Today we’re going to talk about how we can support our students who have anxiety.
You’ve probably noticed that there’s been an increase in anxiety levels within our students, especially now with Covid-19 so rampant in society.
Therefore, we can no longer just teach various coping strategies; we must also have them practice it multiple times a day. When they do this, it will teach their mind and body to automatically go through the following steps when they feel anxious. This is especially important for students who experience anxiety attacks as it will help them calm down before they reach that point.
Before we continue, today’s episode is sponsored by The Colourful Teaching Club where we’ll ideas, such today’s topic and break it down into super actionable steps so that you get started right away. You’ll enjoy a hands-on approach with a step-by-step format to help you with long-term planning, self-care, rediscovering yourself beyond the classroom and forming deep connections with other teachers. If you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed or burnout as a teacher, then my friend, The Colourful Teaching Club is for you.
The following are four strategies to try with your children:
Actionable Steps:
#1. Recognize the Trigger
Teach your children how to recognize what’s causing them to feel anxious. Have them either illustrate or verbally state it so that you know how to help them.
#2. Remember Breath Control
Practice deep breathing with your students. Teach them to breath from their belly and channel their thoughts inwards to focus on the breath going in and out of their body. Have them count to five as it goes it and then release their breath the count of five. Have children do this at least ten times if not more.
#3. Try Taking Risks
Let your children know that it’s good and essential to take risks as that’s the best way to learn and grow. With risk-taking, it’s inevitable to make mistakes, but with time and continuous practice, they’ll keep getting better.
#4. Create the Space
Create a space to help your children calm down. I’m a teacher so I don’t have a crazy amount of money to spend on big and fabulous sensory rooms. I take what I have or I hit up the Dollar Store and use my findings to create a safe space for my kids to center themselves and focus their mind.
My kids love it because they aren’t being punished but are given ownership over caring for themselves. I pre-teach this to them so that they understand what this means and why it’s so important to their wellbeing.
If you’re looking to create this space quickly and on a budget, I have two resources, one for Elementary Students and one for High School Students. The following are FREE resources that can be found in the Colourful Teaching Resource Library.
You can also get these comprehensive resources with reflective activities.
This space was created to support a teacher’s budget.
Recap:
Let’s recap really quickly. Today, we looked at the following:
- We talked about how anxiety may affect your child’s learning.
- We looked at four actionable steps that you can use to support students with anxiety: recognize the trigger, remember breath control, try taking risks, and create the space.
Additional Thoughts:
You don’t need to implement all of the steps. Focus on the ones that work best for your children and teach it to them.
If in the mean time, if you’re still feeling stressed out, overwhelmed and burnout, then I encourage you to check out the following:
Next Steps:
If you’d like additional resources for your classroom here are the three ways you can access them: 1) Free Resource Library; 2) At my store; 3) Systematic Plan to Super Passionate; 4) The Colourful Teaching Club.
If you found this video beneficial, would you do me a favour? Share this with your family, your friends, your loved ones, your co-workers or someone who you think could benefit from this. Thank you!
I’ll see you next Friday at 5:30pm PST.
Until I see you next time, remember to create, experience & teach from the heart.
Take care,
Charlotte
