Module One: Coping Power Lesson Overviews
Lesson Overview
Lesson Goal:
Students will learn deep breathing and relaxation strategies to aid in their ability to use self-control and ways to overcome barriers.
Lesson Objectives:
Students will be able to explain the importance of relaxation for mental and physical health.
Students will practice relaxation activities to regulate more challenging emotions in healthy ways.
Students will analyze differences between proactive and reactive relaxation strategies.
Students will identify strategies they can use to relax during emotionally difficult situations.
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Welcome back to week seven of the Coping Power Classroom video series!
This week, students are learning all about relaxation both as a way of preventing their stress levels from getting too high, and as a method for calming down when they’re feeling distressed or out of control.
One of the best things about relaxation is that it is a coping skill that can be used almost anywhere, in any situation. While active coping might require space to run, or weights to lift, or music to dance to, relaxation can be a much quieter, more internal process. Relaxation can be as simple as closing your eyes and thinking of a happy place, taking a few deep breaths, or saying a positive mantra to yourself (which ties together nicely with positive self-talk, the topic of last week’s Coping Power lesson!)
Relaxation is a healthy way to stay in control of intense emotions. However, it’s important for students to recognize that just having strong emotions, including feeing angry, sad, or scared, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s a natural reaction that keeps our bodies safe when we’re in a dangerous situation and need to react quickly or on instinct. Our bodies just can’t always tell the difference between a true emergency situation, and a stressful, but not-dangerous situation, like arguing with a friend or taking a high-stakes standardized test. When these non-emergency situations occur, it’s important that we use our brains to help our bodies cool down so that we can stay in control of our emotions and make effective decisions.
Students are learning many different methods for relaxation, which they can use both in the middle of stressful scenarios, and just to keep themselves regulated and calm throughout the day or week. Some methods of relaxation include deep breathing, meditation, yoga, taking a bath, or cuddling with a willing pet or stuffed animal. In class, students tried out several different breathing techniques, stretching, and meditation to see what types of relaxation they might enjoy.
This week, encourage your students to keep practicing these relaxation techniques until they find one that is comfortable and effective for them. You might encourage this by engaging in class-wide relaxation activities when you notice your students are stressed or just high-energy.
For example, you might have students do a deep breathing exercise at the start of class or after coming in from lunch or recess, when their energy levels are naturally high. Before an important quiz or test, you might have students engage in a moment of quiet meditation, where they can tell themselves positive affirmations, imagine a happy place, or imagine their own success. After a long lecture or activity where students are beginning to fidget, you might give students a stretch break or share a quick yoga video.
We hope you and your students enjoy testing out these various techniques and strategies, and we’ll see you next week!
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Academic Extensions of Lesson Content
Looking for ways to include this week’s Coping Power content in your classroom lessons? Check out our suggestions below:
Math
Before any group or independent math work, encourage students to remember that relaxation is helpful to practice before emotion thermometers get too high. Encourage students to check in with their bodies and to notice if there are any sensations in their bodies that might show signs of tension or stress (e.g., clenched jaw, tight shoulders, faster breathing). Ask students to pick one preventative relaxation strategy to practice for 2 minutes. Have students think-pair-share with someone nearby to discuss what they noticed changed in how they felt before vs. after practicing the relaxation strategy.
English/ Language Arts
In lesson 7, students learned about the rubber band analogy for the importance of relaxation (an overstretched rubber band will break, but allowing it to relax will let it stretch again). During class or individual reading, ask students to identify a situation where a character’s thoughts or actions remind them of the stretched rubber band (ie: stretched too thin). Have students discuss or journal why they think that character is stretched too thin. What might the consequences of this amount of stress be? Have students pick a relaxation strategy they learned about in lesson 7 that they think would benefit their chosen character.
Social Studies
Discuss with students different jobs in the community and the different types of stressors they might face in the workplace. As a class or in small groups, highlight specific community jobs (e.g., firefighters, doctors, construction workers, cashiers) and ask students to brainstorm what parts of their jobs might raise their emotion thermometers. Then, have students come up with 2-3 relaxation strategies they think would fit these types of stressors best.
Science
Collaborating with students, create a pre-lab relaxation routine to implement on a regular basis. On a sheet of poster paper, discuss with students as a class a list of 2-3 relaxation strategies your class will practice before beginning any science experiments. Ask students to consider what relaxation strategies would fit best for science-related activities.