Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes	Part A: Identifying times of stress
25 minutes	Part B: Practicing mindfulness
25 minutes	Part C: Creating a mindfulness list
05 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Identifying times of stress

Step 1.

Ask students what they know about the effect floods and bushfires have on communities and individuals.

Conduct a turn and talk. Students ask one another what they may feel if affected by a flood or fire before, during and after the event.

Create a word wall of suggestions of these emotions.

Step 2.

Have students watch the following video, paying attention to the lived experiences of these people on Kangaroo Island.

Kangaroo Island: 'Our club is our people, not our bricks and mortar' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwd9yA2-PVE)

Step 3.

As a class, define ‘adversity’.

Adversity can often be defined as ‘an unpleasant or difficult situation’.

Have students give examples of this. Prompt them with scenarios such as a pandemic, bushfires, floods, and other situations that are familiar to them and their lived experiences.

Adversity might be encountered as a result of:

illness or injury
family violence or neglect
human-caused disasters such as terrorist attacks or war
natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, bushfires, floods, pandemics, and storms.

Step 4.

As a class, write out what would have been stressful for the people of Kangaroo Island before the fires came, during the fires, and after the fires. Take examples of what was said by the people in the video.

Part B: Practicing mindfulness

Step 1.

Explain to students that stress can come from big disasters or it can come from everyday adversities.

Step 2.

As a class, discuss: how can we know that we might be suffering from stress?

How might our bodies feel? We might feel hot in the cheeks, or a tightness in our stomach. We might be clenching our fists, or tapping our feet uncontrollably. Our heart is probably pounding. We might feel like we have a lot of energy to burn, or, on the other hand, we might feel like we have no energy at all and just want to curl up and hide away. We might want to cry, or scream.

How might our minds feel? We could feel really foggy, like we can’t concentrate on anything. We might have trouble remembering.

How might we feel about other people? Some of us might want lots of attention from the teacher or our parents, or lots of hugs. Some of us might want to avoid everyone. We might yell at some people and be mean, even though they are our friends, because we just want to be left alone.

Step 3.

Explain to students that it’s okay to feel this way. It’s natural to feel upset or angry, or scared, especially if we’ve just encountered some adversity, such as a bushfire.

We also need to know how to get ourselves out of these emotions and back into a happier space.

One way we can do this is through meditation.

Step 4.

Let’s run through one now.

Encourage students to find a space where they won’t feel distracted. They might like to lie down or sit with their feet on the floor. They don’t have to close their eyes, but it can help with focus. You might like to turn off the lights for a more comfortable atmosphere.

Here’s a great guided mindful breathing exercise:

Five Minute Mindful Breathing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-SFdhVwrVA)

If you have access, the headspace app, has heaps of really great meditations. Or you might feel confident in running the session yourself.

Avoid forcing students to stay calm and focused (although it might not be a great idea to run this lesson straight after recess!) As we’ll see, it can be hard to keep your mind focusedThis step is about building practice.

Step 5.

Ask students how they felt during this exercise. Did their thoughts run away from them? Did they feel twitchy or restless? Was it hard to focus?

Or perhaps they felt sleepy or bored.

Have students reflect on the fact that this activity didn’t ask them to stop functioning, but to slow down and give them time to breathe, and simplify what they were doing and thinking.

This is the usefulness of mindfulness: to not allow ourselves to get overwhelmed by things, and to take an active role in calming ourselves and keeping ourselves in a ‘green’ mental space.

Extension

You might like to add a mindfulness practice to your mornings.

Try it for a week, with a brief reflection after each session. Do students find it easier on Friday than when they started on Monday? Are they reporting any other benefits?

Step 6.

Watch the video by Headspace to explore how to mindfully manage stress.

Headspace | Meditation | Changing Perspective (youtube.com/watch?v=iN6g2mr0p3Q&feature=youtu.be)

Part C: Creating a mindfulness list

Step 1.

Provide students with a Student Worksheet. Independently, students will come up with a series of activities they could do to be mindful and/or reduce their stress and write or draw these in the nine boxes provided on the Student Worksheet.

Some examples might include:

Take some deep breaths	Play with friends	Make something	Have a bath or shower
Read a funny story	Bounce on the trampoline	Play an imaginary game	Eat something delicious
Ride a bike	Go for a swim and splash a lot	Cuddle someone you love	Listen to some music
Play a calm computer game	Watch TV	Lie on your bed	Go to the park
Write about it	Talk to someone	Draw a picture	Help your parent
Play a favourite gam e	Tidy your room	Read a book	Ring your grandparent
Play sport	Wash your face in warm water	Pat a pet	Sing a song
Have a drink of water	Go for a run

Step 2.

Independently, students fill in their own ‘Things that help me in times of stress’ on the Student Worksheet.

Step 3.

As a class, discuss ways that students can seek further help when they don’t feel in control of their emotions or are struggling with stress.

Suggestions might include a list of people they could talk to: their teacher, their sports coach, their parents, or the school counsellor.

Talk briefly about professional organisations that can provide assistance to students in these times:

headspace (https://headspace.org.au/eheadspace/)
Beyond Blue (https://www.beyondblue.org.au/)
Kids Helpline, which now has a webchat feature (https://kidshelpline.com.au/)
The Australian Child & Adolescent Trauma, Loss & Grief Network (https://earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au/)

Extension:

Students could independently research one of these organisations and share their knowledge with the class about how they might be able to help in times of stress.

Step 5.

Students add to their own list of people who they could talk to for a little extra help on their Student Worksheet.

Reflection

Briefly speak to students about the importance of having a number of ways they can seek help if they do not feel they can speak to friends or family about how they are feeling. Emphasise the importance of working together to reduce stress in times of adversity and building mindfulness strategies.

Differentiated Learning

Extension:

Early finishers can take the opportunity to develop their own mindfulness recording, similar to the one they watched from headspace.

Provisions for learning support

Allow for partnered work on independent tasks and provide the list of suggested activities at the beginning of the session so that students are able to digest the ideas and contribute more by the time the whole class works on the Student Worksheet.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn’t work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Resilient Australia - How to Manage Mental Health During a Disaster

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