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An Educational Leadership Special Report | Volume 77 A New Reality: Getting Remote Learning Right Pages 22-27
Jessica Minahan
Teachers can play a huge role in helping students with anxiety or trauma histories feel safe right now—even from a distance.
Seemingly overnight, the world changed. Teachers and school leaders have had to revamp their entire instructional systems with, in many instances, only a day's notice. To say many of us are experiencing whiplash, disorientation, and anxiety is an understatement.
Our students are feeling it too. Typically, nationwide, one in three teenagers has experienced clinically significant anxiety in their lifetime (Merikangas et al., 2010). It's probable that during a pandemic that heavily impacts everyday life, levels of anxiety in children and teens are even higher, and the possibility of subsequent trauma greater.
In these unprecedented times, teachers are rising to the occasion creatively and quickly to shift to remote learning amidst school closures. Even in a traditional classroom, it can be a challenge to support students with anxiety and trauma histories to stay calm and learn. With distance learning, this difficulty is magnified. However, there is much teachers can do to reduce anxiety in students even while teaching remotely. During this crisis, we need to prioritize students' mental health over academics. The impact of trauma can be lifelong, so what students learn during this time ultimately won't be as important as whether they feel safe.
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In a time of crisis and change, when students are separated from their school adults, it's paramount to help them continue to feel safe, cared for, and connected. Strong relationships with teachers can insulate anxious students from escalating.
Teachers across the country are finding creative ways to stay connected with students. For example, many communities have held a "teacher parade," with educators driving through the neighborhood while students waved from their doorsteps. Teachers have also, with precautions for safety, delivered school lunches door-to-door.
Connecting doesn't have to be time-consuming to be effective. Providing a video of yourself explaining a concept, posing a challenge question, or doing a read aloud is a fabulous way to help students feel connected to you and the class. In any video, greeting the students and explicitly telling them you miss being with them and can't wait to see them again is a powerful way to help them feel cared for.
Whenever possible, make the effort to connect with each student individually. One supportive adult can help a student overcome a very difficult home situation and shield them from resultant anxiety (Brooks, 2003). A connection with a caring teacher can be a lifeline for a vulnerable student. For students who don't have internet access, try a cell phone-based messaging communication system like Remind—or traditional mail. Other strategies for making these individual connections include:
As we keep lines of communication and connection open, educators need to be prepared to respond to difficult questions from stressed and traumatized students. Students with anxiety and trauma histories tend to think negatively. Scary information can be magnified. Here are some suggestions for responding most helpfully:
One of the most terrifying aspects of the pandemic is that it's out of our control. Typically, people have a baseline belief that bad things (like car crashes) are unlikely to happen to them, which stops us from being in a constant state of anxiety. When a crisis affects us all, we can feel that any bad thing is now possible and experience catastrophic thinking ("everyone I love could die!"). Particularly for anxious students and students with trauma histories, maintaining a sense of even limited control can ease this pervasive anxiety. Here are several ways teachers can empower students:
Many students will communicate their feelings through changes in behavior. Not all children and teens react to stress the same way, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists common behavior changes to look out for during this crisis, when interacting with students:
When you see students disengage from activities, mention alcohol use, or write an irritable note, respond with compassion. Their behavior is their way of telling you "I'm scared, nervous, or uneasy." It's helpful to share this information with caretakers, who may misunderstand the student's behavior as just being lazy or having an attitude. For a detailed list of common anxiety-related behaviors by age, with suggestions of how families can respond, refer to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network's factsheet.
Even when we aren't physically with students, teachers can provide much-needed instruction in emotional-regulation strategies. Students with anxiety and those who are experiencing trauma require specific instruction on how to manage anxious feelings. Their feelings are too big for them to regulate without such guidance, and the student may not have a supportive caretaker.
During this crisis, teachers must perform a critical role in combatting trauma and anxiety. While academics are important, our most important task is supporting the mental health of students, especially our most vulnerable students. By maintaining connections, teaching key coping strategies, listening and responding to students' behavior, and helping students feel in control, we can help them come through this challenging time feeling resilient and supported. When the crisis is over, students won't remember what you taught them—they'll remember that you made them feel safe and cared for.
Bokszczanin, A. (2012). Social support provided by adolescents following a disaster and perceived social support, sense of community at school, and proactive coping. Anxiety, stress, and coping, 25(5), 575–592.
Brooks, R. (2003). Self-worth, resilience, and hope: The search for islands of competence. Metairie, LA: The Center for Development and Learning.
Jans-Beken, L., Lataster, J., Peels, D., Lechner, L., & Jacobs, N. (2018). Gratitude, psychopathology, and subjective well-being: Results from a 7.5-month prospective general population study. Journal of Happiness Studies, 19(6), 1673–1689.
Merikangas, K. R., He, J. P., Burnstein, M., Swanson, S. A., Avenevoli, S., Cui, L., et al. (2010). Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in U.S. adolescents: Results from the national comorbidity study-adolescent supplement. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 49(10), 980–989.
Jessica Minahan (www.jessicaminahan.com) is a behavior analyst, special educator, and international consultant to schools on supporting students exhibiting challenging behavior. She is coauthor of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students (Harvard Education Press, 2012) and author of The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors (Harvard Education Press, 2014). Follow her on Twitter.
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