A heavy cloud filled with buckets of rain waiting to release is hovering above or near students and teachers in the school. As I walk the halls, I dodge the clouds, trying to avoid making a puncture that would drench me, so as I made it to my second classroom of the day, I decided we needed a stress-reliever: story time.
A story time day is meant to bring us back to the days when someone would read books to us, and all we had to do was imagine, listen. Still, I know that reading aloud also brings some stress and is not the best reading comprehension strategy, so the goal for us today was just to shift our position, get us out from under the heavy clouds where we feel pressure and loneliness to enjoy a story.
In this video, you hear me doing a quick poll of students’ perceived stress levels. On a scale of 1 to 5 where was their stress — some put up six fingers, a few put up two. No one indicated 1. Their faces said it all — more than the numbers.
So in a few minutes, the students were spread across the room with their book groups, which you can see in the beginning of the video — the list of books they are reading. Students fell into reading, body positions shifted, shoulders dropped, clouds (it seemed) dissipated.
After 15 minutes, we did a shoulder shrug and neck stretch and then ended class with independent reading.I could literally hear their exhales.
I know the clouds will fill up again with drops of stress, but these little shifts in plans and practice can go far to assuage the stress or at least acknowledge to the students that I see it/feel it.
Try story time. Try a shoulder shrug. There. Feel better?
You’re never too old for read aloud!
I love how you use the power of reading in a small group setting to lower the stress. Amazing!
Thank you. For a minute, I actually induced stress as a few were closed off until they got a few pages in and gave in to the experience.