Respond to these statements: 1. "One persons's stress is another person's shrug. These three things must be in effect: You have a physiological response to the stressor; You'd avoid the stressor if you could; You don't feel in control of the stressor." (http://www.brainrules.net/stress)
2. "One of the greatest predictors of performance in school turns out to be the emotional stability of the home." (p. 183)
3."These days Gottman says he can predict the quality of a relationship...by taking a urine sample of their (the parents') children." (p. 189
4. "My idea envisons an educational system where the first students are not the children. The first students are the parents." (p. 189)
It would be nice to think we have nothing to do with student stress. Read the articles written by Jerry Brodkey. Think about stressors in your classroom. Are there ways to mitigate those stressors?
Control is a big issue in determining how we view stress and how it impacts our learning. Executive rats vs worker rats. I tend to be a control freak ;) so thus I have less stress? Not so much...but it may have a less negative impact on my health.
ReplyDeleteStudents believe that they have very little choice in what happens to them during the teen years. I can't control their work schedule or their parents relationship but mayhap I can help them to see the areas that they do have control over....
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting chapter on stress. It was interesting to read that an aroused physiological state is characteristic of both stress and pleasure. Our body's response to stress depends on stress, its length, its severity, and on the basic health of our body.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest predictors of performance in school is the emotional stability of the home.
Today I witnessed an example of student stressors during a student/parent conference. This student had home issues affecting her concentration and ability to pass her coursework in most of her classes.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think it is very unfortunate for any child to have to deal with emotional stressors due to their home environment, all of us have home stressors. I think it would be nice to have a chance for students to learn how to deal with the emotional stressors at home they have no control over. Sometime parents can't deal with a situation at home and can't model how to deal in unfortunate circumstances. Students need support in this day in age to deal with the common social issues of this time.
We need to remember that some stress is beneficial for learning. That is one of the reasons we give tests. That doesn't mean that there needs to a be huge, overwhelming event. Sometimes you have to walk the line. Encourage and give support, while pushing them to raise the bar for learning.
ReplyDeleteIt seems ACT test scores are going down. I'm not sure if it is the block system or "kids and society" today.
Seligman's research into learned helplessness moved quickly into the exponential growth of Clinical Depression over the past 50 years. His conclusion: by trying to reduce stress in kids we have taken away their ability to manage it, leaving them helpless in the face of life's ups and downs. Allostatic Stress (harmful stress) is the result of a formula, type of stress + length and severity of stress + genetic predisposition = stress load. Of this formula we can control the first tow factors to some extent and that's where Parenting styles based on only positive reinforcement and Middle
ReplyDeleteSchool teaching paradigms that try to exclude competition and failure cause so much harm. Dysphoria (feeling bad) is essential to develop the coping systems (perseverance, creative problem solving, adaptability, etc.) necessary to allow us to manage stress. This may be one of those times where the "old ways" have a better effect after all.
This chapter hit home being a divorced Dad. "Marital stress at home can negatively affect academic performance in almost every way measurable, and at nearly every age...the stronger degree of conflict, the greater the effect on performance."
ReplyDeleteMarriage intervention is required, as in most marriages, and it was interesting that you can tell within the three minutes of watching a couple together. I think we should use this not only in marriages but in all our relationships. I for one like happy people. Gloomy depressed people are boring. I always try to get on off on a good start and attack the day head on looking for the positive aspects. We can always be negative, being positive takes more effort. But sadly, it usually ends a matter of control. Who has control over whom. Who has the final say. Unless there is a set agreement, people will continually butt heads fighting for control or the lasat says. I have alot of emotions on this topic as I contine to reassess my actions in my past relationships, both personally and professionally.
And the last part about the dividing people into two classes, have kids and no kids is so very very true. Good book!
I like to think I handle stress well but it does catch up to me. I find myself getting a little edgy with my students or even at home. "The first students are the parents." Wouldn't that be wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI, personally, enjoyed being stressed to a certain extent. I work well under stress, especially when I know I have little time until the next task is due. I think teaching our students how to handle stress and showing them that not all stress is bad, is very important. I also found the idea of educating the parents first, very interesting. Creating a stable home life is crucial to the child's development. I can tell by looking at my students on any given day, who is stressed at home and who has a more stable environment that they go home to.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this chapter I found myself thinking about an episode of Dateline I saw in high school. They were judging the reliability of eye witnesses by staging a crime scene in a college lecture. The study showed that under stress, people are not reliable eye witnesses. During my student teaching experience, my cooperating teacher did a similar experiment with our speech class and we ended up with the same results!
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