Research shows that a highly stressed brain does not absorb or remember information, causing learning to essentially shut down. Today's students are more stressed and anxious than ever and classrooms have become tense places. Educators require knowledge and skills to facilitate and teach students stress-management techniques and find creative ways to embed them in the classroom culture and daily routines. Calming Student Stress is a synthesis of empirical-based mind-body practices that have been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, help students remain centered and focus, and connect with the learning and each other. Various methods, techniques, and strategies that draw from mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, breathwork, and visualization are clearly defined, situated within current research, and geared towards both elementary and secondary students. Suggestions on how to introduce the mind-body practices to students, as well as administrators and parents, are also provided within this helpfl guide.
Steve Haberlin, PhD, is an assistant professor in the College of Community Innovation and Education at the University of Central. Dr. Haberlin has researched and provided workshops on mindfulness and meditation in educational settings for the past decade. He is also the author of Meditation in the College Classroom a Pedagogical Tool to Help Students De-Stress, Focus, and Connect.
Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Student Stress: The Nemesis of the Classroom Chapter 2: Understanding Stress, the Amygdala, and Its Impact on Learning Chapter 3: Getting Parents and School Administration Behind Your Cause Chapter 4: Assessing Students' Stress Levels & Helping Students Reframe Stress Chapter 5: Mindful-izing the Classroom Chapter 6: Just Breathe! Breathwork Strategies for K-12 students Chapter 7: Let's Get Moving! Movement-Based Strategies for Students Chapter 8: The Vagus Nerve? Chapter 9: Relaxation and Visualization-Based Strategies for the K-12 Classroom Chapter 10: Reducing Your Own Stress as an Educator Resources References Author's Note About the Author
Dr. Haberlin has achieved his goal in developing a useful resource for educators and parents to address the growing problem of stress and anxiety among students and their families. Providing the neurological research basis for the recommendations, Calming Student Stress: Mindfulness, Meditation, and Other Strategies to Reduce Anxiety and Enhance Learning in K-12 Classrooms offers specific, step-by-step guidance that enables teachers to implement a variety of mindfulness strategies to support their students, the students' families, as well as themselves. Eminently practical, this work offers developmentally appropriate options for students of every age and grade to reduce their stress and enhance their academic performance - as well as their interpersonal relationships - in the classroom and beyond. -- Richard D. Courtright, consultant for Gifted & Special Education
