In the 6th grade hallways, classrooms, lunchroom, and gym class things go wrong. Sometimes multiple things go wrong in one day. The student lost their paper, Fun Friday was cancelled because there are too many subs, you lost the whiffle ball game, someone beat you to the line at lunch. Increasingly students are having a lot of trouble managing what to do when these things go wrong. Instead of slight frustration or an eye roll, chairs are being thrown, classrooms are being cleared, and punches are being delivered. I think now, more than ever, promoting coping skills in the classroom is very important. 

I read the article "Promoting Coping Skills" on Penn State University's website about ideas for teaching these coping skils in the classroom. What I noticed is the emphasis that promoting these skills in early childhood is extrememly important. The article suggests that this will help children both for positive peer relationships and decrease their likelihood to have depression and anxiety later in life. The article gives a few different tips for teaching these skills in context. Something that I believe to be exceedingly important in the early years, and even in my pre-teen classroom! 

The video I include below seems like a great start for middle school coping skills and is something I'd like to think about integrating into my classroom teaching time regularly. However, buy in for these things is often hard. 

References: 

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Strong4Life. (2020, August 28). Coping Skill Ideas for Middle and High School Kids [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmu0Z--pM88

Promoting Coping Skills. (2021, January 28). Better Kid Care (Penn State Extension).https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/news/2021/promoting-coping-skills

Comment: Thoughts on how you would integrate something like this in your classroom? How would you promote buy in? How can we help our students learn to cope with challenges even better?