SEL Spotlight
May 2021
Finish Strong!
It's That Time of Year...How Are You Going to Finish?
The end of the school year can be challenging. You may feel stressed. Remember, though, that when you are stressed, it impacts those around you, including your students. Teachers have to manage their own stress levels before they can help students manage theirs. An anxious teacher trying to calm students may only make the situation worse.
A study of stressed teachers revealed that teachers with the highest levels of stress and lowest levels of coping and burnout led to worse learning outcomes for their students.
Sometimes, it is easy to focus on what has to be done and the tasks that seem overwhelming, but the end of the school provides an excellent opportunity for us to dig deep and finish strong. It is a perfect time to model perseverance and show our students that learning is like a marathon; the last miles may seem harder, but they are still important!
In choosing to do this, we will help our students and ourselves. We will witness a better finish line for all.
What About Our Students?
Have You Considered How Stressful Summer Can Be for Some Students?
Many students will be leaving a structured environment where they feel safety and consistency for a summer that may not hold much of either. Students that feel love and connection at school may not feel that at home. Some of our students will miss school because that is their only chance for positive interaction.
Research shows that trauma-sensitive students often struggle with school holidays. Students who have previously experienced trauma may fear being at home for long periods of time. This may be due to lack of structure, routine, or stability that school can provide. Lack of supervision or unsafe home environments can also add to students' stress levels.
Do you realize that some of our students will leave our classrooms at the end of the year wondering when they will get their next high five, compliment, praise, encouragement, or kind word? We have students that will worry about where their breakfast and lunch will come from if they aren't in school.
Students do not always see summer as a reprieve. Many are already concerned about what that time will hold.
Class countdowns can actually cause angst and fear.
Many students begin to feel fear and angst due to watching the days inch toward closer to summer. This is because many of our students are facing a whole new set of challenges when they leave the school building and begin their "break."
What is Really the End of This Sentence?
It's 10 days until no electricity.
It's 10 days until no breakfast and lunch.
It's 10 days until I have to be alone all the time.
It's 10 days until I have to watch my brothers and sisters every night.
It's 10 days until no hot water.
It's 10 days until I have to hide in my room all the time.
It's 10 days until I am without the people that keep me safe.
Incorporating movement is one easy way to help students defuse stress and anxiety. Physical movement and activity raise your body's endorphin levels. Endorphins help clear our minds and improve our moods. Incorporating kinesthetic activities into the classroom is an easy way to help students who feel overwhelmed.
Also, consider rewording or changing your countdown and using a different type of celebration or motivator. That single change could make a huge difference to students that are worrying about the end of the school year.
Learn More:
Check out these additional resources for more ideas about how to help students cope with stress and anxiety.
15 Strategies to Help Kids Deal with Stress
Self-Regulation: Helping Students Cope with School Stress and Anxiety
Be Mindful of What You Say and Post
Many things that are shared this time of year that may seem funny can actually have a different impact on the community, parents, and students.
We have all seen or read things like this:
- Only more week until we are off! This teacher can't wait to be free!
- Finally, Summer Break is here! 2 months without kids!
- We have done our time, parents. You get the summer.
- Only a few more days.
- Ten weeks of freedom!
- Parents, tag you're it.
- Two weeks until Summer Break. Teachers, we can do this.
This time of year, social media is also flooded with images like these:
Do you want children that are struggling with the idea of summer to feel like you can't wait to be free of them?
Do you want parents to think that all you think about in connection to your class time is that it is coming to an end, and you cannot wait?
Do you want your students to think you are going to celebrate them being gone, instead of thinking about how they are or if they are okay as they begin their summer?
What if you are the only positive adult some of your students experience regularly, and now they think you are eager to be rid of them?
We all know that teachers need and deserve downtime. Teaching is a hard job. It is true that the school year can be difficult and leave you needing some reenergizing. When you express that, though, try to think about how your words might impact others.
Instead of focusing on the exhaustion or other things that can come off as negative, try to say and post in a more positive, thoughtful way. Think about how your words will impact others. Here is a great example of just that from GISD's own Ashley Inskeep.
Just Make Sure You Remember
SEL Learning Opportunities
May 8 - SEL: Soothing our Stressed GT Students
May 11 - Support Students with Social-Emotional Learning in the Library (K-12)
May 19 - Youth Mental Health First Aid
June 2 - Youth Mental Health First Aid
June 3 - Youth Mental Health First Aid
Register today at Region10.org
Continuing Education Department
Email: russlerr@greenvilleisd.com
Website: https://www.greenvilleisd.com/domain/946
Location: 4004 Moulton Street, Greenville, TX, USA
Phone: 903-408-4464