teen stress Archives - Challenge Success https://challengesuccess.org/resources/tag/teen-stress/ Transform the Student Experience Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:51:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 https://i0.wp.com/challengesuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/favicon.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 teen stress Archives - Challenge Success https://challengesuccess.org/resources/tag/teen-stress/ 32 32 220507537 Teacher Practices to Develop Balanced, Engaged Students https://challengesuccess.org/resources/teacher-practices-to-develop-balanced-engaged-students/ Wed, 11 Mar 2020 02:10:59 +0000 http://www.challengesuccess.org/?p=6562 SPACE-aligned teacher practices

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At
Challenge Success, we partner with schools to address alarming levels of student stress, anxiety, and disengagement by implementing policies and practices that support both student well-being and engagement with learning. We use a research-based framework that we call SPACE to guide changes in student schedules, homework policies, curricular design, assessments, social-emotional learning, and more. 

While some of the changes we recommend are made at the school or district level, there are many things that educators can do immediately – even, tomorrow! –  to increase students’ balance, sense of belonging, and deep engagement.

Here are 7 of our favorite SPACE-aligned teacher practices:

1. Start class with a community-building exercise
Have students respond to a question of the day like, “If you could be on a reality show, which one would you be on?” Pose a series of “would you rather” questions and have everyone physically move to one side of the classroom or the other to answer them. Have students share gratitude or a highlight from their week.

2. Carve out five minutes for mindfulness
There are many simple ways to practice mindfulness. Try a 3-2-1 sensory check: what are three things you hear right now, two things you see, and one thing you feel. Play a guided meditation using an app or YouTube video. Offer students this quiet time to journal or write a reflection.

3. Create a compliment board
Who doesn’t love to hear nice things about themselves? Write a student’s name on the board and let classmates add post-it notes full of compliments. Take a picture to share with the student, and rotate through all students in a given month or the school year.

4. Collect data about students’ experience
How long did your homework take last night? From fist to five, what was your level of anxiety preparing for the assessment? In what ways were my expectations unclear to you? We’ll never know if we don’t ask! You can use tech tools like Kahoot or Poll Everywhere or employ good, old-fashioned hand-raising.

5. Institute a homework holiday
Research shows that teens need playtime, downtime, and family time (PDF) every day to thrive. Give students a break from homework for a night to support their PDF. You can encourage them to use some of this unstructured time to share something they’ve learned from your class with family and friends. 

6. Expand the audience for your next assessment
Students often produce higher quality work when they know it will be seen by an authentic audience, not just their teacher. Incorporate this by assigning tasks such as: participate in a Wikipedia “edit-a-thon”, start a social media campaign, write a letter to the editor, post your poetry at a local cafe, share your findings with the city council, or perform for a nearby retirement community.

7. Make the end of class count
Incorporate student feedback into your exit ticket or end of class discussion by asking a question that lets you know how they felt about the process. For example, “What is one thing you want me to know about your experience in class today?” or ”What did today’s lesson make you wonder?”


Chris Stapel, PhD is a Senior Research Associate. Working closely with the research and program teams, as well as middle and high school communities, he leads the organization in its efforts to connect high-quality research to school settings. Chris is an experienced learning designer, professional learning coach, and social science researcher. Prior to joining Challenge Success, Chris was a mathematics teacher in public and independent schools. He lives in Minneapolis.

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Ten Tips for Surviving the College Application Process https://challengesuccess.org/resources/ten-tips-for-surviving-the-college-application-process/ Wed, 16 Oct 2019 21:33:53 +0000 http://www.challengesuccess.org/?p=5949 Organize your info. It sounds obvious, but you

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  • Organize your info. It sounds obvious, but you would be surprised how many students don’t do it. Keep a folder with all of the college information you receive, and include SAT, ACT, and/or AP scores and dates of upcoming tests so that you have all of these materials in one place.
  • Look at the Common Application early. This will help you to identify what information will be required before you start filling in forms. Gather all of the basic information and try to draft at least the short answer essay before starting your senior year.
  • Decide which teachers you will ask for references and do it before you leave for summer at the end of junior year. Remember, your teachers are busy too, and they will appreciate advance notice so that they can plan accordingly. Put together a packet of information for your teacher such as your resume or a list of your activities and interests to help them know more about you.
  • Narrow down your college list. It’s hard to write more than 7 or 8 high quality applications. You may complete more than that, but recognize that you will not have the time or energy to do your best work on all of them. Work in priority order. Do not include schools that you really do not want to go to, even if your parents, friends, or counselors say you should!
  • Think about when to take the many tests that will be required. You need to balance test taking with everything else going on in your life. An athlete who plays a spring sport many want to take the SAT in January before things get too busy, while a musician may want to wait until the spring concert is over and take it in April.
  • Agree on ground rules at home. No one wants to be bugged daily by their parents about writing applications, but let’s be realistic that there may be some bugging. Agree with your parents on a time once a week during senior year when you will talk about where you are in the process and what you still have to do.
  • Make sure your school counselor knows who you are before October! Really. Every year during the third week of October, with the early decision deadlines looming, students flock to their counselors’ offices looking for advice. It is not easy for counselors to help you in a meaningful way if they don’t know you.
  • Prepare for your interviews and practice interviewing. I have interviewed potential students for almost 20 years, and about 80% of them have been under-prepared. This is one part of the process that you can control so take advantage of it. Have several sincere questions prepared and practice interviewing with a friend, parent, or counselor. Try not to fidget and make good eye contact!
  • Understand timelines, requirements, and deadlines. Colleges ask for similar, but unfortunately not identical information. Make a chart or spreadsheet with each college and write down EXACTLY what you need to submit with the deadline for each component of the application. If you are being recruited as an athlete or performer, realize that your process will be different and your timelines may be accelerated.
  • Write about what matters to you in your own voice. There is no perfect essay, and trying to concoct one usually fails miserably. Think about something that you care about or that interests you. What do you want the reader of the application to know about you that they might not know without reading your essay? Try not to overthink it and be true to yourself. It’s appropriate to ask your school counselor, parents, or others to proofread it for you, but the work you submit should be your own. Admissions officers can tell when it’s not written in a student’s voice. 

  • Maureen Brown served as the executive director of Challenge Success for nearly eight years. She co-authored, Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids with Denise Pope and Sarah Miles. She has over 20 years of consulting experience in health care, financial services, and technology and currently serves as the Interim Center Fund President at Center for the Arts in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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