Children in middle school often struggle with learning. This is especially true if they are struggling with one subject. In addition, children may feel pressured to perform, and this can have an effect on even high-achieving students. Fortunately, there are ways to combat stress in middle school. Read on to learn about some of the ways to cope with this difficult time. Listed below are a few tips to help reduce stress in middle school.
COVID-19 crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic is overwhelming school systems globally. The effects of the virus differ widely depending on the country and family background, and the availability of substitute educational programs. This pandemic affected 55 million school children under the age of 18 in the U.S. and 1.4 billion globally. As a result, the impact of COVID-19 is disproportionately severe among students from lower-income families.
Moreover, online learning requires more self-control and persistence than face-to-face instruction. Creative thinking may also serve children well in the crisis. Students who find creative ways to stay engaged may benefit more than those who are easily bored. For these reasons, teachers need to adapt to the evolving needs of vulnerable students. And they must learn to adjust quickly to new environments. This is especially challenging for middle school students who aren’t familiar with technology.
Despite efforts to improve learning opportunities, many students still struggle to reach their potential. The economic downturn has further restricted resources for families, affecting access to food and shelter. These factors also affect children of color and immigrant families. Lack of nutrition and shelter negatively affects their development. It’s not surprising that students with a poor nutrition and shelter experience less success in school. So, how can parents respond to this growing problem?
Social situations
Children show different degrees of response to a variety of social situations and tasks, and different levels of stress affect their learning differently. Stress is a natural part of the learning process, but too much of it can affect a child’s ability to learn. Stress can affect learning differently, irrespective of the situation, but it’s best to determine how much stress a child experiences in advance to adjust the environment appropriately.
The importance of social support cannot be overemphasized in the transition to secondary school. It allows children to re-negotiate their friendship groups. Yet, during this time, children report a decreased sense of social support from friends. Fortunately, Cohen and Wills (2009) reviewed two explanations for the importance of social support during stressful situations. Although teachers do play a vital role in children’s lives, they must be able to provide support and encouragement when they are experiencing stress.
Increasing school-related anxiety can negatively impact a child’s social and academic self-concept. Research has shown that anxiety during this transition affects individual-level constructs, including cognitive and affective systems. For example, increased anxiety is associated with more negative information processing and interpretation bias. A child who experiences higher levels of anxiety also experiences more negative social cues and social schema. These processes may lead to an overall reduced ability to learn.
Classroom environment
Students’ perceptions of feedback from teachers affect their engagement and school identification, but the exact mechanism is not yet understood. Previous research suggests that teachers’ feedback on students’ work is a powerful influence on their school identification. Nevertheless, classroom environment is a crucial factor that must be taken into account. In this study, we have examined the impact of classroom environment on student engagement, behavior, and school identification. We find that classroom size does not significantly influence the level of classroom support.
Students in the middle school grades can feel powerless and lack a sense of control when their learning environment is not conducive to self-regulation. A classroom environment that promotes self-control and empowerment encourages students to participate in class decisions. This can be accomplished by inviting students’ opinions and inviting their choice. Asking students to discuss the problem in small groups can also bring student voice into the classroom. After all, no one wants to work in a classroom that is overly demanding or too crowded.
Creating a classroom environment that fosters student engagement requires careful planning before the start of the school year. It is important to understand students’ preferences and needs so you can design the classroom with their learning goals in mind. Creating a classroom environment that is conducive to individual work and collaboration is essential to the success of middle school students. If students have a sense of belonging and competence, then they are more likely to perform at their best.
Exercise
When students are in middle school, they are likely dealing with increasing stress and pressure from various sources. Multiple teachers, increased workload, pandemic dynamics, and peer pressure are some of the common stresses students experience during this time. Parents can help by monitoring parental pressure and helping students develop healthy coping mechanisms. For example, students can get enough exercise to release endorphins and reduce their stress levels. Parents should encourage their children to start exercising while in middle school.
A study on the impact of physical activity on adolescents suggests that the intensity of exercise reduces stress. Students who engage in intense physical activity at least twice a week were less likely to report stress than those who did not. Those who exercise less than twice a week experience similar levels of stress as those who do not participate in physical activity at all. Even more important, physical activity improves social skills and builds self-confidence. It may help explain why smoking is such a common means of relieving stress.
Children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Children can break up these periods of exercise by doing short bursts of activity throughout the day. The Connections Academy students play competitive sports and engage in rigorous athletic training, but they don’t necessarily need to participate in organized sports to get the full benefit. Kids can also try small exercises during downtime like frog hops and jumping jacks. Exercise cards can be downloaded and printed out for more ideas.
Decodable “books” in phonics-based reading instruction
The use of decodable “books” in phonic based reading instruction is important for two reasons. First, decodable “books” can provide a rich context for reading, and second, they can support students’ development of phonics skills. In this way, students can learn a new target skill, while practicing a decodable story at the same time. Decodable books are particularly useful for delivering a phonics-based reading curriculum in middle school.
Second, decodable “books” can serve as a bridge between emerging and intermediate readers. They allow beginning readers to practice recognizing words and blending the letters. In addition, decodable texts reinforce the phonics scope and allow beginning readers to practice decoding as they go along. They eliminate the need for guesswork and relying on pictures to figure out words.
Third, decodable “books” are less often used in elementary school. Most children learn phonics patterns by the time they reach third grade, but there are exceptions. In the upper grades, students will likely stay in a decodable book for longer periods of time and work on comprehension skills. So, decodable “books” may be useful for early readers in elementary school but not in middle school.
Genetics
While genetics and other influences are important, the role of peer relationships and shared environment is often overlooked. Researchers have divided the variance in child adjustment outcomes between parents and children into three components: genetics, stress, and environment. The effect of shared environment is variable, but smaller than that of the unshared environment. Moreover, the design of the study confounds family structure and genetic similarities, leading to an inflated estimate of genetic contribution.
Several studies have suggested that the genetic endowment of parents exerts a powerful influence on the development of children. Several years ago, the results of studies of identical and fraternal twins revealed that genes play a role in development. Inferences were drawn regarding the importance of genetic factors from these studies. Nonetheless, this does not mean that genetics do not play a role in children’s development.
While behavior geneticists maintain that the shared environment has little impact on children, research has suggested that genes are the most important factor. In addition, stress may also affect learning, which would explain a lack of motivation and focus in students. Stressors can affect learning in middle school, but stress can also cause children to become withdrawn and depressed. These studies have sparked debate among scholars and parents on whether genes or socialization influence learning and behavior.
Early life events
The cumulative stress index is a composite measure of early life events that influence a child’s stress level. It correlates with poor developmental outcomes in all domains. Although the primary underlying mechanism is the disruption of stress-response systems (allostatic load), a number of additional transdiagnostic mechanisms may also be involved. These include the role of reward processing. Although more research is needed, this approach can help identify the stressors that may influence learning.
This study examined whether concurrent stressful life events are associated with increased risk for specific effects of early life stress. In addition, it also looked at whether parents made their children feel safe and supported during times of stress. A parent’s role in a child’s development is crucial, as well as the quality of their relationships. Early life events affect learning in middle school, which is the foundation for learning. For children with stressful parents, it can lead to lower self-esteem, lowered IQ, and a high school dropout rate.
While some stress is necessary for successful learning, too much is associated with less successful learning. The amount of stress a child feels in any given situation depends on both short and long-term factors. For example, positive challenges can either under or over-stimulate some children, and it is not uncommon for one child to respond differently to the same stressful event on another day or within a single school day.