10 Stress Management Tips for Teachers and Students

Stress Management Tips to Use Today

Let's get right to it: We're stressed. 

We all feel it, it ebbs and flows, and sometimes it even lingers as chronic stress. I will go into a whole other article on stress response and chronic stress symptoms later (sign up for my newsletter for notifications on these topics and more), but today is how to deal with that overwhelming feeling when you see students stressing and yourself about to join them. 

Whether you are stressed about inputting grades and classroom management or your students are stressed with managing both their school assignments and what they have going on outside of school walls, the following stress management tips apply. 

Under each tip, you will see how you can make it work for you as a teacher as well as how you can present it to your students and the benefits for them. 

Note, this article is a long one. Feel free to scroll to learn more about one that sticks out to you and come back later to try out another. 

• 1. Embrace Imperfection

• Teacher Tips: We may feel the pull of perfection as we move through our lesson plans and create activities that we think will most benefit our students. However, there is a clear gap in education between what we are expected to do and complete vs what we actually have the time, energy, and support to actually complete. We have to identify this difference and accept that perfection is not going to work in this type of environment. Instead, we can embrace imperfection and use this as a tool to actually present to students that we are humans and mistakes are natural and encouraged in order to improve learning. To do this, you can verbally acknowledge a mistake, stop working on something when it is complete even if it is not yet perfect, or set boundaries for when you are going to stop working on a project and accept that it is done. 
• Student Tips: For students, especially those who are exceptional (like gifted, ADHD, or autism exceptionalities), perfectionism can either cause over achieving or underachieving. If we can model accepting imperfection in our classrooms, students may become more accepting of it in themselves. We can still have high standards, but can also reinforce that progress and learning is more important than the perfect end product. Remind students that learning means that we will probably struggle with new concepts, because we do not know this skill yet. Learning inherently means trying new things and making mistakes. As such, making a growth mindset more prevalent in the classroom, the hope is that students will become more accustomed to this line of thinking as well. 

• 2. Practice Gratitude

• Teacher Tips: Incorporating a daily gratitude practice can be very helpful to manage stress. It reminds us to shift our focus and understand that, though we may feel stuck right now, this too shall pass. But practicing gratitude is a skill we have to learn and a habit we have to develop. As such, start small and make it easy. Start your day by writing down or telling yourself in the mirror one thing you are excited about for the day (even if it is going back to bed later on). You can create this habit in the morning or as part of your evening routine to reflect on the day. The key is to make sure that you are creating a consistent habit of gratitude to ground yourself and make managing stress a little easier when it passes through. 
• Student Tips: For students, you can implement this habit (and possibly even reinforce yours), by adding your one thing you are grateful for to the board, or asking students to write down their one thing in their bell work for the day, or have students drop a slip of paper that includes their gratitude item in a box. Essentially, give students the opportunity and space to practice gratitude.

• 3. Sit in the Stress

• Teacher Tips: Sometimes, it feels like all we are trying to do is escape stress. And yes, we do want to move through it, we don’t want to negate that it is there and invalidate our own feelings. Instead, you can opt to sit in the stress. Let yourself feel the stress and reflect on where it is coming from and why you are feeling a certain way as a response. You can use a meditation time, or just sit and stare at a wall, or wrap yourself up in cozy blankets and feel comforted as you let that overwhelming feeling bubble up. It is valid to feel this stress and we want to move through the stress-response cycle instead of trying to avoid it. Avoiding the stress only makes it build up and come out in a different, stronger way at a later date. 
• Student Tips: Students can embrace their own stress in a myriad of ways. You may offer to let them journal or even list the things they are currently stressed about. They can reflect on why they are feeling the way they are or, if it feels better for them, to come up with ideas for when and how this stress will pass. Creating concrete end points for the stress can sometimes help students manage it a little better. This also helps them understand that stress is an ebb and flow of life. Overall, you want to make sure that students have the coping skills and support to be able to actively sit in this stress either in the classroom or at home. 

• 4. Set up Systems 

• Teacher Tips: Create systems in your life and in your classrooms that will make life a little easier. Systems help you automate parts of your life and reduce decision fatigue, which makes it a great option for stress management. Systems take time to set up, but they are so helpful once they are set. Systems can include: how students submit papers so they are all in order and already organized, setting up your bag the night before, how students pick up all their materials at the front of the class when they enter (so you don’t have to take the time and energy to pass things out), etc.
• Student Tips: Systems and consistency can really help reduce student stress. When they know what to expect there is less unknown, which means less overall stress. As such, create these systems and routines in your classroom to help students feel safer and know how class will run. You may even set up your daily activities so that students understand that there will always be a pick up station, a bell ringer, a 20 minute lecture, 20 minute activity, and exit reflection. Whatever routine you decide on will help students understand what to expect next and anticipate how they are supposed to navigate the classroom. Then, they can focus on their learning. 

• 5. Ask for Help

• Teacher Tips: Even though we would love to call ourselves super people, we need help. Instead of taking everything on all by yourself, bring in others to support you in your projects and endeavors. This can be difficult if you are already feeling the guilt or burden mindset. I can tell you right now, you are not a burden and people want to help you if they are able. Allow them to choose if they are capable instead of choosing for them by adding your own narrative (“They have enough on their plate”) to their lives. You can even redesign your activities to allow students to help you with learning. Learning should be a 50/50 environment, so by allowing more open activities that students get to choose or have a decision in, you are actually creating a more effective way for them to learn (a student-centered focus).
• Student Tips: Students may also have this same mindset. Incorporate specific areas of your classroom or activities where asking for help is easy. For instance, I have a weekly quiz for my online students about the reading. The last question on the quiz every week is: what questions do you have about these concepts or the course? The students know that this question will be there, that only I will see it, and that I will respond either as a whole group (without using their name as there are usually repeat questions) to clarify assignments or individually in an email, chat, or quiz response while I am grading). By having this space for students to consistently ask questions, they know that they are encouraged to do so and it builds a better rapport between myself and them. They also become more accustomed to asking for help in general.

Scroll down for the last 5 tips.

If you would like the below infographic for your own classroom use, 

click here to download this FREE resource.

• 6. Meditation and Mindfulness

• Teacher Tips: Taking time to breathe deeply, ground yourself in the present moment, and practice overall mindfulness can do wonders for your stress management. First, start noticing when you feel stressed. Then, you can start implementing daily deep breathing, short guided meditations, or body scans to help you build the habit of taking a moment to check-in with your body. This is a process, so take your time. Focus on where you are right now and what is happening. Listen to the sounds around you and your own breathing. How does your breath feel? How does your body feel? Where do you feel like you are holding stress or excitement or another feeling? Tune into which feeling you are having and try to be with it for a moment. But ultimately, allow these short bursts to fade in and out as you sit in the present moment and remind yourself that it is okay to just be. 
• Student Tips: Students will need more explicit instruction on mindfulness. You can incorporate a mindfulness journal, well-being Wednesdays, or even just a brief guided meditation on Fridays. Keep these brief and make sure that students (both those who wish to participate and those who do not) understand that this is a quiet time. Students are not to be talking, sleeping, or working. They do not have to close their eyes and follow along with the guided meditation, but they are to respect the students that wish to do so by not being disruptive. I am very clear on this in my classroom, because high school students will want to get out of doing things just to work more or make fun of things they don't understand. By creating this boundary, students that are not actively participating in the activity are still required to sit and be present.
• Try these coloring pages for teens to help them destress and practice mindfulness.

• 7. Take Time to Actually Rest

• Teacher Tips: This one is hard. We can confuse rest with distraction very easily, but when we are distracted at home and still worried or overthinking about things at school, we are not actually resting. Dedicate some specific time, just to rest your body and your mind. Get a hot beverage, a cozy blanket, a book, a nice meal, wherever it is, and enjoy the peace and quiet. I would even avoid the social media doom scroll during this time as it can end up being a highly stimulating distraction.
• Student Tips: Give students a few moments to rest or do a brain break in the middle of class. You can add this when you are transitioning from one activity to the next or even at the end of class. Ultimately, allow students the opportunity to see what true rest looks like, so they know how to use it outside of your classroom. 

• 8. Positive Movement

• Teacher Tips: I define positive movement as different from exercise. Though they both can complete the same task, society has painted exercise as a way to lose weight or to control your body or with an overall negative connotation linked to diet culture. Instead, I have started using the word positive movement as it incorporates far more than the HIIT exercise. Positive movement can be dancing in the kitchen, a walk around the neighborhood, doing laundry, a yoga sequence, strength training, a run, etc. The sky's the limit. The only goal here is for you to move your body in a way that you enjoy, no matter how long or how intense that may be. Movement can release endorphins and positive movement makes sure that we want to come back and do it again. This week, I challenge you to make a list of different movement you enjoy doing and incorporate it at some point throughout the week. 
• Student Tips: For students, they need movement to not only manage stress but to also help their brains work more efficiently. If you are noticing that students are trudging through an assignment or just seem a little burnt out, opt to take a walk around school as a group or even down the hall or do jumping jacks in the classroom or do some stretching. You could even select one day a week to incorporate this or use it as a bonus or gift when students achieve something. Creating positive connotations around movement can be so helpful for students moving forward. 

• 9. Prioritize Sleep

• Teacher Tips: I know for me, it is like my brain does not know how to shut off at night. Insomnia can find me and wreck my sleeping habits. As such, I had to start being more intentional about my sleeping patterns. I now do not do work in my bedroom, limit TV time in bed, and try to get some positive movement in during the day so that my body is ready for sleep at night. You can also implement an evening routine to help your body transition from awake to sleep. 
• Student Tips: Offer students sleep trackers to help them understand their sleeping patterns. You can then use these results in your classroom by having them write up a research report using the evidence they found, or a narrative about the experience, or even practice a problem solution essay based on what they found in their sleeping patterns. The goal is to have students look at their sleeping patterns and then reflect on how they can make them more helpful to their overall awake time as well as how their sleep patterns are affecting those day time activities. 

• 10. Set Boundaries for Work Time

• Teacher Tips: Working within contract hours can be difficult. And sometimes work can overflow into personal time. However, we want to make those overflows occasional and not the norm. Use systems during the day to minimize the work you take home on a daily basis. There may be sometimes when it is unavoidable, but work to prioritize what you can get done during school hours as much as possible. I will even be discussing several ways to do this in an upcoming blog series. Check out my newsletter link to be the first to hear about it. 
• Student Tips: Students may end up working into the wee hours of the night in order to get assignments done. They may need more support with time management or they may just have too much on their plate. You can help them, by offering time management strategies, prioritization strategies, and reminding them to set a timer to try and complete certain tasks. You might even want to try this out with them in class, by offering homework time for 10-15 minutes at the end of class to get started on any homework they would like (especially if you do not have any assignment homework). 

Overview

So there you have it, 10 stress management tips for teachers and students! Now, remember that our key message here at Jewels of Teaching is to start slow. Pick one strategy you think may work for you and start trying to implement that slowly. Taking on too much will just result in more stress. You can do this!

Want to learn more about stress management techniques and how students can incorporate these into their own lives? 

Check out my Stress Management Course here. I have included brief videos you can play for your students at the beginning or end of class, activities for each strategy shown within the course, as well as a full ebook that you can print as a quick reference guide for students (or yourself) when they need help with different stress-management strategies. Access the course today!

Plus, I will be releasing my High School Specific Social Emotional Learning Course in a few weeks! And the whole thing is FREE! 

My goal is to make it as easy as possible to incorporate social emotional learning (SEL) into high school classrooms, so I am creating this Free course to do just that. Sign up for my newsletter here to get more information on stress management, social emotional learning, and these free resources!

Leave a comment below to let me know what your go-to strategy will be.