How to Help Your Students Develop Stress-Management Skills With Social-Emotional Learning

Key Takeaways:

From homework and tests to concerns for the future, students experience a lot of stress in their lives.
To help students manage stress, it’s important for teachers to integrate social-emotional learning into their lessons. Your students will not only be less worried about tests, homework and other concerns, but they’ll also be more compassionate as a result.
These stories from Scholastic Classroom Magazines are a great way to introduce social-emotional learning to your students and teach them important tips for managing the stress they encounter inside and outside the classroom.

One of the most effective ways to help your students manage the stress they encounter both inside and outside the classroom is to integrate social-emotional learning (SEL) into your lessons. SEL will help your students develop the tools they need to take control of the stress in their lives, and will inspire them to be kinder and more compassionate to one another.

When it comes to introducing SEL to your students, Scholastic Classroom Magazines are great resources for teachers. Magazines like DynaMath, Choices and Action are filled with inspiring stories your students can connect with to learn how to manage the stress in their lives. From an inspiring story featuring a furry, four-legged friend named Mighty, to engaging articles for middle and high school students that dive deep into the science of stress and more, Scholastic Classroom Magazines will make a big difference in the lives of your students.

In this heartwarming story from DynaMath, your students will learn about how a friendly comfort dog named Mighty is helping young learners at an elementary school in New Jersey develop and practice traits like kindness and responsibility. Geared toward students in grades 3–5, this story also shows how comfort dogs help children manage stress in their lives and how our canine friends can inspire students to be more compassionate and respectful to one another and their teachers. Also, stories like these that tie into social-emotional learning are always a great lead-in for class discussion. After reading, ask your students to reflect on how they can bring comfort to their classmates, friends, family and others in their community the way Mighty does.

For older students in grades 7–12, Choices has a perfectly relatable coming-of-age news story all about the science of stress. Through reading, students will encounter a few shocking facts—for example, 77% of teens admit to being “super stressed”—and will also learn about the positive influence stress can have in their lives. They’ll also meet a few stressed-out teens and learn a few kid-tested tips for managing stress in their own lives. For striving students in grades 6–12, this similar story from Action will show your young learners that they’re not alone in their stress. They’ll even learn about NBA superstar Lebron James’s “secret weapon” for battling stress.

The stress of being a student not only affects the mental and behavioral health of your young learners, but also influences their ability to succeed in learning. By adding Scholastic Classroom Magazines to your teaching toolkit with our 30-day free trial, you’ll be able to bring SEL to life in your classroom and help your students develop the skills they need to manage the stress they face each day.

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