Mounting research indicates a sharp increase in mental health issues among students since the pandemic began. This includes soaring rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide.
As teachers, we’re in position to help stem the tide.
And there is a lot we can do.
In previous articles, I’ve covered several strategies, including offering your students choices, getting them up and moving, and using simple kindness to alleviate stress.
This week, I want to introduce you to a way to improve their mood. It’s easy, scientifically proven, and shown to boost serotonin (the feel-good hormone) and lower cortisol (the stress hormone).
So what is it?
It’s sunlight. It’s getting students outside and walking, or even sitting, in nature. Now, I realize that not every student has access to a park or backyard garden. But nature can be found anywhere.
It’s in the sky, the air, and the creek bordering the neighborhood. It’s in a strip of grass and the birds perched on the power lines above.
And everyone, at least below the Arctic Circle, has access to the sun. The point is, getting your students out into natural light a few days a week should be one of your primary goals—at least through the end of pandemic.
And how do you do that?
You have them film weather reports and video journals outside. You have them experiment with the volume and temperature of snow. You have them identify birds or categorize clouds or sketch what they see from their front porch.
They can choose a feature of the environment as a writing prompt, observe and take notes, or create a new sport within the confines of their backyard or apartment courtyard.
The ideas are endless.
But the lift it gives your students—the energy they experience from getting out and moving and thinking and feeling the rush of life on their senses—is a balm for the soul-crush of living in dark isolation.
It’s a salve on the open wounds of fear and uncertainty.
If you’re teaching in person, or a hybrid, certainly your students are doing better psychologically than when they were learning from a distance.
However, they can still benefit from being outside. They can still benefit from scavenger hunts and insect observations, soil samplings and nature walks around the field.
Students desperately need to get back to connection—with themselves, with each other, and with the wild world around them.
It’s the simplest thing we can do to help them heal and get lost in the joy of living without feeling terrible afterward (like a video game).
So take your class, electronically or otherwise, and head for the door. Run out into the world with a rebellious whoop.
Move, look, feel.
Open your arms to the sun.
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What about ways to help teachers mental health? Many of us are on the verge of a mental breakdown. Yet we try to hide it every day for the kids. And we don’t share our feelings with each other either for lots of reasons.
Well said, and truthful.
I agree with you. When they are outside it helps. However, I live in a area that is now -20 with the wind chill. This is not going to happen. Maybe I can get the principal to put a giant SAD light in the room.
Excellent and common sense suggestions! Doesn’t cost dime to reduce stress and improve students’ mental health. All parents and teachers need to read this article and practice the suggestions. Thanks!!!!!
This is a great idea. I teach kindergarten in a room with no windows. My class relies on getting outside every day. It helps them so much. Thankfully recess is now 30 minutes instead of 20. I am happy about that,
The hard part is that I am stuck in meetings every day and cant take my class to recess – the assistants do that. Since it was decided that we cant take our classes to recess, I have an increase in headaches and depression.
I go for a walk outside every day after school, but its so hard to have to wait until 4:30 or 5:30 to get to be outside.
I believe that getting outside is important but my fully synchronous 5th grade class consists of in person and at home students (zoom) at the same time. Supervision of the at-homers is a problem. Too much computer, and the teacher’s divided attention are the challenge (but just the tip of the iceberg of the problem being created by these restrictions).
I’m trying to figure out how to give all of them flipgrid assignments that could require an outdoor excursion, good idea, but this would be homework not class work.
As for the in person kids when we’re stuck with indoor recess it’s usually (as many teachers would say) much less successful generally than outdoor recess.
Feeling rather vindicated right now. This past semester, I took my 7th graders outside on a Nature Walk about once a week. Sometimes I had to “Stretch” the connection to what we were learning in Science class, but most of the time, I could even apply a Nature Walk question or learning thread to a State Science Standard. They LOVED it, and were full of appreciation and praise for the experience. It was really good for me, too.
Also, I “took along” distance learners by doing a Google Meets on my phone and showing them what we were looking at on our walk. If we left the range of wifi, students expected that I would cut out for awhile, but I re-connected with them as we approached the school building again. They were there waiting patiently, and completely understood the limitations on my end. I also encouraged them to take their own walks, and sometimes they did.
This inspired me to have the students keep a weather journal (writing, drawing, or paint). Having my students hang out on the sidewalk together will help them to build those relationships that can last a lifetime.
I teach Special Ed, the Severely Handicapped, and we have three activities every week where I take my chromebook outside to my wildlife havitiat and we see what’s going on- I also have the sudents notice in their area what similar flora and fauna they observe. We’ve been doing this for a year now. Nature is both reliable and surprising every day. Plus, there is all that fresh air.
I got my students to make pet rocks out of gravel tied to a piece of string and take them for walks and send me a photo to put in our school photo gallery. I also got them to take pictures of clouds or just stare at them and try and figure out what they looked like. The sky is the greatest free show on earth and it can be enjoyed from anywhere, even a window or a crack in a wall (read The Diary of Anne Frank). I got my kids to start Spoonvilles in their parks or gardens and look for four leaf clover. I have it easier than you guys. I live in Australia and we are all back in our classrooms. We all decided to lock ourselves down early and look after each other by wearing masks and social-distancing and our government supported us to do so. Victoria, where I live blew out to over 700 cases very quickly in the middle of last year. We had harsh restrictions placed on us, but we stuck with them to keep us safe. We could not see our extended families for months, had to stay within 5 kms of home and only shop for what we really needed and stay at home unless we were essential workers, but we knew we were keeping everyone safe by doing so. We are still being vigilant as we currently have 2 new cases linked to International Tennis players who arrived in Melbourne. We don’t want to be locked down again! Argh!
I teach adult learners in a technical school. I send them outside with a coat, to remove mask and take some deep breaths.
I call them “Breathe Breaks.”
Everyone benefits!
Early on in the COVID crisis you wrote an article about how important it was for teachers to go walking an hour every day. You said it would help with sleep. I started doing it and it has helped my sleep and stress level. Thank you for your practical and wise insights.