How to Teach Lesson 3 Remotely
Consider using Lesson 3 of the middle-school program, which focuses on stress & coping skills. NOTE: Even if you teach high school students, Lesson 3 of the middle school program can be an effective resource for promoting wellness and stress management
How Can We Help?
We support you in encouraging positive mental health behaviors among your students during remote teaching. Please participate in this brief survey to let us know how we can be assist you during this challenging time. It should take just a few minutes to complete.
Encourage Students to Take the Positivity Pledge!
Join Erika's Lighthouse in celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month this May! We are offering 31 days to focus on your mental health and help put some good in the world. Share with your students!
#MentalHealthMondays, #WinningWednesday
#FriendsFamilyFridays
E-Learning Jeopardy-style Game
Connecting with teens over the internet can be challenging. Luckily, a few of our amazing educators developed a fun Jeopardy style game to help educate your teens on good mental health!
Blog Posts from Erika's Lighthouse
Stay connected with Erika's Lighthouse and read personal stories from other educators, explore ways to improve mental health and hear from your peers.
Post Your Support
Add the "We're In This Together" frame to your facebook profile photo. Let your friends and family know that you are there for them if they need help. We truly are in this together.
Group Stress Relief
Find fun activities you and your students can do as a group via video chat. Two great projects that can also be stress relievers are DIY Sand Trays, Stress Balls or Aromatherapy Play Dough that are fun to make and help maintain positive mental health!
You can also start each lesson with breathing, mindfulness or other relaxation and focusing exercises.
Parent Handbook & Bookmark
If you have families struggling, share our Parent Handbook. We have it available in both English & Spanish along with an easy to share bookmark or the whole copy. You can share it with your family's that may be challenged.
Intervention Language for Parents
Do you have parents who are struggling to talk with their child(ren) about concerns? Share this Intervention Language for Parents in Times of Worry.
Emotion Check-In
Consider implementing an "Emotion Check-In/How do you Feel Today?"" at the beginning and or end of a virtual class or discussion. The first step in managing your feelings is to first identify exactly what it is your feeling.
Middle School Health Education: Teaching Ideas
Check out these 6-8th grade remote learning prompts that focus on health education skills. They aren't lessons but hopefully will support health education instructions at home. Thanks to @cairnguidance and @kyahperd for this!
High School Health Education: Teaching Ideas
Check out these 9-12th grade remote learning prompts that focus on health education skills. They aren't lessons but hopefully will support health education instructions at home. Thanks to @cairnguidance and @kyahperd for this!
Send An E-Card
Let your family, friends, classmates and others know that you are thinking of them by sending an e-card. Download the image above and include it in personalized emails to them. Make their day and show them you care.
Feeling Thermometer
Consider doing a "Temperature Check-In" with not only students but fellow teachers and staff as well. Have students identify the emotions that coincide with the colors on the thermometer.
Calm Classroom e-Book
Our friends at Calm Classroom have created a wonderful e-book to share with school communities during this time of remote learning. These mindfulness-based techniques might be useful to incorporate into lessons that you are sharing with students online.
Check it out here >
School Counselors Have a Message for Kids: 'It's Ok To Not Be Ok'
"Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Instead, Sabens says, she tries to let students know "that it's OK to not be OK. I mean, most of the world is not OK right now... It's OK to grieve about what you're losing because it is tragic."
Trauma-Informed Distance Learning from MindShift
...what trauma-informed teaching looks like varies for different teachers and students. For that reason, Venet has developed “four core priorities,” rather than “strategies,” for trauma-informed classrooms - Predictability, Flexibility, Connection, & Empowerment
How to Maintain Relationships with your Students
Strategies shared by teachers for maintaining relationships - both peer-to-peer and student-teacher - when everyone's gone remote.
COVID-19 Resources from the National Center for School Mental Health
The stress associated with this virus may understandably increase worry and anxiety in our students, staff, families, and communities. At the National Center for School Mental Health, we want to support you as you protect your health and the health of those around you. To that end, we have accumulated resources and tips for you to use and share with others in your networks.
Take the Pledge
Join Erika's Lighthouse in celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month this May! We are offering 31 days for you to focus on your mental health and help put some good in the world. Here are a few examples:
#ShareSundays
#MentalHealthMondays
#WinningWednesday
#FriendsFamilyFridays
Building Resilience Starts with Self-Care
“Should the cabin lose pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead area. Please place the mask over your own mouth and nose before assisting others.”
Reilient Educator shares with us why it is so important to take care of yourself before helping someone else.
Ideas for Teachers
Self-care matters. If you are constantly giving your all to everyone else, you are going to eventually burn out. Please take a moment to schedule ways to nurture yourself every week. It will be one of the best things you can do to show up and show out for your students.
News from the National Education Association
A study by the advocacy group, Alliance for Excellent Education, reports that 40-50% of new teachers leave within their first five years on the job. Many factors contribute to the high dropout rate, a severe lack of work-life balance and the inevitable high stress levels teachers feel on the job, to name a few. Because of this, self-care is extremely important for teachers. However, it’s hard for teachers to take care of themselves when their career is taking care of students.
Why Teacher Self-Care Matters
Students are only as good as their educators - and this is more true today. Self-care is an important component of a teacher’s mental health, but there are misconceptions about what it is. It’s common for educators to dismiss the self-care movement as “selfish” or “superficial.” But for teachers, self-care is so much more than breakfast in bed or treating yourself to a spa day. It’s about taking care of your health so that you’re prepared to be the best teacher you can be...
