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Belly Breathing. Mylemarks. https://www.mylemarks.com/store/p153/Belly_Breathing.html.

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Cascardi, M. (2016). Overcoming Test Anxiety: A High School Student’s Perceptive and Solutions. Retrieved from https://anxiety.org/high-school-students-can-overcome-test-anxiety#

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The positive shark formula is an activity to have middle school-high school students partake in. The purpose of the activity is to help students realize how their thinking, specifically positive thinking, can impact the outcomes of events in their lives. The activity encourages positive thinking and positive reactions to life's circumstances.

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Ever hear of Positive Thinking Day? On September 13, everyone around the country is encouraged to take a minute from their day and think about all of the positive things in their lives.

For students, school and their daily lives can be stressful, so it can be hard to be positive. It is a teacher's job, however, to encourage their students to conduct positive thinking throughout the day. This Positive Thinking Day, use these four activities to promote and help students develop strong positive thinking skills.

1. Make Attitude Acrostics: Give students a piece of paper and ask them to write the word "ATTITUDE" vertically down the left side of their paper. Set a timer and ask students to write down traits that are seen in positive individuals with words that correspond to the letters on the left side. For example, the "A" in "ATTITUDE" can read: "Always sees good in a situation." Afterwards, have students get into groups and share their acrostics with their classmates.

2. The Attitude Inventory: Ask students to take out a piece of notebook paper and ask them the following questions one at a time, and allow them to answer the questions as much as possible:

Write down the name of someone you think typically has a good attitude. Why do they or what about them makes you think that?

Write down the name of someone you think typically has a lousy or bad attitude. How do you know they have a bad attitude?

When you think of the person with a bad attitude, what things or who does that person usually point to as the reason they are in a bad mood?

Do you think you can have a bad attitude one day and a good one the next? Why or why not? What influences that?

Do you have to have a bad attitude if things aren't going your way or do you think it's possible to have a good attitude even when bad stuff is happening? Tell me why.

Are there things in your life you'd like to change to help you have a more positive attitude?

If negative stuff is happening to you, are there things you can do to keep your outlook positive? Name a few of them.

After they complete answering the questions. Have students break out in groups and discuss their answers. Have them note if there are classmates who might feel the same way about certain issues and see how they handle negative issues in their lives. This activity will help them spot when they are having negative moments, and can help them curb their emotions and think positive thoughts.

The Turn-it Around Attitude: Give students a piece of paper and ask them to fold it into thirds and label, "school", "friends", "family", "home", "self-image" and "activities" on both sides. Then ask the students what problems they are having for each category, and instruct them to take these issues and form a question in how to solve it. For example, "How can I get along with my brother?" Then, turn the attitude around by having students ask themselves the following questions:

How do I feel about this?

Do I enjoy having this problem or do I want it to be solved?

Have I been blaming other people for this problem?

What will happen in the short-term if I don't solve this problem? What about the long-term?

What little things can I do to work toward solving this problem?

How do I have to change my attitude to solve the problem?

What will happen once this problem is resolved?

This gives students the opportunity to reframe these problems they are having and offer a solution to them. After the activity, students will be more prone to turn to positive thinking when they are presented with problems.

Positive Shark Formula: Jon Gordon, positive thinking specialist, author, and consultant, offers teachers and mentors a formula that can help develop positive thinking kids. The formula, E+P=O, helps kids realize that "Events" in their lives can be hard to control, but they can control their (P) positive responses and the (O) outcomes of the situation. Have students find a few recent examples where they maintained a positive attitude that helped make the outcome better than if they didn't. This will help them be more aware of their actions, and to be positive when things go wrong.

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Four Activities for Positive Thinking Day

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Ever hear of Positive Thinking Day? On September 13, everyone around the country is encouraged to take a minute from their day and think about all of the positive things in their lives. For students, school and their daily lives can be stressful, so it can be hard to be positive.

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Celik, I., & Saricam, H. (2018). The Relationships between Positive Thinking Skills, Academic Locus of Control and Grit in Adolescents. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 6(3), 392-398.

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Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2018). Groups: Process and practice. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

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Daily Practice for Reducing Negative Self-Talk: The part of your subconscious that creates negative self-t...: Negativity quotes, Negative thoughts, Anxious thought. (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2021, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/28851253853141617/

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According to Celik and Saricam (2018) positive thinking positive correlates with academic locus of control and personal grit. Their research provides evidence that strength in character can be promoted by positive thinking as well as how students think their efforts and actions directly effect their academic success or failures (Celik and Saricam, 2018)

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Education World. (2021). Four Activities for Positive Thinking Day. Retrieved from https://www.educationworld.com/teachers/four-activities-positive-thinking-day

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Negative thoughts do little to nothing for our overall well-being. Practicing counteracting negative thoughts when they arise is a great way to train ourselves to have a positive perspective and consciously implement positive thinking into our daily lives. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/28851253853141617/

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Freeman, J. (2016). The Next Step: Life After High School. Retrieved from https://bcchspatriotpost.com/5686/opinion/the-next-step-life-after-high-school/

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Blog: How to Better Prepare Students for Life After High School (Activity)

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Blog: How to Better Prepare Students for Life After High School (Activity)

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This blog discusses many ways we can help our students prepare for their life after high school. One of the activities The Classroom Sparrow discusses is a project to reinforce money skills. The activity includes handing out budget sheets and having the students create a written budget of what they think their expenses will be. An added educational component of this activity could be to go over average living costs for the area the student lives in currently. This could help give them a realistic idea of what becoming an adult and entering life after high school costs.

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As educators, are we doing enough to prepare our students for the day after graduation, when they will no longer have support from their teachers to fall back on? Are we truly preparing our students to be responsible, independent, hard-working individuals?
What can we incorporate into our school day that can better prepare all students for their first day in the real world?
1. Post-Secondary Education:Whether they are off to university, trade, a vocational college/training or a branch of the military, students should conduct research on the various paths they can take upon graduation to further their education. Even if students should choose to take some time off before continuing, it is imperative that students be aware of the different choices available to them, as well as where to look for assistance to each.

2. Money/Credit Smarts: All students should have to take a course on personal finance or financial literacy. Students need to learn how to be responsible with money, how to save, how to pay bills (and the importance of paying them on time), as well as the correct usage of credit. To do this, I created a project to reinforce money skills, while teaching the budget process in a fun and interesting way. Students learned the differences between 'need' and 'want' items and gave them their first real look into what it's like to live on their own!

3. Effective Communication: Kids talk with text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter slang all day. They answer questions in 'one-word' responses. Students need to be taught the correct/appropriate way to speak to a boss/manager, how to compose a professional e-mail and how to answer/respond to phone calls. No matter their career path, learning to communicate is essential to being successful.

4. Basic Life Skills: Can your students cook? Clean? Sew? Do they know basic first-aid? These basic life skills will come in handy when living on their own, during a time when they may not have support close by. These are skills that everyone should be able to master (on some level) for survival.

5. Work/Life Balance: Being able to balance your work life with your social/home life is something that can prevent a great deal of stress in newly-graduating students. Students need to be taught a healthy way to balance their responsibilities at work, while at the same time, being able to enjoy their personal lives.

6. Time Management: This reinforces the importance of why teachers provide (and need to be consistent with) deadlines in school. Students need to be taught how to create timelines of when upcoming work is due, while setting small, achievable goals along the way. Timely arrivals are also an important part of management. I wrote a blog post about how I encourage my students to arrive on time, which you can find here.

7. Learning from our Failures: Not everyone will be the best at everything and that's okay! That's how we all learn. Students who have an awareness of this concept early on, will have more of a positive mindset and this energy will help to keep them trudging forward.

8. How to Survive Without Technology: Gasp! I know, it's unheard of that students/society might have to be without technology for more than a few moments. But guess what: it happens often! Students, as well as adults, need to learn how to do basic, everyday things without the help and ease of technology. It's rewarding to know something without 'asking Siri' or 'Googling it' first!

9. Self-Care: Although this is not to be school-related, it is important for students who are finally on their own and beginning to feel the stress and anxiety of what it means to be an adult, to know how to take care of themselves and seek help when needed. Your well-being comes first and learning to stay healthy and happy (this is where the 'freshman fifteen' conversation may come in handy) is the key to a successful life.

10. Career Planning: Job hunting, resumes, cover letters, interviews and thank-you's. These are the necessities that our students need to master in order to be successful. The great part about this essential tool for students to have, is to give them the opportunity to practice and be aware of what each of these important employment documents entail. How can this be incorporated into a curriculum? I complete a Career/Job Exploration Project in my English class every year, this ensures that students leave the class with some sort of career awareness, especially if they have not had the opportunity to take a career preparation course.

These are just a few things that schools can incorporate into their curriculum to help our graduating students become more prepared to take on the 'real-world'. Many high schools offer business and career-related class that help to prepare students for life after high school, so hopefully students are aware of what these courses can offer. What else can you suggest?

***

Shey has been a TpT Teacher-Author since 2010. She recently received a Master of Education degree, specializing in Guidance and Counseling and her entire career has been spent at the high school level teaching English, American History, and career-related courses. She enjoys creating materials that help students to better understand concepts, specific writing formats and character development, as well as resources that help to prepare students for the expectations of real life. For other great teaching tips and resources, follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and The Classroom Sparrow blog!

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How to Better Prepare Students for Life After High School

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As educators, are we doing enough to prepare our students for the day after graduation, when they will no longer have support from their teachers to fall back on? Are we truly preparing our students to be responsible, independent, hard-working individuals?

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This photo illustrates the many paths High School Seniors have to choose to take once life after high school begins. Some may choose one of these paths or eventually end up taking all of these paths. It also demonstrates the difficult and frustrating decisions high school kids have to make and the stress these decisions have on them because of the effect they will have on the rest of their lives. Our goal is to help students navigate this difficult time and decide the best path for them. https://bcchspatriotpost.com/5686/opinion/the-next-step-life-after-high-school/

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According to research conducted by Xing et al., (2019), participation in college and career preparation did not have a correlation with post high school education and career attainment. The only factor they found to be significant was socioeconomic status among girls and boys. These results suggest that we need to enhance our college, career, and life after high school readiness programs. Either by doing more or implementing programs that are actually effective. The results also show the importance of reviewing the programs that have been implemented to evaluate their success or failure and adjust as necessary.

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Hoffes, K. (2018). Test Anxiety. Retrieved from
https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/test-anxiety.html

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Gelban. N. (2018). Helping Your Students Make the Transition from Middle to High School. Retrieved from https://infoaboutkids.org/blog/helping-your-student-make-the-transition-from-middle-to-high-school.

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Miller, C. (2018, April 19). Easing Test Anxiety and Stress as a School Counselor. The Middle School Counselor. https://www.themiddleschoolcounselor.com/2018/04/easing-test-anxiety-and-stress-as.html.

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Pin on Teaching kids. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.dk/pin/AUu5OdfOsmczEtdnya-hHj3aku0Cihcml7ZSyWpTlP4mY4W_AJVyBuc/.

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Study Skills Checklist. Cook Counseling Center | Virginia Tech. https://ucc.vt.edu/academic_support/study_skills_information/study_skills_checklist.html.

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Text Anxiety. American Test Anxieties Association. http://amtaa.org/.

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Tips for Success Bundle. (n.d.). Positive Counseling . Retrieved from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Positive-Counseling/Page:2

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The Classroom Sparrow. (2016). How to Better Prepare Students for Life After High School. Retrieved from https://blog.teacherspayteachers.com/better-prepare-students-life-after-high-school/

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What kind of learner are you? - The 4 different learning styles. (2018). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcCtPgzlGTs.

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According to the American Test Anxieties Association, about "16-20% of students have high test anxiety", which contributes to poor test performance. Students also have issues with teachers, their study environment, subject matters, and lack of motivation. This session will help students develop skills according to their learning style, active learning strategies, time management, and careful reading to find useful keywords.

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The students will be giving this study skill checklist to learn about their study habits and attitude. Once students understand their studying habits and attitudes, they will learn about time management, an environment that will create better studying habits, and motivation to study.

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Make a print out of this document. Read each statement and consider how it applies to you. If it does apply to you, check Y. If it does not apply to you, check N. The purpose of this inventory is to find out about your own study habits and attitudes.
Time Scheduling
1. Y__ N__ I spend too much time studying for what I am learning.

2. Y__ N__ I usually spend hours cramming the night before an exam.

3. Y__ N__ If I spend as much time on my social activities as I want to, I don't have enough time left to study, or when I study enough, I don't have time for a social life.
Concentration
4. Y__ N__ I usually try to study with the radio and TV turned on.

5. Y__ N__ I can't sit and study for long periods of time without becoming tired or distracted.

6. Y__ N__ I go to class, but I usually doodle, daydream, or fall asleep.
Listening and Note Taking
7. Y__ N__ My class notes are sometimes difficult to understand later.

8. Y__ N__ I usually seem to get the wrong material into my class notes.

9. Y__ N__ I don't review my class notes periodically throughout the semester in preparation for tests.
Reading
10. Y__ N__ When I get to the end of a chapter, I can't remember what I've just read.

11. Y__ N__ I don't know how to pick out what is important in the text.

12. Y__ N__ I can't keep up with my reading assignments, and then I have to cram the night before a test.
Testing and Exams
13. Y__ N__ I lose a lot of points on essay tests even when I know the material well.

14. Y__ N__ I study enough for my test, but when I get there my mind goes blank.

15. Y__ N__ I often study in a haphazard, disorganized way under the threat of the next test.
Reading
16. Y__ N__ I often find myself getting lost in the details of reading and have trouble identifying the main ideas.

17. Y__ N__ I rarely change my reading speed in response to the difficulty level of the selection, or my familiarity with the content.

18. Y__ N__ I often wish that I could read faster.
Writing Skills
19. Y__ N__ When my teachers assign papers I feel so overwhelmed that I can't get started.

20. Y__ N__ I usually write my papers the night before they are due.

21. Y__ N__ I can't seem to organize my thoughts into a paper that makes sense.

If you have marked Y on two or more questions in any category, look at our Study Skills Self-help Information for those categories. If you have one "yes" or less in a category, you are probably proficient enough in these areas that you don't need Self-help Information. Feel free, however, to get information in areas that you may have special interests, even if you scored well.

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Make a print out of this document. Read each statement and consider how it applies to you. If it does apply to you, check Y. If it does not apply to you, check N. The purpose of this inventory is to find out about your own study habits and attitudes.

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Xing, X., Huerta, M., & Garza, T. (2019). College and Career Preparation Activities and Their Influence on Post-High School Education and Work Attainment. Journal of Career and Technical Education, 34(1), 8-28.

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This video discusses the four learning styles, which are visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and reading and writing. The video will help students understand their learning style so they can develop skills in study and memory and active learning strategies to prepare them for test-taking.

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What kind of learner are you? - The 4 different learning styles

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The student will engage in I know study skills card game activity which is similar to UNO. While playing the card game, students will learn about test-taking and studying skills to help reduce test anxiety.  The activity is designed for fun and learning.

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Coping skills are one's ability to control and deal with the present situation to the best of your ability.
Coping skills and strategies are imperative in order to deal with test anxiety.

People who worry a lot are perfectionists and are more likely to have test  anxiety.
Students who are prepared for tests but who care about doing well are also likely to have test anxiety
1. Be prepared -  Good study habits are important
2. Watch what you are thinking -   Expect to do well on a test can help you relax
3.Accept mistakes -  Keep them in their perspective
4. Take care of yourself  - There are several ways you can take care of yourself. A good one is a simple breathing technique.

https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/test-anxiety.html

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This video discusses some of the ways teens/young adults can reduce test taking anxiety and stress. It goes over some coping skills and strategies for better test performance.

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How to Beat Test Anxiety and Take on Exams Without Stress

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According to Gelban, N. (2018). “The transition from Middle School to High School is one of the most vulnerable times in a child’s development as this is one of the most potentially stressful times in their lives.” These young adolescents experience many changes during this stage of their lives. Not only do they go through their own personal changes from: body, self-esteem, self-worth, emotional roller coaster, fashion trends and the tons of insecurities that come with this age group. During this stage of their growth, they face many challenges due to their developing personalities. Adolescents struggle with making social transitions which makes every other transition in their lives difficult. Peer acceptance is one of the most important things for them.

The demands of life begin to take a different effect which causes major insecurities and lack of confidence. Transition from Middle to High school is usually associated with a high level of anxiety and more questions than answers. The changes they experience during this time are common, but many times can determine whether they graduate high school and attend college or drop out of school altogether. It can be the stage of make or break it for many young girls and boys.

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Overcoming test anxiety can be very difficult for many students in High School due to the demands and the pressure they experience related to test taking among other responsibilities they must meet. High School students seem to feel the most anxiety. It does not matter whether you are a freshman or a senior because they begin taking life changing exams as soon as they enter high school. Some of the test they are responsible for taking and passing in order to ensure graduation are: SAT, ACT, specialized test, Midterms, Finals ad in some states they must also take regents exam on specific core subjects. Seniors must also meet deadlines for their College Applications that can also cause a significant amount of anxiety.

According to Cascardi, M. PhD. (2016). “A recent review of research on interventions evaluated with high school students found that the most promising approached for reducing test anxiety use biofeedback, deep breathing, guided progressive muscle relaxation and systematic desensitization.” Using these methods of therapy for high school students are found to help reduce their tension and anxiety levels.

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1)    Help students create affirmations for test day! Examples; “You can do it!”, Everything is going to be Okay!”, “You got this!”, “You are Awesome!”.

2)    Offer a De-stress-zone with Mandalas and colored pencils’

3)    Encourage students to Rest and Refuel.

4)    Do breathing exercises.

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1)    Create a fun transitioning questionnaire that students can share with other classmates about themselves.

2)    Create a scavenger hunt that encourage some type of interaction among the students.

3)    Share a PowerPoint or Brochure with all the important and cool features that the school offers.

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Working with High school students is not an easy task. Putting together high school students with anxiety is also not an easy task but it can be done. Our population is 9-12 graders and we are testing their anxiety. High school students faces many challenges throughout high school that can cause them to have bad anxiety.  So with students that already have anxiety is also good to have an opening activity to break the ice.  Icebreaker activities encourage members to make connections, and assist members in identifying what they have learned (Corey & Corey, 2018).  The ice breaker that I choose for this group is the D-icebreaker where we are using dice as a prompt in the activity.  One will pair up with a partner and roll the dice together. Whatever number it lands on the other person needs to answer the question and vice versa.  I choose this simple yet effective activity because it helps one interact with the next group member.  It encourages members to interact with one another and helps ease the tension when the group does start.

Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2018). Groups: Process and practice. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

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The students will watch this video to learn what is test anxiety, how it can affect them, and what they can do about it.

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5 Tips for Coping with Test Anxiety (for kids!)

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All good things come to an end at some point. Small groups have a beginning and end. The purpose of the sessions is to help the students deal and cope with anxiety in high school. We went through several sessions to help cope with anxiety. There is a lot of information that is provided to the students during this time. Some are tools that will help with the anxiety or how to challenge those negative thoughts.  Now that we are in the last session there are certain characteristics to the last session of group. Although this group is to test anxiety, there maybe sadness and anxiety over separation of the group (Corey & Corey,2018 ).  The group members have to use what they learned in these session in the real world. And they also want to make sure not to get discouraged or discounted the value of the group work ( Corey & Corey, 2018). So that is why I choose an activity that would be fun for the closing session.

Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2018). Groups: Process and practice. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

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The students will use different materials such as construction papers,  markers, shapes, etc to create affirmations as a reminder of how smart, prepared, and amazing they are. This activity will help the students believe in themselves so that they can take a test without feeling anxiety.

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The purpose of this activity is to continue to build trust in the group. The students will continue to work together, learn from each other, and complete the task.

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The student will learn a breathing technique that will help them to relax their mind and body so that they can regain control of their thinking.

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5 Tips for Coping with Test Anxiety (Video Reference)

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5 Tips for Coping with Test Anxiety (Video Reference)

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(2019). 5 Tips for Coping with Test Anxiety. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDYx9qM_ygg.

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This activity is called the snow storm activity. I found this activity to seem fun and get everyone involved one last time before the group is over.  During this activity everyone writes down something that they learned or what liked during the sessions. Once everyone has finished they wad the paper up and everyone throws the wads to the center of the room. Than everyone picks up a wad and reads it out loud. So that everyone got their thoughts and feelings out without anyone knowing it is them. This activity I believe helps with not having so much anxiety because someone else is reading their feelings so that helps them feel a little better. They can end the session by still being confident in themselves and anxiety levels being low.