Schools play a huge roll in students’ day to day lives – teaching them how to interact with other people, juggling responsibility, gaining knowledge, and shaping their futures. From making friends to learning to cope with stress and disappointment, schools have a major impact on students’ mental health.
Here are some simple and easy ways teachers can be aware of students’ mental health and help during lessons.
Group Work/Collaboration
This one is pretty simple and already takes place in most classrooms on a regular basis but still is important to highlight. By mixing up groups frequently, kids have the opportunity to interact with different classmates, hone social skills, and understand how to work with various personalities. If there are any disagreements this is a great way teachers can step in and help mediate, showing emotional control while showing students how to interact together calmly.
Brain Breaks
Students learn A LOT throughout the day, let alone a whole school year. From bouncing from class to class to take-home work, students need time to decompress and absorb what they are learning in the moment. Taking ‘brain breaks, whether that be 5-15 minutes between main topics or a topic change for a few minutes to have some fun, having time to breathe away from expectations for a second can help students process information properly and regulate emotions, especially for harder understood topics.
Goal Setting
Work with students to set short-, medium- and long-term goals for the learning and personal throughout the semester. Celebrate milestones along the way and allow them to experience perseverance and triumph especially during bigger milestones like major tests. Little winners help boost student morale and give them something to work towards to keep them motivated.
Emphasize SEL
Social-emotional learning in an educational environment better equips students in day-to-day lives and helps improve their mentality. Focus on a safe, inclusive environment that encourages empathy and accepts different perspectives.
What ways do you try to incorporate mental health awareness into your classrooms? Let us know in the comments!
Resources:
https://www.k12dive.com/spons/educator-strategies-for-incorporating-sel-in-class-and-at-home/713941
https://www.k12dive.com/spons/educator-strategies-for-incorporating-sel-in-class-and-at-home/713941
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