GIPS Leadership and Development: Here Come the Holidays - Using Student Choice to Lessen Stress

“A critical feature of those growing up in poverty is a feeling of NOT having control over one’s life.” - Eric Jensen

Thank you to Kate Crowe, Title I Coordinator, for being my guest blogger today.

The holiday season is fast approaching, and that means additional stress for everyone. While for some of us this stress comes from trying to find the perfect gift or plan the perfect get together, for our students from poverty holiday stress can mean something very different. For them, it can mean worries about limited food, lack of supervision, and sometimes even fear of angry and violent episodes in chaotic home environments. For some students from poverty school is the only place they feel safe, and during breaks they lose the order and stability that we provide.

As our students’ holiday worries mount, we sometimes see their stress manifest in escalating behaviors that can make this a difficult time of year for everyone. So what can we do to help? How can we maintain productive classrooms and assist our students in dealing with their stress? As teachers, when we feel the chaos and tension increasing in our classrooms, our first instinct is often to try to discipline our way through it and, of course, sometimes consequences are necessary. However, one strategy I would offer up as an alternative is to try providing more student choice. When our students’ lives are feeling stressful and out of control, empowering them in the classroom is an effective strategy to lower their stress levels and help them continue to be “present” so they can learn.

So what kinds of choices should we offer? There are unlimited answers to that question, and it really depends on what works for you and your students. Dr. Amy Mancini says that she thinks of these choices in terms of four categories - process, product, materials, and environment.

For example, you might give students the option to:

Use colored pens, pencils, or highlighters - anything different can be exciting
Decide whether to word process or handwrite an assignment
Choose where to sit in the classroom
Select their own partner or group
Skip a homework problem of their choosing
Decide the order in which they will complete their work
Select a meaningful way to present their learning
Determine their own next steps for moving their learning forward

One tip that Eric Jensen provided at his conference was that the teacher needs to really “sell it.” In other words, make a huge deal of the choice you are offering so that it seems special to students. This is a crucial step, because in order for this strategy to be effective students must recognize that you have empowered them and feel empowered.

Giving up control can be hard, but empowering our students by providing choices can be an extremely effective way to help manage their stress not only during the holiday season, but all year round.