Professional Inquiry Project – Final Report
How can children with anxiety succeed in critical thinking and learning?
Description/Goal:
Anxiety is an internalizing disorder that has negative impacts of understanding, processing, and regulating emotions. Symptoms of internalizing disorders such as anxiety include bodily sensations, cognitive processes, and behaviours, which present differently with each case (Reilly, N., 2015, pg. 36). In Coalhurst Elementary School there is a high rate of anxiety especially in my kindergarten class. I believe the opportunity to learn should be accessible by anyone. In order to reach this goal there needs to be changes in the school environment that allows learning to arise in all children. Implementing strategies that assist with anxiety will open the doors to everyone in the school community. Mindfulness practices have been introduced to the Education world in recent years. Mindful practices improve ones’ emotional, mental and physical states as well as increases brain functions. Since these practices have been proven to help decrease anxiety I believe incorporating mindfulness into the classroom and school environment will show great improvement in learning and overall wellness. Mindfulness practices were one of my main focuses in the goal to decrease anxiety and increase learning.
Centering my Professional Inquiry Project on anxiety connects with my first goal; Develop a personal vision for teaching and participate in consistent self-reflection in order to create a successful path as an educator. As an educator I strive for a balanced classroom. In order to successfully learn I believe the mind, body and soul needs to be aligned. Living with anxiety makes this difficult especially for a kindergartener. In my classroom I want all children to feel welcomed, loved, appreciated, and most importantly have confidence to learn. I will provide the tools and support needed for those students coming to school everyday with anxiety and help guide them on the road to success.
Methods/Findings:
In search of answers and effective techniques I used a variety of resources around my school including my teacher mentor, Jenna Low the Learning Support Teacher, and Palliser’s behaviour specialist Karen Braun. Their expertise was extremely valuable in finding solutions to decrease and manage anxiety. I also relied on external resources such as websites, books, professional development sessions, and the curriculum lab. One book in particular opened my eyes to the world of anxiety in the school environment, Anxiety and depression in the classroom: a teacher's guide to fostering self-regulation in young students by Nadja Reilly. This resource further developed my understanding of anxiety, self-regulation, and depression. It provided an excellent definition and description of the disorder and included behavioural and cognitive signs to look for. An emotional wellness guide for students, parents, and school wide mental health was provided as well. It is filled with strategies and tools for specific domains such as identifying feelings and managing somatic symptoms, cognitive restructuring, contingency management, behaviour support, increasing positive affect, active coping, relaxation skills, and social support. Through continuous research and trail and error in the classroom I was able to gather a greater understanding of anxiety and strategies help manage the disorder.
Results:
I have created a website with emphasis on anxiety for educators to understand and develop strategies and tools to integrate into the school environment to enhance child learning, growth and development. On my website I provide the definition, epidemiology, causes, behaviours, emotions, somatic complaints, and root of anxiety in a deeper and comprehensive way. Strategies to manage anxiety are split into specific categories such as; recognizing anxiety, academic tools, emotional and behavioural tools, grounding exercises, visuals, helpful resources, and helpful links. I have gathered a variety of tools to help increase self-regulation, boost the positive atmosphere, and increase the overall wellbeing of the child. Mindful Minutes played a huge role in my PIP project. This time is where children took a few minutes out of the day, usually at the start of the day, after snack, or at goodbye time, to concentration on the mind, body and soul. A quiet time, with no talking, to take deep breaths, participate in yoga, stretching, listen activities, or grounding exercises. To get a better picture of what this entailed and to view a number of other strategies to manage anxiety please explore my site; http://understandinganxietyinchildren.weebly.com.
As a closing to my internship I will provide the staff with a learning workshop regarding anxiety and my complete PIP project. This session will review what anxiety is, what it looks like, and what teachers can anticipate in their classroom. I will guide the staff through my website to provide a greater understanding of the tools and strategies they can use to help manage anxiety and increase self-regulation.
How can children with anxiety succeed in critical thinking and learning?
Description/Goal:
Anxiety is an internalizing disorder that has negative impacts of understanding, processing, and regulating emotions. Symptoms of internalizing disorders such as anxiety include bodily sensations, cognitive processes, and behaviours, which present differently with each case (Reilly, N., 2015, pg. 36). In Coalhurst Elementary School there is a high rate of anxiety especially in my kindergarten class. I believe the opportunity to learn should be accessible by anyone. In order to reach this goal there needs to be changes in the school environment that allows learning to arise in all children. Implementing strategies that assist with anxiety will open the doors to everyone in the school community. Mindfulness practices have been introduced to the Education world in recent years. Mindful practices improve ones’ emotional, mental and physical states as well as increases brain functions. Since these practices have been proven to help decrease anxiety I believe incorporating mindfulness into the classroom and school environment will show great improvement in learning and overall wellness. Mindfulness practices were one of my main focuses in the goal to decrease anxiety and increase learning.
Centering my Professional Inquiry Project on anxiety connects with my first goal; Develop a personal vision for teaching and participate in consistent self-reflection in order to create a successful path as an educator. As an educator I strive for a balanced classroom. In order to successfully learn I believe the mind, body and soul needs to be aligned. Living with anxiety makes this difficult especially for a kindergartener. In my classroom I want all children to feel welcomed, loved, appreciated, and most importantly have confidence to learn. I will provide the tools and support needed for those students coming to school everyday with anxiety and help guide them on the road to success.
Methods/Findings:
In search of answers and effective techniques I used a variety of resources around my school including my teacher mentor, Jenna Low the Learning Support Teacher, and Palliser’s behaviour specialist Karen Braun. Their expertise was extremely valuable in finding solutions to decrease and manage anxiety. I also relied on external resources such as websites, books, professional development sessions, and the curriculum lab. One book in particular opened my eyes to the world of anxiety in the school environment, Anxiety and depression in the classroom: a teacher's guide to fostering self-regulation in young students by Nadja Reilly. This resource further developed my understanding of anxiety, self-regulation, and depression. It provided an excellent definition and description of the disorder and included behavioural and cognitive signs to look for. An emotional wellness guide for students, parents, and school wide mental health was provided as well. It is filled with strategies and tools for specific domains such as identifying feelings and managing somatic symptoms, cognitive restructuring, contingency management, behaviour support, increasing positive affect, active coping, relaxation skills, and social support. Through continuous research and trail and error in the classroom I was able to gather a greater understanding of anxiety and strategies help manage the disorder.
Results:
I have created a website with emphasis on anxiety for educators to understand and develop strategies and tools to integrate into the school environment to enhance child learning, growth and development. On my website I provide the definition, epidemiology, causes, behaviours, emotions, somatic complaints, and root of anxiety in a deeper and comprehensive way. Strategies to manage anxiety are split into specific categories such as; recognizing anxiety, academic tools, emotional and behavioural tools, grounding exercises, visuals, helpful resources, and helpful links. I have gathered a variety of tools to help increase self-regulation, boost the positive atmosphere, and increase the overall wellbeing of the child. Mindful Minutes played a huge role in my PIP project. This time is where children took a few minutes out of the day, usually at the start of the day, after snack, or at goodbye time, to concentration on the mind, body and soul. A quiet time, with no talking, to take deep breaths, participate in yoga, stretching, listen activities, or grounding exercises. To get a better picture of what this entailed and to view a number of other strategies to manage anxiety please explore my site; http://understandinganxietyinchildren.weebly.com.
As a closing to my internship I will provide the staff with a learning workshop regarding anxiety and my complete PIP project. This session will review what anxiety is, what it looks like, and what teachers can anticipate in their classroom. I will guide the staff through my website to provide a greater understanding of the tools and strategies they can use to help manage anxiety and increase self-regulation.