Resource for teaching about what stress is

Students reflect on their current levels and understanding of stress. They undertake a self-assessment to understand what stress is and how it affects them on an individual level. They unpack what influences levels of stress, including what we can and can’t control.

Learning Intention

Students understand what stress is and how it affects them on an individual level.

Key Outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

• understand the role that study/exam stress plays in their lives
• describe what stress does to the body, and how serious its effects can be
• Identify where the stress or pressure they feel is coming from.

ACTIVITY 01 (10 min)

Brainstorm and word association

1. Give the students 5–10 sticky notes each.
2. Ask them to write on each note a word they associate with stress. Prompting questions might include:
   • What does it feel like?
   • Where does it come from?
   • Why do we feel it?
3. Draw two circles on the board (one big one and one smaller one inside). Label the small circle ‘Things you can control’ and the big one ‘Things you can’t control’.
4. Have the students put the post-it notes in the circles that they think match their word association.

ACTIVITY 02 (40 min)

Class discussion

1. Start a class discussion by explaining the stress bell curve. Key points:
   • We all experience stress and anxiety differently.
   • It’s good to feel some stress, as this can help to enhance performance.
   • Too much stress can affect not only your performance at school, but also your life more generally.
   • Feeling no stress at all could mean that you have disengaged from doing your best.
2. Highlight that there are things we can and cannot control, but also that there are things we can do to ensure that stress doesn’t affect us in a negative way.
3. Access the ReachOut article ‘What stress does to the body.‘
   • Students read text to consolidate learning.
   • Students discuss in small groups which aspects are important to them.
   • Ask students to reflect on their original brainstorms.

ACTIVITY 03 (10 min)

Reflection activity

Students reflect on their own experiences of stress to begin thinking about what they can do to cope. You might consider providing additional ideas for students.

Content has been created by ReachOut. To view more information about ReachOut click here.