We all know that our wellbeing can have a significant impact on every aspect of our lives.
When we feel happy and healthy, we function better – we sleep better, think better, perform better, and make better decisions. But when we’re stressed or anxious, the opposite is true, and this can prevent us from achieving our goals.
This is how it is for our students too. The stresses, strains, and mental challenges they experience in different areas of their lives can get in the way of them learning effectively and fulfilling their potential.
So what can we do in the classroom to support our students’ wellbeing, and to ensure they’re learning and performing to the best of their ability?
The Stress Bucket – an effective tool for managing stress
A useful strategy to help your students manage their stress levels is to tell them to think of stress as a bucket. The more worries and anxieties they have, the more their ‘stress bucket’ fills up.
But what if their bucket starts to overflow? This is where events and situations can become overwhelming, causing feelings of panic, anxiety and stress, which can, in turn, lead to negative behaviours such as panic attacks, angry outbursts or becoming withdrawn.
So we need to teach our students how to put ‘taps’ in their buckets, which can let the stress out and prevent their bucket from overflowing; these taps are coping strategies which support their mental health and wellbeing.
Here are 6 ideas that you could try with your class to help them empty their stress buckets:
- Laughter
This is a great way to relieve anxiety and tension – maybe show a funny video at the start of a lesson or before students are about to do something stressful like take a test or give a presentation.
- Emotional ‘check-ins’
Give students regular opportunities to check in on how they’re feeling, particularly before a stressful event such as an exam. You can do this by asking them to close their eyes for 30 seconds and to focus on what their body is doing at that very moment. Do they have butterflies? Is their heart racing? Maybe they feel shaky or sick.
Ask them how their mind feels – is it like a chimp (jumping about all over the place) or a sloth (nice and relaxed)? Then give them the opportunity to share these observations with you and the rest of the class. This will help them to understand that what they’re experiencing is perfectly normal, and will reassure them that these feelings are shared by many others.
- One on One support
We know that resilience to stress is improved in young people when they have at least one trusted adult relationship. So offering one-to-one support can really make that young person feel valued and well supported.
- Breathing
Ask your students to try ‘Square breathing’ – they breathe in for four, hold for four, breathe out for four, and then hold for four. This immediately lowers the heart rate and calms the body’s nervous system, bringing with it a sense of relaxation.
If some students don’t like focusing on their breathing, they can do ‘finger breathing’ instead – as they breathe in and out, they trace their finger around the outside edge of their other hand, and then back again.
- Taking short break
Everyone’s stress bucket is different – some of your students will have large buckets that fill up slowly, but others with smaller buckets may find they get overwhelmed with stress much more quickly. In addition, what causes people’s buckets to overflow will vary. But hopefully these 6 tips will help you to support the mental health and wellbeing of all your students in the classroom.
- Cognitive reframing
Everyone’s stress bucket is different – some of your students will have large buckets that fill up slowly, but others with smaller buckets may find they get overwhelmed with stress much more quickly. In addition, what causes people’s buckets to overflow will vary. But hopefully these 6 tips will help you to support the mental health and wellbeing of all your students in the classroom.
This blog was inspired by a recent Oxford AQA webinar run by Louise Aukland, an Oxford University Researcher and Engagement Specialist, and Oxford International Curriculum Advisor. Here is the link to the webinar https://players.brightcove.net/5790302500001/olRIhMLuQH_default/index.html?videoId=6320912536112
