Aug

30

Some things you need to know about kids who are school phobic or anxious about school

Filed Under Behaviour Management, Computers In The Classroom, Dealing With Stress, Special Education | 2 Comments

Where has the summer gone? Our local dollar store has all it’s Halloween stuff on display already. Summer is definitely over! School starts again on Tuesday, and most kids are excited about going back to school. Heck, most parents are excited about their kids going back to school. :) Notice, I said most kids are excited about going back to school because for some kids the thought of going back to school makes them ill, literally ill. What’s going on with these kids? Why is this happening? What can we do to help them?

Every year I see kids who are totally overwhelmed by the thought of coming to school and attending classes. Oh, I know that most kids have the first-day-of-school jitters. But what these kids feel is way beyond the- first-day-of-school jitters. They’re so totally anxious about going to school to the point where they become physically ill with stomach aches, headaches, temperatures etc.that excuse them from attending school.

We know that about six to ten percent of students suffer from school anxiety and that about three to five of percent of students who suffer from school anxiety flatly refuse to go to school no matter what. Symptoms usually appear when kids are about 10 to 12 year old, although some kids can manifest school anxiety at the kindergarten or grade one level. I’ve given support to kids in grade nine and ten who are so afraid to come to school that all they can barely manage to enter the building.Tracy, not her real name, was like that.

When I met Tracy, she had many of the characteristics of kids who are anxious about school.
She was

    a great kid
    shy and didn’t want to be noticed
    a perfectionist
    average or above average intelligence
    want to please the teacher

It’s really important for kids like Tracy to get treatment because if they don’t

    50% will develop depression
    targets for bullies
    girls have a tendency to drop out of high school
    boys have a tendency to drop out of college or university
    be under employed
    have unsatisfactory intimate relationships
    alcohol or tobacco addiction

I guess the big question here is why are kids like Tracy so anxious about going to school? How and why does a kid become anxious or phobic about school. Experts like Lynn Miller, a psychologist specializing in anxiety prevention, notes that anxiety tends to run in families. Some kids are born more sensitive than others and are affected more by their environment and how it responds to them.

Parenting may also make kids more anxious. Highly critical and over protective parents can contribute to kids developing anxiety. Well meaning parents might contribute to a kid’s anxiety by trying to rescue them from situations that their kids might find threatening. For example, Mom is taking Katelyn to school. Katelyn’s a bit reluctant to go and when she sees a group of kids in the playground laughing about something, she assumes that they are laughing at her and says “Mom, those kids are laughing. I think they’re laughing at me” Now mom who is trying to protect Katelyn decides to avoid the unpleasant situation and says “Let’s just use the back door to go into school.We don’t have to go to the front door where those girls are.”

Look what’s happening here. By avoiding the kids who are laughing, mom is not only confirming that the kids are probably laughing at Katelyn but also missing an opportunity to teach Katelyn to look at the situation in a different way and say something like “Katelyn, they’re probably just laughing because they’re having fun. Let’s go.” It’s just like those times when I say hi to someone I pass in the hall, and the person ignores me. I could think he’s being rude but I’ve learned to think that it could be that he’s preoccupied with something and didn’t even notice me. Who knows! I’ve probably done the same thing. It’s all how you look at it, but kids need to be taught that.

Sometimes parents help kids avoid activities because they don’t want kids to expereince any distress or embarassment. For example, Jordon may not want to go on a field trip because he’s are anxious about being on the bus. Maybe he’s worried that he’ll be sick on the bus and end up making a big mess. One solution might be to take the day off work and drive Jordon to the field trip. That’s not teaching not Jordon any coping skills other than avoidance.

Oh yes, remember Tracy and her anxiety about school. It took time, but gradually Tracy learned through cognitive behaviour training how to cope with her anxiety and was able to attend classes with support from her psychologist, the special education team, school social worker and her guidance counselor. Cognitive behaviour training gave Tracy the skills she needed to help her deal with her anxiety. The treatment challenged her to stop thinking negatively about things and try to put a more neutral spin on things. For example, Samantha may think her teacher’s in a bad mood because of something Tracy  did instead of allowing that the teacher might be in a bad mood because she had a flat tire on the way to work, or the that the forgot something important at home.

At the beginning of the semester, Tracy was so anxious about going to school that she had trouble even coming into the buiding let alone going to classes. As part of Tracy’s treatment, we encouraged her to come to school for only 30 minutes a day. She was to start school later than the other students and come to the Contact Room, not a regular class room, and work on her school work there with our support. She was in school, but not part of the regular student body yet.

The deal was that her Dad would come to school with her and keep her company in the Contact Room while she did her lessons.This gave her the emotional support she obviously needed from someone she trusted. At first, he stayed for the entire 30 minutes, but then gradually as she felt more comfortable he would stay for shorter and shorter periods of time until the point where he would just drop her off at Contact Room door,say hi to me and my behavioural teaching assistant, and leave.

When Tracy was finally able to go into a classroom, the behavioural teaching assistant would sit with her during the entire class to give her emotional support and then gradually over time, Tracy would stay in the class on her own without the BTA support. She would just check in and say hi and have a little chat before going to class. She also had the option to leave the class and come to the contact room if she felt she needed to do that. Eventually Tracy was able to attend regular classes with a behavioural teaching assistant’s support.

It wasn’t easy for Tracy. It wasn’t easy for her family. But, with the treatment she got form her psychologist and the support she got from the support team in school, including her classroom teacher, she was was able to cope with her anxiety about school.

Getting help early for kids who suffer from school anxiety is so important. There is treatment that helps kids deal with school anxiety and in an ideal world all kids would get the treatment they need. Before they can get treatment, however they have to be identified. In the real world of the classroom with 30+ kids, it’s difficult to notice a quiet student when there are so many other needy kids-kids who have behavioural problems, can’t read or write well enough to pass the literacy test, kids who can barely speak English, kids who have ADHD etc. The quiet student who isn’t causing problems for the teacher sometimes gets overlooked. I know it’s not right, but that’s what happens. It’s up to us, parents, teachers, counsellors etc. to identify kids who suffer from school anxiety and help them get the treatment they need so that they feel comfortable going to class and fulfilling their potential.

 
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Aug

9

Reviewing the steps to take to prepare for the first day of school

Filed Under Behaviour Management, Dealing With Stress, motivating students, positive climate | 6 Comments

The first day of school is fast approaching, and I really need to start to  think about getting ready for it.  I’ve been teaching for a while so there have been many first days, and I’m pleased  to say ( actually I’m quite relieved to say ) that I’ve found steps to take that make that first day and that first week a success. That first week is so important because it sets the  tone for the rest of the semester.
I’m going to remind myself of what to do to have a successful first day and first week by reviewing the strategies I use for each step.  I invite you to review each step  with me, so just click on the link I’ve provided in each step.

Step 1- Reduce Stress

Just thinking about  the first day of school itself can be stressful,  but it needn’t be.      Here’s why.

Step 2- Think positively


Think positively. If you have a positive attitude you’ll believe and act as if all students will be successful in your class. If you have a positive attitude there are no losers in your classroom despite what you’ve might have heard. Students will live up to your expectations. Think and act as if students are trouble, believe me they won’t disappoint you. Here’s why.

Step 3- Remember the nine lessons your students taught you about classroom management

Your students will tell you by their behaviour what they like and don’t like all you have to do is ask them. Here’s what my students told me.

Step 4- Create the class rules or agreements collaboratively

Create the classroom agreements together and students are more likely to buy into them.  Here’s how I do that and the Slideshare Video I use to review our agreements.

Step 5- Remember respect in the classroom is a two way street

Step 6- Get your students   to tell you how they feel about different aspects of school

Remember respect is a two way street going from the teacher to the student and from the student to the teacher.  As much as I would like it to be, respect for teachers  isn’t always automatic.  It must be earned. Here’s what I do.

Step 6- Get students to tell me how they feel about different aspects of school

It’s good to get students to reflect about different aspects of school in and out of the classroom.  The information that I get from these questionnaires help me better understand my students and informs my interactions with them.  I ask these questions.

Step 7-  Realize that a students emotional state will affect a student’s learning and behaviour

Realize that the emotional state of a student can thwart learning.  Consider this.

Aug

8

My blog Teachers At Risk is two years old- how many people years is that?

Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, The Way I See It | 12 Comments

Imagine, my blog “Teachers At Risk” is 2 years old already.  Time really does fly. I’m just sitting here  at the computer reflecting back on those two years and find myself wondering, don’t ask me why,  how many people years  would two blog years be?  When we talk about the ages of cats and dogs we’ll often  translate cat years and dog years into people years. We’ll say that when a  dog is one year old, it’s the equivalent of  being seven people years old.  How would that work for blogs?  What does one blog year equal in people years? How old is “Teachers At Risk” in people years? The terrible two’s seemed to last for about two months.  Does that mean Teachers At Risk is  24 years people years old .  I don’t really know,  but I do know that I’ve enjoyed  writing the blog.

I certainly didn’t have any idea when I started Teachers At Risk back at the beginning of August 2006 where it would take me. I’ve met wonderful people and learned so many things. It’s been one of the most rewarding things that I’ve done.

I’m trying to remember what it felt like when I first started blogging.  I do remember that  I kept wondering  who was going to want to read Teachers At Risk, a blog about teaching “at rIsk” kids and  how were people were  going to  find  it  even if they wanted to read it when there were millions and millions of blogs out there.   I didn’t really appreciate the power of  search engines and referring sites to lead  educators, parents and even students  to Teachers At Risk. Thirty percent of my traffic now comes from referring sites. Thank you.

There were lots of exciting moments in the last two years. Here are some

  • The very first comment I got for my very first post was exciting.  -  thanks Jason.
  • When Google Analytics told me that I had 5500 visits a month from readers in 85 countries.  My husband  Kurt and  I  had lots of fun looking  at the map of the world to see where everyone  came from.
  • When David Synder at  The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development gave Teachers At Risk a favourable review. That was exciting, too.  I’ve  gone to their conferences many times and bought many of their publications. I really respect ASCD.  It’s one thing for family and friends to say that your doing a good job,  but when ASCD says that  well… ASCD also published a short piece I wrote about differentiating homework.
  • Getting emails from  readers during the last two years was pretty exciting too, especially the one from  Sage Publishing saying that they wanted to purchase two of my articles from my blog to put into a textbook for preservice teachers.  What a wonderful way to mentor teachers.
  • It was great to be able to share all the cool stuff I’ve learned about the technical aspects of blogging and other digital technology with some of my colleagues at school. I don’t expect everyone to be as excited about the whole thing as I am. But, it’s nice to see the interest growing.
  • Another exciting offshoot of Teachers At risk was my class blog. I thought that since my students practically live in the  digital world with text messaging, face book, MSN  and what not that I could bring the classroom to them through digital technology so I stated a class blog and the kids loved it. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done to engage and motivate my students.  I’m really looking forward to the new school year.
  • Becoming part of an on-line community that shares with and supports one another is also exciting.

After rereading the part above about the exciting moments, I was thinking maybe I’ve over used the word exciting.  But,  then I decided I hadn’t .   It was exciting. What can I say.

One of the most important lessons I learned about blogging was that my blog didn’t have to be perfect.  It just had to be me. When I went to push the publish button after finishing my first few posts, I died a thousand deaths  thinking about all the mistakes  I might have made and didn’t see.   It was paralyzing, to say the least.  But then, I realized my blog  didn’t have to be perfect.  Why?  Well it’s only a blog after all. Let’s keep things in perspective.  No professional editors are pouring over it to fix things the way they do in newspapers or magazines.  It’s only me.  So, I don’t sweat it anymore.  When I find errors, I fix them. Otherwise, ignorance is bliss.

At this point, I  want to thank my  husband Kurt, daughter Lisa, son Chris and my friend Jason Jarrett for all the support they’ve given me right from the beginning  helping me learn the technical ropes and rescuing me when I’ve had  technical difficulties. They’ve had  lots of opportunities to practice being patient, let me tell you. At one point,  Jason even held up a page from a manual to the webcam on his Mac during a Skype conversation so that I could see what I needed to do. I’m a visual learner and wasn’t getting it when he was telling me over the phone  so he showed me using the camera.   He’s in England and I’m in Canada.That was amazing. thank you all.

What will the next two years bring?  Who knows.  I can hardly wait.

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