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Question 1: What is the difference between situational stress and chronic stress?

Situational Stress means when you cannot handle the situation well whether it is friends or families dealing with drama. Chronic stress in relation to situational stress can relate to health problems such as back pain from constant stress whether in school and home.

Question 2: Think back to a particularly stressful moment in your high school career. What did you do to cope with the stress? Was this helpful for you?

In my high school career, I was stressed out when I was working on a huge project in art and I had only 50 minutes of time each class to work on it. How I coped with the stress is that I asked my teacher if I do not have anything going on in school such as study hall to work on the project. I felt this was very helpful because when I am working on any art projects, I like to make sure that they are done good and well presentable to show to the class and to my family.

Task 3: Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) of how well you manage your time.

I rate myself as a 6 on how to manage my time in school.

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What more can schools be doing to help alleviate stress and anxiety? 

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What more can schools be doing to help alleviate stress and anxiety? 

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Self Connection: I connect to how some of the students use art to relieve their stress because I am passionate about art and it helps me to relive my stress.

World Connection: Schools can have relaxation places for them to go when they are stressed.

Text Connection: Standerdized tests and AP classes cause stress for students. They have a lot of pressure to get into colleges.

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How stress affects your brain - Madhumita Murgia

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Your sister LiIly is going through a stressful time. She is finding it difficult to juggle the stress of junior year, school work, her job, and volunteering. She has been isolating herself from social activities because she has too much work. One of her favorite things to do is play Fortnite or binge watch Netflix for hours. Write a letter to Lilly suggesting healthy coping mechanisms that could alleviate her stress. (5 Sentences)

Dear Lily,

There are many ways to cope with stress when it comes to schoolwork. The best way to stay on top of your school work is break up your assignments into each day and set goals for yourself. Sometimes you have to learn to walk away from assignments that seem too much for you and go back to them later. Another way to relieve stress is to make up time by going for a walk for at least thirty minutes on campus or at home around the neighborhood. The best way to relieve stress is to take a break from using the computer and maybe you can read a book for fun.

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The change Chris Boitz saw in his students was gradual but unmistakable.

"Over the course of a few years, everything was different-their expressions, their demeanor, their moods," he recalls. "There was a loss of focus. Many of them looked pretty desperate, actually."

Boitz blames the "fear factor." Students were afraid they weren't taking enough Advanced Placement (AP) courses, that they weren't getting the best grades, that they wouldn't get into the best colleges, and that they weren't pleasing their parents. The result: a stress level that shouldn't be felt by an adult, let alone a 16- or 17-year-old high school student.

Boitz is a music teacher at Saratoga High, a high-achieving school in California where students are under great pressure to perform well. But schools that don't share Saratoga's high-performing percentile are not immune to high-stress academic environments.

A 2014 study by the American Psychological Association found that U.S. teens are even more stressed out than adults. Thirty percent of teens reported feeling sad or depressed because of stress, and 31% felt overwhelmed. Another 36% said that stress made them tired and 23% said it made them skip meals.

Awareness of student stress, says Denise Pope of Stanford University, has moved to the forefront. Pope is co-founder of the Challenge Success project, which provides school districts with strategies to promote student wellness, and co-author of
"Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids."

"People are finally seeing what negative stress does to the body, what that does to the psyche, and what it does to school engagement," explains Pope. "Schools and communities know stress is a problem and they want solutions."

School as a Pressure Cooker

There's nothing necessarily wrong with a little stress. That is, the kind of nervous energy or "butterflies" that can sharpen focus and increase performance during, say, a big test or a class presentation. But many students, educators and parents will tell you it's different now: The strain has grown to crisis levels in many schools.

"The entire education system has created a pressure cooker for students and staff," Pope explains. "Twenty years ago, when you asked teenagers about what stressed them out, you would typically first hear things like 'my parents' divorce,' or 'my Dad's an alcoholic,' or 'I don't fit in socially.' Nowadays, it's always about school."

Pope points to homework overload and early school start times as two long-standing school policies that deserve closer scrutiny.

As long as it is not assigned merely as a routine practice, many experts insist homework provides tangible academic benefits. But too much of it can heighten student stress, lead to sleep deprivation and generally less time for family, friends, and activities.

A growing number of researchers also believe that the average school start time of 8:03 a.m. is too early. In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended middle and high schools delay the start of class to 8:30 a.m. or later, so as to align school schedules to the biological sleep rhythms of adolescents. This change, Pope says, "can make a huge difference."

Researchers at the University of Minnesota recently examined data from more than 9,000 students attending 8 high schools in 3 states. They found that attendance and academic performance in math, English, science, and social studies improved at schools with later start times, while tardiness, substance abuse, and symptoms of depression declined. At one participating school that changed the start time from 7:20 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., school counselors and nurses reported fewer students seeking help for emotional problems and physical complaints.

Then there's high-stakes testing. " That's a stress that everyone in a school feels," says Pope. "And a good example how student and teacher stress feed of each other."

But that's not the full story. Stress-what causes it, where it comes from, and what can alleviate it-is a complex issue.

Students as Numbers and Statistics

School policies and procedures play an unquestionable role in elevating student stress, but students and their families can get too caught up in a culture of competitiveness. "I've spoken with many kids who tell me, 'I'm studying as hard as I can and my parents are saying I just need to study harder.' These kids stay up all night and focus 100 percent on schoolwork to get ahead," Pope says.

Lori Stratton, an English teacher at Wamego High School in Wamego, Kan., believes the growing academic opportunities available to students can be too tempting to students and parents.

"Every grade we get, every test we take, becomes a permanent number on a transcript that gets dissected by a college. Throughout high school, our names are constantly represented by numbers and statistics." - Jake Gluckman, 18

"On one hand, options are a good thing," Stratton says, "but students in my school are taking too many AP classes and dual-credit classes. In some cases, they're taking a full-time college schedule while trying to maintain their high school activities."

"Student stress can be self-imposed," says Lynne Belvedere, a recently-retired student assistance coordinator at Millburn High School in New Jersey. "Over the years I've seen a change in the overall culture - inside and outside of school - that has pushed students to take on too much, and they don't have the necessary coping skills."

Lack of sleep is the common complaint among senior Noah Brookhim's Millburn classmates. Due to an overload of AP homework, many of them get only four or five hours of nighttime rest.

"Many students may feel compelled to take multiple AP or accelerated courses in order to make their transcripts more appealing to colleges," Brookhim explains. "As a result, they're not able to maintain a healthy balance between schoolwork and their lives outside of school."

What it comes down to, according to Jake Gluckman, a 2016 Millburn graduate, is that stress is rooted in "the idea of college being the finish line of life."

"Every grade we get, every test we take, becomes a permanent number on a transcript that gets dissected by a college," Gluckman says. "Throughout high school, our names are constantly represented by numbers and statistics."

'You Can't Do It Alone'

Last December, Millburn High's senior class assembled outside the school on a Monday morning and let out a long, communal primal scream. A student-led protest of an unpopular school policy? No, this was a school-sanctioned stress reliever to take the edge off, at least temporarily, the tension surrounding the college application process. As PARCC testing and AP exams approached in May, the school also brought in two "therapy dogs" to sit in the guidance office and receive visits from students looking for a little down time.

On another day, Millburn seniors were dismissed from class 30 minutes early to gather on the lawn of the school. A huge canvas was laid out before them. Out came the paints, and the fun began.

"It was a great way for us to relieve stress in a colorful and creative manner," recalls Brookhim. "We loved the opportunity to socialize with each other and create a collective piece of art that represents the ability to overcome any stress [we] may experience both in and out of school."

These are popular and fairly easy to implement activities, but Millburn High is also mapping out a more comprehensive strategy to reduce student stress while still supporting their academic success.

We are determined to raise awareness in the community about student stress and take measured, carefully planned steps with one goal in mind: sustainable change." - Jessica Siegel, Millburn High School

Like many other school districts, Millburn surveyed its student body and found that students spent too much time on extracurricular activities, didn't get enough sleep, and, by a 7 to 1 ratio, were more concerned about getting good grades than actually learning the material.

Jessica Siegel is chair of Millburn's English department. With her colleague Stephanie Greenberg, she compiled results from the student survey into a report that helped the school community stand up and take action. Siegel says the issues identified were serious and deserved the school's attention and resources. "We are determined to raise awareness in the community about student stress and take measured, carefully planned steps with one goal in mind: sustainable change," says Siegel.

For every initiative designed to help students manage their own stress level-Millburn is also looking at mindfulness and meditation workshops-school leaders are looking at potential changes that can reduce pressure and anxiety while preserving academic opportunities for students.

Was Millburn going to eliminate or drastically reduce homework? No, but Siegel successfully lobbied her colleagues to ban assigning homework over holiday breaks. "We have to respect that family time," she says.

Perhaps the most ambitious proposal on Millburn's radar is converting to a block schedule. Like most schools, Millburn operates on a traditional schedule, which is anywhere from 40-50 minutes per period, seven times a day. Under a block schedule, schools hold fewer classes that meet for longer periods each day. This schedule changes the pace for students and teachers for the better, says Denise Pope.

"The traditional schedule means that teachers tend to resort to lecturing instead of deeper discussions, Socratic seminars, things that we know will make the learning stick better. is is also important from a well-being standpoint. If you shadow kids for a school day, you'd see that they're exhausted. A saner schedule is better academically and for mental health and well-being," explains Pope.

Millburn hasn't taken that step yet. School leaders are vetting various proposals and visiting schools that have made the change. Regardless of the specific type of block schedule, it's a heavy lift for any school. Winning over the community-parents in particular-can be tricky terrain to navigate. "I've seen town meetings go bad around a schedule change because of angry parents who may not understand what's really behind it," adds Pope.

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Schools Look to Parents and Communities To Help Reduce Student Stress

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Why are student stress levels so elevated? Schools, parents, communities, and students all play a role, and solutions depend on everyone working together.

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Diigo - Better reading and research with annotation, highlighter, sticky notes, archiving, bookmarking & more.

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Diigo is a powerful research tool and a knowledge-sharing community

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Thin Questions: 1) What can poor time management cause? 2) What are five techniques that can help us manage our time?

Chronic Stress, lack of sleep and depression.
Delegate, learn to say no, plan ahead for distractions, eliminate distractions, set aside overtimes

Thick Question: 3) Suppose you decided to only view social media on certain days or within a specific time span throughout the day. Would this help you to manage your time better? Why or why not?

Spending time on the phone instead of focusing on your goals does not help manage my time better because of so many events and distractions going on around the world. I feel that I work better without the use of social media except if I am just looking up works of art on the Internet or listening to music when I draw as a form of inspiration.

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1) Name five techniques that helps cope with stress.
2) How do you deal with stress if you are running late?

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