I don't know why but stress eating is a thing people do (I know I do!) or use food as a reward for things go well. Even in our own classrooms, when it's a holiday we have a party with treats or some teachers give candy as prizes. I wonder how we can reframe how we think of food, especially in the classroom.

"Just relax" is something we tell kids, but kids know that. They need to know how they can relax and what specifically what to do. Especially for our students who need more cues to do a task, telling them to relax won't help them. You need to tell them exactly what they they need to do or give them strategies to use.

Reframing one's worries in a positive way is a great way to look at worries. Worries will occur but if you look at them in a different lens that it actually has benefits, it will make one make it seem less of a negative behaviour.

The idea of just writing a list of fears, erases some of the fear in the activity alone. Just like writing down a list of all the things you have to do allows you to have a sense of accomplishment.

So many things can contribute to anxiety. How do we prevent children from experiencing traumatizing events that can create anxiety in them but at the same time allow them to live life and explore the world on their own?

I like this quick guide they have on each separate disorder. I wish they had a chart that consolidates it all together in one place for all of the disorders.

Hoarding is something I've always thought just to affect adults. It's good to know that it occurs in children as well, and that it runs in families. So if we know a parent has a history of hoarding, then we can watch out for it in their child.

These things aren't covered by our insurance, but should be especially when it is stemmed from a disorder that is real and affects many people! Our insurance in general needs to be more inclusive to meet the various struggles people have.

So then if someone is having a panic attack, they are just supposed to tell themselves that it will end and ride it out? I would find that tricky and just panic more if I was having one.

This is similar to Social Thinking's strategy of thought bubbles (Winner, 2019). I think it is especially helpful for younger students to physically see the thought bubble and express not only what they are thinking but what others around them are thinking too. It's such an abstract concept that this visual allows them to understand it easier.

References

Winner, M. G. (2019). Teaching through thought bubbles and speech bubbles. Social Thinking. https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=teaching-through-thought-bubbles-speech-bubbles

This is a user friendly handout that students can use when they are feeling stressed. Although, it is geared for elementary students, I can also see this being useful for a few of the grade six students at my school. The STOP acronym is easy to remember and provides good discussion points to help the student identify the cause of their stress.

This is a very helpful, student-friendly resource that can easily be used in the classroom. I think my whole class would benefit from working through this resource! I really like the section that helps students to identify and overcome "thinking traps" they may fall into when they feel anxious about a test. The resource also includes a wide variety of study and test-taking tips.

Also, anxiety can sometimes stem from the parents and their family life. How can parents support when they may have anxiety as well?

It is really nice that Anxiety Canada helps parents to recognize immediately the signs and symptoms of children who are suffering from anxiety. I truly believe that recognizing children who are suffering from anxiety in the early stage is a huge help to transform their life.

This is a tough conversation to have with parents and families. I can imagine it being similar to a conversation with parents and families regarding a student have a learning disability or cognitive delay. Families most likely won't want to hear what you, as the educator, will have to say as they may be in denial at first. How can we make this conversation with parents less stressful for both parties?

These are important observations to make in regards to anxiety. It is very common for students with anxiety to be absent from school. I have observed this at the middle school level. The students who miss a lot of school are often the same students who struggle to complete their homework. This can cause more anxiety for the student and negative patterns can develop. When things pile up, students with anxiety can feel so overwhelmed that they are unable to begin any of the tasks. How can educators motivate students to take the first steps towards success?

Although they emphasize that people who struggle with anxiety reach out for help, it's important that we recognize that they won't ask people if they don't have anyone they can trust. This is why we as adults who work with children of various ages need to be at least one adult in our student's lives who they can trust and feel safe to confide in.

I think this is an important piece for students to understand. When I facilitate our grade six Stress Management module, I often provide examples of times when adults experience stress. A good personal example that students can relate to is report card writing time for teachers. The deadline may cause stress, but it also motivates teachers to get everything accomplished on time. This kind of short-term stress is normal, and can sometimes even be helpful.

I think that combining the tools for similar anxiety problems makes it less overwhelming for the person struggling to identify which one to work through first. This allows them to see commonalities and use common techniques to help manage similar issues.

It is important to realize that adults also experience anxiety. When parents of our students are struggling with anxiety, this may also have a significant impact on a students ability to learn.

Wow, I knew there were many types of anxiety, but 11?! This is a shock to me.

I appreciate how the "Building Your Bounce" video explains how we can't dictate what will happen in our lives, such as bad events but we can change how we react to it and overcome it.

It would be interesting to see the statistics to see how more resilient children are when they have a resilient teacher and vice versa.

Perhaps this an area one of us could do for our thesis?

This might be more useful for most of us school aged teachers! I also signed up for this.

The fact that they were able to list all the parts of their curriculum and back it up to different quality literature shows that this program is researched and evidence based. I think we need to check all programs we try and bring to our classrooms and see if they are evidence based, and if not, think twice before using them.

I like how the website organizes the resources by age. It allows viewers to easily look at the age category they are looking for and then just focus on that section.

I appreciate the variety of professional development. There are online options and in person options, different lengths, and different focus areas. There's something for everyone depending on what you need!

Is there a Canadian version of this website? Or do they ever provide training and professional development events in Canada?

So nice to see that the DCRC is providing professional development opportunities, I am wondering if VSB will allow their employees to attend this kind of professional development? Most of the time the pro d sessions are all internal on vsb sites, so it would be nice to see this being approved as another option if the DCRC ever offer something in Vancouver.

I know some of you mentioned that this website seems to be geared towards younger children and not the children and teenagers that you currently teach. I found the Aperture Website to be more geared for K-12.

The word "dedicate" is an accurate word to describe those who work with children. Our work with children isn't just a job, it's almost like a devotion of our time, efforts, and I would almost go to say lives. People who enter into these career paths should really be prepared to have this dedication, but unfortunately people go into this profession for other reasons and children don't get the support they need!

Relationships relationships relationships! It always comes back to relationships. I always excited when I see relationships come up in our readings. Relationships are so important for our students, they need to know that we love and care for them before they will be ready to learn. A sense of belonging is a human need, it is something we long for whether we are introverts or extroverts, outgoing or shy, at the end of the day we always seek a connection. We need to be that connection at school.

How can we as educators embody the resilient leadership role for our students to promote resiliency in our students?

Now that's something that's probably foreign to a lot of adults. Most adults weren't really taught how to be resilient and may not even know where to start. This site is an effective resource that we need to start sharing with others.

I just signed up. I think this is a great way to stay up to date on the latest evidence based practices and to make sure your promoting resilience in your classroom in effective ways!

As the article indicates, there are unfortunately more students experiencing childhood trauma, especially at a younger age and more incidents of behaviour because of this. However, the implementation of the DECA has allowed teachers to understand how to assess and teach their students better and thus feel better supported and more confident in teaching their students.

I find that yoga is one of the best exercise activities to reduce anxiety. Consistent practice of yoga is very helpful to increase memory and to improve concentration. Yoga can also boast our immune system. If a person is healthy and can think positively, the anxiety is over.

Exercise should be something we enjoy and not something we are forced to do, or else it won't be sustained. This is why I think it's crucial that we teach students a wide range of physical activities during physical education, so they can find something they have an interest in. Often, children don't like exercising (and adults too!) because they don't like running or playing gym games since that's all they've ever learned at school but if you expose them to other activities like dancing or yoga they'll find something they like and hopefully carry on outside of school!

I wish they would also have have these types of resources and workshops in other provinces (like Alberta!). Does anyone know of anything similar to it here in Alberta?

As much as it is important to share resources and tools on anxiety, personal experience and stories are crucial in making more people aware of it. The more other people can connect with others who are experiencing the same thing as them, the more people will realize they are not alone in this and then will be able to open up. I like how there is a range of people too that were so brave to share their stories. From celebrities to psychologists and ordinary people. It shows that anxiety is something real that all types of people face!

This is an easy sheet to send home to parents if you work with younger kids that helps promote positive parenting practices. It allows families to self-assess what they are doing and to work on 1-2 things they can change. I also like how they respect families by saying there are no right answers.

I like that there is an explicit attempt to teach parents how to work with their students and create environments that provide them with opportunities to grow and be resilient.

I love how the site is called for "resilient" children. It frames it in the positive rather than in the negative. They could have said for children with challenging behaviour, but rather they stated it in a way that shows these students' strengths.

I like how collaborative this approach is because in our world today our children are with so many people throughout the day, whether they are with daycare, after school care, teachers or any after school extracurricular activities teachers or coaches. Our children have a lot of role models but they also have a lot of people in their community that see them and can provide insight.

I see this so much in my students. I have one boy who is five that comes from a difficult family life and you can always tell what behaviours were "demonstrated" at home the night before or the weekend before. There are times where I will ask this student about their actions, for example, "why did you through the chair" and his response was "because my dad does it at home." It is so heartbreaking, but it makes modelling behaviours at school so much more important.

The DCRC's Five Step method aligns with Gresham's assessment process of "screening, identification and classification, progress-monitoring, intervention, progress-monitoring, and evaluation of intervention outcome decisions" (2018, p.35). They both require a screening process where information is collected, and then an assessment step where a child is identified and classified as having a social skill deficit or not. As well, both have a plan development and implementation phase and the crucial evaluation phase to see if the intervention was successful. Seeing how similar the DCRC is to Gresham ensures educators that it is an evidence based practice that could be used in the classroom.

References

Gresham, F. M. (2018). Effective interventions for social-emotional learning. The Guilford Press.

Unfortunately, it is the students who don't have their families involvement in their lives who need it most. How can teachers engage parents and families who don't come to parent-teacher nights, meetings, and don't respond to your requests to talk about their student? What can we do, as teachers, that we actually have the power of changing at school when the students are with us?

This is exactly what we have been talking about in the course, a lot of problem behaviors come from the children's lack of social and emotional skills.

I appreciate how the video explains that FLIP it is "all that is old and good wrapped up in something we can remember" (Devereux Center for Resilient Children, 2012). I find that I attend sessions on how to deal with students who have challenging behaviours and then I come back doing nothing because I'm so overwhelmed. I love the acronym and how easy it is to use.

References

Devereux Center for Resilient Children. (2012, September 13). FLIP it: Transforming challenging behavior . Webinar [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5TViZp2KwM&feature=youtu.be

I agree. Although students may often test boundaries, it is actually beneficial for them to have limits. I also like the reminder about consistency, as this is so important!

I appreciate that this resource is research based and that its success has been evaluated by a variety of outside sources.

I love how universal this is

I made the mistake of not setting a positive limit and when I asked a child what we could do when we were sad to feel better, he told me that he could hurt his friends. So, not the ideal answer!

I tried this with a student and they had a very difficult time. They actually identified their emotion "bored" as "sad" which then prevented him from truly moving through the other steps as he was confused on his emotions

I have a child in my class experiencing this kind of situation. She is very quiet and gentle; however, when her peers stares at her and when they don't talk to her, she thinks that her peers or classmates don't like her. Her situation is very complex.

I have found this to be true. These students can appear as if everything is going fine. Absences from school are often the first signs that something may be bothering the student.

This is a good reminder. When educators notice students who are exhibiting symptoms of social anxiety, it is important to simply ask them what is so upsetting.

This is something I notice teaching at the grade six level. There are often students who did not struggle with social anxiety in elementary, but begin to demonstrate anxious behaviour in middle school. It can be very difficult for both students and their parents to understand the changes in behaviour.

In my own opinion, modelling strategy is one of the best strategies to help children who are suffering from anxiety to elevate their emotions and behaviours. Every week, I model virtues with my students and I find that these are very helpful to build their confidence. Once students build their confidence, they are capable of expressing their needs.

I like the focus on "everyone" it definitely normalizes the fact that everyone struggles and everyone goes through hardships but in life we need to learn how to bounce back and fight for ourselves.

I think that this is so important. We need to be examples of resilience for our students. Our students do not naturally know what it means to be resilient, they need to be taught and nurtured.

I truly appreciate this early intervention!

Self-Control is something that as adults we struggle with in so many areas of life. Whether its spending, fitness, eating right or even going to bed at a decent hour. We struggle with self-control and it is even harder to manage when we bring in emotions. Modeling and teaching self-control is something that would truly benefit our students, but how can we do that if we struggle with it ourselves?

I think this important to note because we are all human, we can only take so much. Of course it is important to teach our students how to be resilient, but we need to figure out how to be resilient in ourselves first.

The title of this resource caught my attention. I like the use of the word "bounce" as it implies the need for flexible thinking and responses in challenging situations. The title also suggests that although we cannot control the circumstances we face, we can choose what our response will be. I like the focus on "building" resilience, and I am curious to learn more about the strategies.

Having a work life balance is something I know teachers struggle with, myself included. Especially in the first few years of teaching where you feel as if you're just trying to survive. However, if we don't take care of ourselves then we won't be able to be the teacher that our students deserve. How do we make time for ourselves, when we need to meet endless demands of lesson/unit planning, assessments, meetings, and still be engaged with our students?

I like the definitions laid out by this site.

"I like the wording of promote and maintain mutual positive connections" I like that it specifies mutual given that young children do not often understand mutual relationships.

I appreciate how accessible this program is!

I like that this program helps more than students going through the program and actually helps the adults working with the students.

What do we do if we don't have the support of families? Are there any strategies we can use to invite families to be more active? Would an event day for families be something that could be an alternative as well?

I think it is very important that even though these programs can be universally implemented into the classroom, but knowing that there are times and students that will need more targeted strategies.

Not only will this help a child who has low protective factors or high behavioural concerns, this can also be helpful for students who have cognitive delays or difficulty processing information. Breaking a task into small steps is something we all should do. We shouldn't just assume a child can do all the steps in a task with one direction. After all, don't we forget steps when having to do a task too?

Social and emotional learning (SEL) skills shouldn't be something that is done to complete Health curriculum requirements. SEL should be something that is integrated and modelled by the teacher throughout their day. As Lindsey Minder modelled in the Edutopia (2019) video, the most authentic way for students to develop their SEL skills is by educators using their own personal experience with their own emotions.

References

Edutopia. (2019, January 14). Teaching self-regulation by modeling. Website. https://www.edutopia.org/video/teaching-self-regulation-modeling

The universal strategy of making students feel safe and secure echoes Rundell's (n.d.) relational care ladder basic need to have organization, safety, and regulation in their lives. It is helpful especially for students who have experienced trauma, but it is also helpful to the other students who haven't. Everyone needs to know what to expect and when there is structure, there is safety, which is one of our most basic needs as humans (Rundell, n.d.).

References

Rundell, F. (n.d.). Trauma: Its neurological impact on the brain, the mind, and relationships with Frida Rundell, Ph.D of the IIRP [Video]. Retrieved from https://instantteleseminar.com/Events/113208006.

I like this approach by the Center of Resilient Children, as I believe the interest of children/teens are best served when everyone works together.

Again, I like that it goes beyond parents and teachers with the potential of other adults that are deemed "important"

Given that we have already watch a FLIP IT webinar, it was refreshing to see this! I quite enjoyed FLIP IT

Watching this video, I love how that the first tip is to build student's resiliency by assuring them they are enough and they can just be who they are. They don't need to be anyone else but themselves. Also, I like the third tip of teaching students that "all feelings are ok". This is what I always tell my students. I tell them that it's ok to feel different feelings but it's what we do with them and how we treat others when we feel those feelings that matter. I like how this video adds children being able to talk about their feelings at a young age, so that it carries on to adulthood.

One third of children are at risk, that is crazy to think about, even more interesting to see that there is a big impact before the age of two. As teachers what can we do when we get them years later to counter this?

This reminds me of the saying "you're stronger than you know." Resilience is bouncing back, being strong when you feel weak, it is the art of pushing through when you feel like everything is holding you back.

This is similar to the idea mentioned in the video "Teaching Self-Regulation by Modelling" where the teacher, Lindsey Minder models her recognition of her emotions and how to deal with them (Edutopia, 2019). She does it so effectively that she doesn't need to teach a separate lesson. Since she has lots of tools in her toolkit on how she is able to self-regulate she can teach that to her students. However, what if a teacher doesn't have strong social emotional skills? I tried modelling this week how I feel frustrated when students talk while I'm talking and that I need to take a few deep breaths to relax, but after doing it a couple of times, I realized I didn't have any other strategies to deal with my frustration. So I, as the teacher, need to improve my social emotional skills too if I want my students to improve theirs.

References

Edutopia. (2019, January 14). Teaching self-regulation by modeling. Website. https://www.edutopia.org/video/teaching-self-regulation-modeling

I found this statement an important reminder of the power of words. A compliment or encouraging word can have a lasting impact on a child. It is also beneficial to provide students with plenty of opportunities to explore their talents and passions. Giving students a voice and choice in their learning is key!

This statement really resonated with me. It is so important for children to connect not only with peers, but also with adults who support them and believe in them.

This shows the importance of forming bonds and relationships, because it is suggested here that children with close bonds and positive relationships seem to be more resilient than others. This also show that stress can have serious effect in a relationship.

The breaks that I used in my class such as the TLC break, Ipad break, and galimoto break, I considered these as calming strategies because it helps my students to refresh their mind before they do their next task. In my own opinion, calming strategies are very important to help children manage their emotions and behaviors.

How do we ensure children don't "lapse" when they seem to be coping well and managing their anxiety? Should we be continuously monitoring students or have certain check in dates and times?

I appreciate the approach of addressing anxiety as a journey rather than a race. It is important to remember that each person's experience with anxiety is unique. Also, healing can be a slow process and may take time. I like how this program can be individualized and recognizes that a "one size fits all" approach is not always best.

As much as this website does have free resources, such as articles, blogs, assessments, and some videos. I find it frustrating that when I click a link for a poster or assessment a lot of the time it leads me to a product I have to buy. I find a lot of this website is selling me resources that I and the school don't have the budget to order.

Definitely something worth sharing with staff at my school, especially teachers who are just starting out in the profession. I like the idea of avoiding perfectionism and making realistic and attainable goals. I think we put too high standards on ourselves to be the best that we become too critical of ourselves that we fail to see all the wonderful things we've already done. What is one thing you are proud of (work or not work related)?

I found I wasn't really worried about the Coronavirus until someone was telling me about all the things that happened today, so I started searching news articles and looking at social media. That definitely made me start to stress, but I like how this page gives specific ways to make us less anxious about it. One of the ways is to seek reputable sources. Similar to when we write papers we have to use credible sources, so I think that it's important (with all of the news going on) that we only share news that come from the sources mentioned in this article and to not fixate on it -as that doesn't alleviate the stress!

I have found this to be a common fear of many students in middle school. I appreciate how this article provides some strategies to help students decrease their fears. I agree that it is beneficial for students to begin with low risk situations and then gradually increase the size of the audience. I also agree that it is helpful for some students to video their presentations in order to share their learning in a non-threatening way.

This is a good reminder. Sometimes students have very unrealistic expectations for themselves. In my school setting we often use a four-point scale to assess many of our assignments. I sometimes need to remind students that "there is no five". Exceeding expectations (4) is already enough! Some students have a hard time completing work because they keep wanting to add more and more detail to the assignment.

This reminds me of a student of mine, who was constantly trying to be perfect in everything. He ended up being very sick for awhile, and as it turns out, his stress and anxiety level was so high that he just couldn't do it anymore.

Love how that there are many ways for people to volunteer and be a part of making anxiety more aware and seen in society. When in comes to volunteering, this isn't really a place most people think of to individually volunteer or as a group, so if anyone asks me, I'm going to refer them here!

Extra-curricular activities are a great way for students to develop strong friendships. These activities also provide students with opportunities to try new things and to identify and develop their personal strengths and interests. It is important for schools to provide a wide variety of extra-curricular choices including athletics, music, art, and drama. It is also wonderful when these types of activities can be incorporated into the classroom curriculum so that everyone can share in the experience.

This is a valuable reminder. It can be disheartening when a student who has been progressing appears to have a set back. It is helpful to remember the big picture and that coping with anxiety is a lifelong process.

It is important for educators to remember that students with anxiety may need to have realistic expectations. When anxious students face unreachable expectations, this may actually increase their anxiety. It is okay for students to work at a slower pace. Also, remember to celebrate the progress that is being made!

I recently had a discussion with my class regarding Fight, Flight, Freeze. Most of the students were familiar with these terms as it relates to a response to danger. However, many of them commented on how it is interesting that when a person is feeling anxious the body can have this response even though there is no real danger. This was very helpful for them to understand the physical effects of anxiety.

I think using prescription drugs are often the first solutions to helping with anxiety and mental illnesses. I appreciate how this page offers strategies opposed to just prescribing medicine and they are things that make our lives more balanced (eating well, sleeping enough, drinking water, and exercising).

This is a surprise. I mostly hear we should get 6-8 hours, and even with that I don't think most adults and teens get that much sleep!

This is an easy to use (just have to press play) and free resource to offer parents. Parents struggling how to build their child's resilience can check one or more of these videos out. The problem is how do we offer it to parents without making them feel like we are judging their parenting?

I love how it uses the word "empowering", I think this is what education is all about, is to empower our students to take ownership of their own well being and learning. Same thing goes for the parents, sometimes all the parents need is a tool to guild them in the right direction, to make them feel in control and confident in their interactions with their children.

I think that it is really important that this intervention has families involved and at the centre. For interventions to work at a young age the child needs to experience them at all fronts.

This is exactly what Greene says to do in Plan B. Adults need to spend time listening to the student, or in this case observing the student, to see what their concerns really are (Greene, 2016). They then need to spend less time trying to come up with a solution before they even truly know the real problem (Greene, 2016).

References

Greene, R. W. (2016). Lost and found: Helping behaviorally challenging students (and, while you’re at it, all the others). Jossey-Bass.

If we spend more time and resources supporting children at a younger age, then less time will be needed to retrain their thinking and dealing with problem behaviours that occur as teens and adults. However, what do we do after they've received all this intervention and still need support?

I like that Reflective Practices teaches active listening and thoughtful questioning. I think this is a skill we don't necessarily always realize needs to be modelled and taught, but it does. I think it is so important that our students have the opportunity to learn how to do both these skills in real life situations in a safe place.

It has been mentioned before but I really like how many people can be involved.

Reminds me of the sessions that we have at Eric Hamber Secondary, where we sit down and talk about the work that we do, and reflect on the practices that we use.

I agree that reflection is an important part of our professional development. I have found that all too often it is the step that is skipped when life gets busy. What structures can schools put in place to promote regular reflection?

I like the flexibility of the program. It makes it easier for professionals to receive the training!

I really like this. We so often overlook the joy and passion while working with more emotionally and challenging students. It is a refreshing reminder how to relax and enjoy them again

With social media's heavy presence in our lives, people's "perfect" lives are usually what is depicted on their posts. No one wants to showcase their struggles or their problems, but that's problematic when people compare their families, teaching, and life to what they see on other people's social media. I like how these articles, such as this one, are raw, authentic, and real. They acknowledge that no one is perfect and we don't need to be, but here are some ways we can be better!

This is really interesting! But it also makes me feel a bit of pressure as a kindergarten teacher. How can I help make my classroom environment a resilience building environment that can help my students grow in multiple ways?

Teaching resilience, in my opinion, is even more important to do at a young age. If a child can learn to recover quickly from adversity with the problems they face at an early age, the easier it will be for them to adapt and face challenges later on in life.

It's so important that when obtaining information on a child, there is more than one adult that is being asked. Assessment is more accurate when we have representation of how that child is at home, school, or in activities they participate in after school. Sometimes children are different versions of themselves at school then at home, so this helps to obtain a clearer picture.

I have always been interested in this type of therapy. I remember writing a paper for one of my Psych courses on this. I like this approach because its goal is to change patterns of thinking or behavior that are behind people's difficulties, and so change the way they feel. And if you can change your patterns of thinking aka thinking traps, we can change our attitude towards things, and perhaps feel less anxious and stressed.

I attended a pro d workshop a few weeks ago presented by Morneau Shepell, and this was exactly what the workshop was about. We have these thinking traps that can make us feel anxious and nervous, but we can train minds to calm down with some simple calm breathing activities. Who knew it could be that simple sometimes.

This saddens me, specifically for students who are in foster care or do not have a stable and loving home life. Often too, these are the students who experience anxiety. How can we expect students in these types of family situations feel safe and encouraged when their home life is what is adding to their anxiety or is the cause of it?

I have a student who is like this and who is so afraid to answer questions or speak up out of fear that he'll make a mistake. It soon led to him starting to say he wanted to kill himself and would break down in tears over smaller problems. I talked to his mom and she had mentioned that she was being really tough on him at home with his schoolwork and that she assumed his lack of skills and effort was due to his laziness. We then talked about how perhaps at home, he just needs to take a break from academic work and just enjoy time with her instead of adding to his pressures of trying to do well. I found that he has stopped saying these comments to himself. However, now I'm thinking I need to watch for the other signs of anxiety and maybe have a conversation again with his mom.

Now that I've realized my own social and emotional skills are lacking, as evidenced by my repetitive use of deep breaths to model to my students, this is a great place to begin to assess what my individual strengths and weaknesses are. If we are going to do these with our students, we need to begin with ourselves, so we know how we can better help them. I love how it is only three pages and easy to print out and use!

This should be the requirements for all assessment tools used in the classroom for students. They should always be evidence based and already tried and tested to be effective with students, not just something found off the internet or social media. As well, assessments should be practical and easy to use for the adults using it, or else it won't be a sustained tool used.

This was super helpful to me as all my life I've always thought I had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) because when reading the "What do 'Compulsions' Look Like" section, every single one of those related to me. People around me too would even joke about my compulsions, because I would do things such as not go to bed in my dirty clothes and do things in a certain way out of fear something bad would happen if I didn't. However, it was reassuring to see that one has OCD if it significantly affects their life and takes up most of their time, which in my case it doesn't. I am still unclear as to how to seek for help if someone has OCD or if there is anything to help someone who may deal with some form of OCD.

I love the idea of having an app that not only is evidence based but also free! People are always on their phones, so for adults who struggle with anxiety or just need help ways to create peace and decrease worry in their life, this is a great way to remind people to just pause and take time for themselves.

It's unfortunate but in university, I had zero courses that taught me how to recognize anxiety in students. With all the information on this website alone and with it affecting up to 20% of children over a lifespan, it's crucial that educators are aware of this topic. Perhaps a solution to this would be having a course on anxiety alone in university (recognizing it in students and adults, strategies, resources)?

These students who struggle with anxiety but may not physically appear as if they are, are the ones who worry me the most. Others often assume because they are doing so well on the outside that they aren't struggling. Then often, they crash when the pressure gets too much. How can we ensure that no student gets forgotten especially if it's not as obvious?

Even as an adult, I tend to avoid things that have caused fear in me before. For instance, I have a fear of driving in the winter and on the highways because I witnessed a very bad crash a few years ago. So since then I avoid highways when the roads are really bad so I don't have to face my anxiety, but it's interesting to see that actually driving on them is what will make my anxiety goes away. As an adult, this is a scary concept for me, so I can't imagine how more difficult this would be for children. I'm wondering how we can ease children into situations that they fear and how we as adults can model that for them?

It is great to know that nurturing and providing extra protective factors can help combat some of the negatives that our children experience.

I find it interesting that teachers spend so much time with our students but we do not have the training or qualification to make diagnoses. Would it be beneficial for teachers to make a professional diagnosis?

Even outside the classroom it is all too often an invisible disorder!

This is a great question, how do we know? How do we handle anxiety in students and how do we approach the topic with parents?

I like the addition of 'freeze' because at times our anxiety prevents us from reacting in a fight or flight way. Sometimes anxiety causes you to freeze and prevents you from moving on.

I feel like a broken record, but I truly admire that Anxiety Canada expresses that anxiety is normal, necessary and natural for us.

I honestly forgot that OCD was considered an anxiety disorder. This has been a great reminder that those children that seem them always feel in control may actually be covering anxiety.

This website is so informative, maybe if I had found something like this in highschool I wouldn't have felt crazy for a few years and would have found peace of mind knowing that it was how my brain functioned

At times it even presents as worrying about worrying and the worries that you have

This is actually what I experience during times of stress. This was something I picked up when my grandfather passed away eight and a half years ago. Anytime I feel extreme stress I pull out my hair and eyelashes which is why I wear false lashes. After pulling my lashes I then become extremely self-conscious about my appearance and then have even more anxiety about going to social places, false lashes at times helps with the lash pulling.

I know from experience the amount of disruption that anxiety can cause in one's life. Anxiety has caused me to lose friends, miss out on opportunities, due to commitment issues it has also cost me financially as I would sign up for programs and then my anxiety would prevent me from actually going or using said programs.

Anxiety in adults is still something we are learning about and coming to terms with it being quite normal. It is something that used to be referred to as an excuse but in recent years people have become more understanding that it is a mental health issue.

I like the explanation that anxiety and fear is necessary and normal, but that it is the excessiveness that cause the disorder and life impairment.

I like the acknowledgement of anxiety being normal and necessary!

I know this feeling all to well.

Anxiety leaves you too afraid to leave the house, it is crippling. It is an invisible disorder.

This reminds me of when Anxiety Canada refers to anxiety as a fog, it is something those with anxiety cannot see through or look past. Even when we know that its irrational, it is still next to impossible to accept seeing it from a different perspective.

Teaching 5-6 year olds I am often faced with students that claim they cannot do something, but as soon as I have them "help me" and take the pressure or attention off them and onto myself they're able to complete the task without my input. They are able to teach me the steps, but not able to complete the task independently.

Anxiety is a tricky thing. It can be completely irrational, but it can also appear to be simple concerns like failing a test, however that simple concern could be masking a lot more.

I'd be interested in knowing skills other than avoidance and dissociation to help with stress. What would that look like in our classrooms?

We often hear students complaining about a sore stomach or feeling sick when they're trying to convey their anxiety. It is important to remember that avoidance is also a sign of anxiety.

Anxiety is human, we need to embrace it and know that we feel it for a purpose. However, we also need to learn how to live with anxiety and ways to regulate ourselves to manage it without it taking over our lives.

I would love to know what that balance and appropriate level of anxiety one is supposed to feel.

Just looking at the ways that anxiety can impact our lives, there is no question that we need to teach self-regulation in order to help our students manage their emotions and stress before expecting them to learn. If we're too emotional we cannot focus on what we are learning or expected to do. If we are not mentally well we cannot focus on anything other than what is on our minds. If we are not independent enough we will doubt everything we try to do and seek constant reassurance that we're doing okay. There is so much that we cannot do when we are focused on anxiety.

I would love to know more about cognitive functioning and how that relates to anxiety.

I like this metaphor and I have used something similar in expressing my anxiety to my doctor. When I tried medication to help manage my anxiety I referred to it as being lifted from a fog and no longer looking at life through a haze. Anxiety clouds your judgement and your thoughts.

I like that Anxiety Canada is acknowledging that anxiety is everywhere and experienced by many. It truly is a gift and it teaches us and forces us to listen to our instincts.

This makes me think of the "helicopter parents," "lawnmower parents" and all the stereotypical parent roles that worry so much about their child experiencing anything negative that they push everything out of the way for their children so that they can have an ideal least restrictive environment possible. There are so many parents that prevent their child from learning how to suffer, make mistakes and learn. If we try to eliminate anxiety we are going to cause children to grow up into adults who cannot function in everyday life.

I like that this is a disclaimer, we often think that since something is uncomfortable it must be dangerous or harmful, but anxiety is a part of life, it is instinctual for survive.

I like that Anxiety Canada provides ways to figure out which type of anxiety disorder you most likely fit into most, but I do think there should be a disclaimer in this section to go to a professional for official diagnosis. What if a parent of youth is reading all of this information and labelling themselves as someone with an anxiety disorder and then in a way convincing themselves they live with anxiety? It is easy to convince yourself of things and then in a way, blame behaviors on those choices. I am not saying this is something common that people do, but it could be a potential issue.

There are so many different types of anxiety that we can experience and I am curious as to how much is "taught" by a parent who has anxiety. One of my parents is anxious about leaving her child at school. She constantly has to tell me that the child was emotional about coming to school but the child is always willing to come inside, it is usually the mom getting teary and working herself up at the door saying "I'll be right here, I will wait for one more hug, give your stuffy one more hug, your family picture is in your bag hug it when you miss me" and so on. So as much as children do develop their own anxiety disorders, are there times where the anxious behaviour is being modelled or taught?

I wonder if the confusion, frustration and sense of being overwhelmed by their child's behaviour has an effect on their child's anxiety. Is the parent reaction causing the anxiety to worsen? Is it triggering anxiety in other areas of the child's life.

I think this is a great note to have. As a teacher of young students, I hear parents say quite often that they do not know what is going on with their child, they don't know where behaviours are coming from and that they simply do not know what to do. As a teacher I am often asked my opinions or advice on their child a lot and there are often times where I am not the professional that they should be talking to due to qualifications. Due to anxiety presenting differently in children it is also hard for me to make the right call on who to refer them to for advice, the default is usually pediatrician.

I appreciate that Anxiety Canada describes the ways that anxiety can present in our young students. I personally have lived with anxiety disorders throughout my life, but not everyone has experienced anxiety and therefore may not be able to identify anxiety symptoms, by providing examples of how our anxious students may present helps those who may not have experience anxiety disorders or know what to look for.