Student Stress — Helpful Strategies

The role stress plays in the lives of teachers has received significant attention in the past decade. Only recently has the impact of stress on students gained widespread notice. Teachers can make a difference by helping students cope effectively with life's stresses and strains.

• Show children healthy ways of coping with life stresses. Model calmness, anger control, and constructive problem-solving.
• Teach critical thinking skills to allow students to anticipate the consequences of their actions. Pose hypothetical situations and use open-ended questions about what solutions could be used to handle life problems.
• Take time to discuss stressful events. For example, allowing class time to talk about the death of a classmate promotes grieving and healing.
• Use stories and books. This helps students identify with the feelings of characters and discuss potential coping strategies.
• Encourage students to get regular physical exercise. Physical activity not only provides distraction from trouble stressors, it also changes children's body chemistry, burning off built-up muscle tension.
• Use open-ended art lessons to encourage expression of feelings.
• Encourage children to act out coping strategies. Puppets, role-plays, and simulations can all bring feelings out for discussion.
• Nurture positive self-esteem to develop resilience. Developing a special interest or talent can serve as a source of pride.
• Nurture the power of humor, e.g., unusual costumes or humorous quotations.
• Help students shift their perspective to see new challenges as learning experiences.
• Teach deep breathing and relaxation techniques to reduce test anxiety or to defuse anger.
• Teach conflict-resolution strategies. Teach children to think through alternative ways to solve problems. Who else can help solve given problems? What additional information do they need?
• Accept and reward efforts and progress on school tasks. Most importantly, strive for excellence, not perfection.

Source: DeBord, K. (1996). Helping children cope with stress. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.