I chose to focus my project on eliminating stress and anxiety in the classroom because recently this is something I have been struggling with in not only my classroom, but also in my personal and professional life. I think that as teachers stress is one of the biggest things that cause us to become negative and struggle with our motivation to be the best teachers we can be.
I wanted to focus my project on how teachers can motivate their students by helping them feel relaxed and comfortable in the classroom. One website stated, "The teacher's behavior and teaching style, the structure of the course, the nature of the assignments and informal interactions with students all have a large effect on student motivation" (Aboutstress.com, 2011). If students feel relaxed and comfortable, they will be more likely to be successful in the classroom. Along with using things like brain breaks and breathing exercises, teachers should be using procedures and activities that strive to make students feel like they belong and have power.
Eliminating stress and anxiety in the classroom can be as simple as taking a moment to breath before a test or allowing students to have the power to choose their assignments. A huge part of a student's motivation is whether or not they feel like they belong and that they feel like they have power. Nothing makes a students feel like they are in control more than feeling relaxed and comfortable. If a student is stressed and anxious they will certainly not feel like they belong and have freedom. The purpose of this blog is to show some positive ways to eliminate stress in students in order to keep them motivated to do their best.
It is important for teachers to try to eliminate as much stress and anxiety from student's lives in the classroom as possible because stress can have such negative affects on student performance. For example, recently I gave a benchmark and one of my students was acting out. She was distracted and being goofy throughout the test. I, of course, felt frustrated because she was not trying and was distracting other students. I spoke to the student later, and her explanation was that she hates testing and got really nervous. It was interesting to match up her behavior with that fact that she was stressed. So often, students' behaviors can be eratic, but this interaction with my student reminded me that sometimes stress can really hinder our student's motivation to do well.
