning environment is of course necessary, subtler types of threats and distractions must be attended to as well; what is threatening or potentially distracting depends on learners’ individual needs and background. An English Language Learner might find language experimentation threatening, while some learners might find too much sensory stimulation distracting. The optimal instructional environment offers options that reduce threats and negative distractions for everyone to create a safe space in which learning can occur.

• Create an accepting and supportive classroom climate
• Vary the level of novelty or risk
• Charts, calendars, schedules, visible timers, cues, etc. that can increase the predictability of daily activities and transitions
• Creation of class routines
• Alerts and previews that can help learners anticipate and prepare for changes in activities, schedules, and novel events
• Options that can, in contrast to the above, maximize the unexpected, surprising, or novel in highly routinized activities
• Vary the level of sensory stimulation
• Variation in the presence of background noise or visual stimulation, noise buffers, number of features or items presented at a time
• Variation in pace of work, length of work sessions, availability of breaks or time-outs, or timing or sequence of activities
• Vary the social demands required for learning or performance, the perceived level of support and protection and the requirements for public display and evaluation
• Involve all participants in whole class discussions

• One important aspect of self-regulation is the personal knowledge each learner has about what he or she finds motivating, be it intrinsic or extrinsic. To accomplish this, learners need to be able to set personal goals that can be realistically reached, as well as fostering positive beliefs that their goals can be met. However, learners also need to be able to deal with frustration and avoid anxiety when they are in the process of meeting their goals. Multiple options need to be given to learners to help them stay motivated.

• Provide prompts, reminders, guides, rubrics, checklists that focus on:
• Self-regulatory goals like reducing the frequency of aggressive outbursts in response to frustration
• Increasing the length of on-task orientation in the face of distractions
• Elevating the frequency of self-reflection and self-reinforcements
• Provide coaches, mentors, or agents that model the process of setting personally appropriate goals that take into account both strengths and weaknesses
• Support activities that encourage self-reflection and identification of personal goals