Years ago anxiety was not discussed or even mentioned. It was hush hush. It hasn’t been till more recent years that ANXIETY been written about and openly discussed. There are so many great articles out there that help us understand anxiety and help us step in the shoes of someone with anxiety.
This post is not a repeat of any of those. This article is about and in regards to the ones that have written their initials on my heart. This article is for and in behalf of KIDS. My life revolves around children. I work with kids in elementary school, coach dance and baseball and am around friends of my own children. I have a lot of interactions with children. AND I LOVE IT!
These words are written to help teachers and parents understand anxiety in the CLASSROOM.
First, you need to understand anxiety. By definition, anxiety is a feeling someone has. The feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something or a situation. It could have the concern of an uncertain outcome that may be the result of doing something or going somewhere. This is anxiety in a nutshell. The best idea is to read more in-depth articles about what anxiety is. Anxiety in the Classroom Article
This article is to help understanding from a TEACHER’S standpoint and to help teachers when they have a student with anxiety in helping their student be successful. I have taught older grades, but most of my years have been teaching kindergarten. Parents could also take these ideas into the classroom and present options to the teacher to help their child be successful in class.
KEEP IN MIND:
If a child is in a state of anxiety, their mind is not available to learn or apply new learning. They will be more focused on feeling safe than learning how to divide. By putting effort into helping them cope with their anxiety, you are taking the FIRST STEP in their learning and growth.
The Start of The Year – Student Survey: As a kindergarten teacher, I don’t have a CUM file to open and read about the students entering my classroom. It is a complete surprise! To help me “know” my students and start the year with one step forward, I give my parents a student survey. I do a GOOGLE — to learn about my students and I ask if there is anything I, the teacher, needs to know to help their child start school, any other health or concerns they feel I should be aware of. This has been a huge help for me with very brand new students. Granted, some of the kids that come into my kindergarten, have never been to preschool or have had little to no interactions with other kids their age, so really the parents may not even know how their child will handle starting school. But it is still a foot forward! 🙂
Giving a survey at the start of school when teaching older grades is still a great idea! I definitely wish I had known this when I had taught 4th and 5th grade. I could have known my students so much better had I done a survey.
A survey doesn’t tell you everything about a child though. They may still react differently than you or their parents think. This is just one way I try to get to know my students a tiny bit better, so I can help them be successful in their first year of school.
There are many causes of anxiety in students. Children’s anxiety could be triggered by what is happening at home or having to leave their parent to attend school. Children could experience social anxiety which could make being in a classroom scary or working in a group extremely hard. Some children may experience selective mutism where talking to a teacher, other kids or in class a terrible thing for them. Children can also have specific phobias that can trigger their anxiety. Some children may have obsessive-compulsive disorder where their mind is drowning in stressful thoughts all day. Then there is always just a general anxiety triggered by perfectionism and getting through the day.
Identifying students with anxiety
A child as young as 5 may not be diagnosed with anxiety, but instead may just be extremely nervous to start school. However, this article isn’t just about kindergartners, it is for older students as well! Being able to identify students with anxiety or anxiety tendencies is important so as to not “hurt” them and cause them to retract inside themselves more. We want all our students to be successful in our classroom, and that includes those that may struggle feeling comfortable in a classroom.
Some behaviors that you may notice from a student with anxiety are:
Quiet countenance – more so than normal
Avoiding eye contact
Refusing to talk or respond
Backing away or refusing to enter classroom
Lack of attention or unable to sit still
Avoiding being around other students
Complaining of headaches, tummy pains etc.
This is not a conclusive list, but the most common signs that I have seen.
Triggers
During all these steps, try to figure out the triggers! The triggers are what causes the anxiety to hit. Depending on their type of anxiety will affect what the trigger is. If a child is selective mutism, then going into the classroom may not trigger an anxiety episode, but instead being called on by the teacher will trigger an anxiety episode. Finding the triggers will take time and everyone being apart of it. Student, parent and teacher can help identify what may have triggered it. (Don’t expect a student to necessarily say, “This is what started my anxiety.” Instead they may be able to retell what happened right before and with adult help find the cause.
Steps to take to help the student experiencing anxiety
1. Take a few notes identifying any behaviors that stand out. Date the behaviors to help keep track. I write them down on my tracker.
2. Talk with a parent. I don’t sit a child down right away because I don’t want them afraid nor do I just want to jump in assuming it is anxiety. When I talk with the parent, I approach it as a matter of wanting understanding to help their child be successful in class. I do not use the word anxiety because I am not a doctor and cannot do that. I ask the parent what they see and hear as well. We brainstorm together on how to help the child be comfortable and successful in class.
3. Invite the student to join the conversation. Express to the child that you want them to be happy and successful in class. Let them know what you are seeing with their behaviors. Ask the student their thoughts on their behaviors. (You need to know the child may not respond at all and that is ok.)
4. Decide on a plan that works for student, parent and teacher together. Having a plan in place is vital to helping the student see that everyone is on their side. Everyone just wants what is best for them. This will help calm some anxiety – although it may take time. SIGN THE PLAN.
Everyone signs the plan including the student, but can’t be forced to. Make sure the plan is approved by everyone especially the STUDENT.
5. Stick to the plan for several weeks before changing it up. Give it a chance because nothing is fixed immediately but takes time. If someone feels the plan isn’t working, then meet and come up with another one.
Have a PLAN
Anxiety plans will be different with each child because each child is affected by anxiety differently and will need different ways to help cope.
An anxiety plan needs to match their specific anxiety as best as it can. Here are things to consider when forming an anxiety plan.
Selective Mutism
A student who has selective mutism anxiety may hit when called on by a teacher. The entire day the student could be worrying that they may get caled on. To avoid an anxiety hit and to help ease their worry during the day, have a plan in place so their mind isn’t distracted by fear of being asked to speak in front of the class. We don’t want a student to go the entire year without speaking in front of the class, plus we want them to develop this skill. Plus as a teacher, it will be hard to gauge their learning if they never talk in class.
Often times kindergartners come in and go through a period of time where they are afraid to talk in front of the class. I try to help them with this right from the beginning. Kids feel most comfortable sharing about themselves, so I always have opportunities for the kids to talk about things they are comfortable with before I expect them to help with a lesson, answer questions or read to the class. This can be done in older grades as well. Another idea I do is when they want to speak they are to stand up and speak. This lets everyone know who is speaking and gives a presentation feel which will build their confidence. A child with select mutism may take time to warm up, but trying to give them the opportunity to talk about what they are comfortable with is a good effort.
When I volunteered in my son’s second grade classroom, I barely knew this cute girl named K. She was darling and I remembered seeing her in the other kindergarten classroom. What I did not know is that she has select mutism and high anxiety connected to it. I was conducting a readers theater and it was suppose to be loads of fun. I invited her to be a reader/character and instantly could see the fear in her eyes. I had no idea that was going to happen because I had never known that before. I sweetly smiled at her, when she shook her head no, and told her, “No problem, let me know if you change your mind!” I continued to smile at her doing the activity, so she would know that I was not upset that she didn’t want to participate. I wanted her to know that I cared about her. That was it. Do not over push a child with select mutism.
To help this form of anxiety there are things that can be set up and planned before hand.
* Have a sign or something on the desk that the student can use to “secretly” tell you they would like to say something. They could flip over a little cup or give a thumbs up on their desk. This will avoid others looking at them when they raise their hand which could be an anxiety trigger. It could be a requirement that THEY CHOOSE one time to talk during that week.
* If the child has a hard time choosing a time to talk, then you can take the preparation approach to encourage them speaking. Give the student a HEADS UP. Quietly let them know you will be asking them to answer a reading question. You can ask if they want to be called on or raise their hand (or do their sign) to answer a question. This prepares them so they won’t be completely caught off guard. They could even prepare a response by writing it down before. This can be done with a math problem easier than a reading one unless the story had been read before.
* Do your observations and checks in small group with this student. You can even start off by having their friends in the group, so they have a little level of comfort. As they develop with comfortable, then you can make changes in order to help them grow and be successful.
Separation Anxiety
Being a kindergartner teacher, I have seen plenty of students with a little bit of separation anxiety. Shoot, I have seen MOMS with separation anxiety. Some students it gets better for with in a couple days to weeks while others will experience it all year and then again at the start of next year even though they had made progress the previous year. I had this student named B who wouldn’t look at me or talk to me at all during our first meeting and his kindergarten assessment. I was very anxious myself on how the school year would go. He refused to come into school and had a melt down for several days. He gradually got better and would enter with his classmates. Then something happened 7 weeks into school. His mom came in to volunteer and switch out our reading books. She came at the start of the day and left once finished. After that we had to start all over again. He insisted that mom walked him into the classroom every day. (I usually have kids say goodbye before I bring them in, so this was not working for my routine.) They met with the counselor and suggested she bring him into school before the bell rang. When the bell rang I made sure he started his routine that he was accustomed to and mom left. As time went it got smoother and better for him. We worked on his comfort level and he began to open up. Student B was a whole different student and started coming in cheerfully stating, “Morning Teacher!”
*Come up with a plan that works for you, the parent and the student.
*If they can go into school before because you the teacher are ok with it then start then and slowly transition to know mom bringing in. If this is not something that works for you, the teacher, then talk with the parent and student and decide a plan. Set a goal of how long you will do this. Then slowly transition into more self-reliance.
* If this is not just at drop of time, then come up with a plan for during the day. Some things to talk and think about when forming a plan. A phone call could be made during their recess time or during lunch. Maybe they have a certain amount of phone calls they can make in a week or month. (Flexibility is important here.) They could be allowed one emergency during the day. The parent also needs to have boundaries and expectations about how often they can call. Maybe they have something to try to calm themselves before calling. A student could wear a bracelet or have something in their desk that the can rub or look at to remind them that their parent is ok and they will be ok. When allowing phone calls home, everyone needs to be on board with how often, how long the phone call may be and when is it really necessary.
General Anxiety
Kids can have anxiety over lots of things and throughout the day. The most important things you, the teacher, can do to help them be successful in the classrom is by trying to identify those triggers and avoid the triggers, but since life isn’t like that! Triggers will be hit! So have a plan that you, the parents and student have all discussed and are all willing to try.
ONCE AGAIN: KEEP IN MIND: If a child is in a state of anxiety, their mind is not available to learn or apply new learning. They will be more focused on feeling safe than learning how to divide. By putting effort into helping them cope with their anxiety, you are taking the FIRST STEP in their learning and growth.
