Junior
Regulating Your Emotions
WELLBEING BUILDER
Regulating Your Emotions?
Nearly half of secondary students who contact Kids Help Line say that their main concerns are mental health worries and relationships problems, which lead to anxiety, stress and depressive issues. While these are natural parts of life, ignoring them may cause more serious mental health disorders. The key is to act immediately to seek help from a trusted adult.
Write down what your main concerns are and who you should seek support from.
Before you can regulate your emotions to minimise stress and anxiety it is important to understand that there are two types of stress:
Positive Stress or Eustress, which supports your emotional wellbeing through frequent positive emotions and supplies the energy to enjoy life and look for what’s right.
Negative Stress or Distress, which causes anxiety, anger and depression and drains emotional energy and raises selfdoubts to look for what’s wrong.
Distress signals fall into three categories, which when combined affect your state of wellbeing:
Physical: trembling, dizziness/headaches, skin disorders, pounding heart, breathlessness, tiredness.
Emotional: anxiety, anger, depression, ill temperament, panic, lack of interest/boredom.
Behavioural: disturbed sleeping patterns, frequent distraction, forgetfulness, abnormal eating habits.
Which distress signals do you feel most often. Rate them using Usually Sometimes Not Much
Physical
Usually Sometimes Not Much
Emotional Usually Sometimes Not Much
Behavioural Usually Sometimes Not Much
Describe what kind of signals your body sends you when you are under pressure.
What are two things I will start doing to regulate the strength of my emotions?
Write your distress signals on the different parts of your body outline.
Acknowledgement: Tal ben Shahar, Karen Rievich, Andrew Shatte
Keeping In Control
è We all have certain things, situations, or people that cause us to lose our composure from time to time.
è Sometimes people use anger to get their own way.
è Being assertive doesn’t mean getting your way; it means that you can express your wishes and beliefs in a positive non-destructive way. What causes YOU to ‘lose your cool’?
Complete the activity below by identifying your stressors. Once you know what gets you angry you can begin to think about how to control it. Place an X next to each factor that causes you stress. There are blank spaces provided so you can add your own.
What are two things you are going to try and stop getting you
______ being late ______ too much homework ______ speaking in public ______ going to the dentist ______ arguments with friends ______ restrictions at home ______ chores ______ lack of sleep ______ physical education class ______ being dropped from a sports team ______ losing something valuable ______ parents arguing
people deal with anger in different ways.
People deal with anger in different ways.
1. Brainstorm some of the different ways you know of to deal with anger and stress. Include both good and bad methods.
What are two things you are going to try and stop getting you angry/stressed?
______ taking tests ______ video games ______ using a computer ______ closed-in spaces ______ getting an injection ______ arguments with parents ______ argue with a friend ______ ____________________________
2. Join with a partner to get more ideas. 3.
______ getting detention ______ loud people ______ a friend betrays you ______ interruptions while busy ______ Maths class ______ English class ______ other class __________________ ______ boredom ______ no money ______ no transportation ______ playing on a sports team ______ your part-time job
people deal with anger in different ways.
1. Brainstorm some of the different ways you know of to deal with anger and stress. Include both good and bad methods.
Count to 10 Scream
1. Brainstorm some of the different ways you know of to deal with anger and stress. Include both good and bad methods. 2. Join with a partner to get more ideas.
What are two strategies you are going to try and use next time anger/stress?
Count to 10 Scream
What are two strategies you are going to try and use next time you need to deal with your anger/stress?
3. Highlight which are the more healthy ways to deal with anger. 4. Put a circle around the main ways you deal with anger and stress. Be honest!
and stress. Be honest!
Highlight which are the more healthy ways to deal with anger. 4. Put a circle around the main ways you deal with anger
2. Join with a partner to get more ideas.
3. Highlight which are the more healthy ways to deal with anger.
4. Put a circle around the main ways you deal with anger and stress. Be honest!
LIFE SKILLS
Junior – Prioritising
Prioritising
WELLBEING
BUILDER
Valuing And Organising T ime
Wellbeing Bank: to add to my Meaning and Purpose by having a growth mindset to value and organise my time on a timetable.
Positive students value their time and see organising it as the way to achieve their set goals and to do this they create a personal timetable.
They use their time to learn and try new things to grow their personal and learning abilities, they have a purpose which motivates their efforts.
Describe how you currently organise your time.
How do you choose what to do when?
You ca n’t do everyth ing even though you may wa nt to.
ba la nce in you r life. You r tim e ca n be div ided into two categories:
• those activ ities you have no cho ice in a re ca lled ‘MUSTS’ such as study, jobs, fa m ily co m m itm ents.
• those you do have a cho ice in a re ca lled ‘O PTIO NS’ such as TV, socia l m edia, recreationa l activ ities.
To create your personal timetable look at the sample timetable on page 125 for ideas.
Write in your musts and options on a blank timetable.
Fill in the suggested number of home learning sessions.
Finish each session with a five minute review of what you did and also set 10 minute weekly revision time slots for each of your subjects.
Put in when you will exercise for an hour. Stick a copy of it on the fridge to include your parents.
What are two things I will start doing to value and organise my time on a timetable?
There is also that time between yo u r ‘MUSTS’ and ‘OPTIONS’, wh ich is called ‘noth ing time’. It is good to sometimes have dow n time b ut yo u need to be carefu l not to waste yo u r time.
You’re a room designer and have been assigned to create the perfect study area for a 14 year old boy or girl. There is an unlimited budget. What can you design?
STUDY SKILLS
How To Study
Junior – How To Study
WELLBEING BUILDER
Smarter Note Taking
Wellbeing Bank: to build my Skills and Achievement by improving my note taking in class.
Your brain has two sides, left and right. Left listens to what’s taught; right looks for what you already know about it.
Describe how you currently take notes in class.
Smarter note taking uses both sides to build strong brain pathways. Break up your page like below and follow the process.
Use the 80/20 principle ... 80% listening, 20% note taking. Think, then write.
Questions: How does it connect to what you already know? During class record any questions you have.
Recite: after class, not looking at your notes, attempt to answer your questions.
Record: record what’s taught in your own words; use short phrases, not sentences.
Reflect: after class think about how you can apply your notes to new situations.
Review: at home summarise your notes for five minutes in each subject. Spend ten minutes weekly revisiting them.
Acknowledgement: Walter Pauk
ACTIONS
What are two things I will start doing to improve the way I take notes in class?
Good study habits can help you to produce better performance in exams and give you an advantage over other students. How well do you study? As a student your main task is to study. If you strive to study properly and efficiently, you will be able to learn more.
What things do you think you need to have to help you study?
Write a combined list with your friends of books and reference materials you need to have on hand when studying for exams.
LEADERSHIP
Good Friends
Junior – Good Friends
WELLBEING BUILDER
Active Constructive Responding
Wellbeing Bank: to develop my Relationships and Optimism by enthusiastically listening and responding to others.
Active Constructive Responding (ACR) is listening enthusiastically, using eye contact and welcoming body language when someone shares their good news with you. They know you are interested and feel that you think they matter. They have an opportunity to relive their positive emotions while telling you their story and when you ask them to tell you more, this creates further positive feelings.
ACR is the best way to build relationships. Describe how you currently listen to others.
When positives outweigh the negatives in conversations more than the ratio 5 to 1, relationships thrive and flourish. Avoid listening and responding in the following ways, because they can damage relationships:
• passive constructive: listening without any energy or enthusiasm
• passive destructive: showing little interest in their story
• active destructive: dismissing their story and changing the subject.
Acknowledgement: Shelly Gable
ACTIONS
What are two things I will start doing to practise using ACR when I’m listening to others?
You
need good friends to: share your experiences with celebrate with discuss problems and issues exercise and relax with help each other with school work. A true friend will accept and respect you as you are. They like you for you.
“A friend is someone who accepts you the way you are.” Confucius
makes you a good friend?
Think about each scenario below and decide if the main character is in a good state of mental health and give your reasons why. If they are not in a good state of mental health, what could the character have done differently?
Remember for a state of good mental health, these are important:
• sleep
• trust and strong relationships
• creating a schedule and planning ahead
• setting goals.
21ST CENTURY SKILLS
SCENARIOS
Jessica has an important test on Friday. Thursday night her friends asked her to go see a movie at 6pm. Jessica has hardly studied for her test. She decided that she will go to the movies but wake up early and study before school. On Friday morning Jessica wakes up and realises her alarm did not go off. Now she is in a rush for school and does not have time to study.
Ryan enjoys working out in the school’s weight room every day after school. He usually works out for two hours. Tonight Ryan is attending a school musical at 7pm and he has a lot of homework. To make sure he has enough time to get his homework done and eat dinner before attending the school musical, he decided to only work out for 30 minutes. He then went home, ate dinner, and made it to the show on time.
Kim got a bad grade on her maths test. When she sat down in her seat Kim thought to herself, “Well this is only the second test and there are a lot more this term. I did not study as hard as I should have so from now on I will set a goal to study twice as hard. My grades will go up by the time my report is sent home.”
Taylor heard a rumour about his best friend Matt. Instead of standing up for Matt and telling everyone the truth, Taylor told the rumour to five other people. A few days later, Matt found out that Taylor helped spread the rumours. Matt told Taylor that he no longer wants to be his friend. Now Taylor has no one to socialise with this weekend.
Junior – Being A Good Citizen
Being A Good Citizen
è List the chores and responsibilities you have at:
WELLBEING BUILDER
Kind Thinking and Actions
Wellbeing Bank: to develop my Meaning and Purpose by looking for opportunities to be kind to others.
One of the best ways to help yourself think positively, is to always be on the lookout for opportunities to do acts of kindness for others, especially when you are feeling a little flat.
When you see their appreciative and happy responses, your mirror neurons go to work to make you feel happier too.
Describe what you currently do to do acts of kindness.
Acts of kindness can be little things, such as a smile and from little things, big things grow. Challenge yourself to say or do at least five kind things for others every day because they matter.
Whereas, when you only think about yourself, you tend to have a fixed mindset, believe that you are powerless to change things in your life and miss out on feeling positive emotions.
Acknowledgement: Barbara Fredrickson
ACTIONS
What are two things I will start doing to think more positively to do acts of kindness?
è What does being a good citizen mean?
è How is being a good citizen different to someone who does their chores?