What causes me distress?

What causes me distress?

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About this resource

Identifying what causes stress and strategies for coping.

You can download the classroom activities in the Attachments as well as work through the learnings in the following pages.

  • Build student awareness of stressors;
  • Build self-reflection skills; and
  • Develop help seeking strategies.

  • For student to explore the feelings of good and bad stress that may come with transitions;
  • For students to understand that bad stress can make them unwell; and
  • For students to understand that distress requires help from others.

Students will be able to provide the following evidence:

  • understand the difference between distress and eustress;
  • understand things that cause distress;
  • understand actions that can be taken to help us sit with change and uncertainty; and
  • identify support services.

Peer discussion

Student to student conversations to check understanding and build further learning

Self-assessment

Students assessing their own learning, with a rubric or other instructions for guidance

Teacher observation

Teacher observation of student learning, with a simple rubric, tick-box or other protocol to record observations

Teacher questioning

Guided questioning from a teacher intended to prompt thinking related to the topic

Inquiry and problem-based learning

Inquiry learning is focused on a question or questions that guide the learning goals for a unit or module. Problem-based learning is focused on a problem or problems that guide the learning goals for a unit or module. Questions and problems may be generated by the teacher, the students, or by teacher and students together.

Self-reflection

Student reflection on their own learning. This is often guided or supported by a simple rubric or information on what learning progress looks like in a particular context.

Work in class independently

Students working by themselves in the classroom, with support from the teacher and available learning materials.

Work in teams or pairs

Student working with other students in the classroom, with support from the teacher and available learning materials. Student groups/pairs can be set by the teacher or formed by students themselves, depending on the needs of the learning task.

Work with family members

This activity involves working with a parent and/or carer, or other responsible adult in the student’s home environment.

  • Laptop device or iPad or suitable device for adapting the task to be done online;
  • For students with no smart phone or suitable device - butchers paper and markers.
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Finding your way

Tips for navigating and using the resources

  • This site is designed to be like a smorgasbord. You can use as many or as few resources as you like – choose what is relevant for you.
  • Resources are presented as 'books' and consist of a series of pages; use the 'prev page' and 'next page' links located at the top of the page to move through the resource.
  • Once complete, choose the 'What's next' prompt at the bottom of the page to move to the next resource.
  • Find resources grouped in collections in the footer, for example: classroom activities, introduction to transition.
  • Activities can be adapted according to teachers’ preferences and the needs of their students. Downloadable activities are in Word, PDF or PowerPoint so that you can edit them for your own needs.

Teachers may also consider how they want students to “keep” the activities they do in class, so they have them for reference at a later stage (at their secondary school or for future wellbeing reference).