The brains in your

classroom and care:

stress, wellbeing and

performancewith Nicola Morgan

Information, classroom materials

and free resources:

www.nicolamorgan.com

More information

• www.nicolamorgan.com• Handouts + link to this presentation

• Many free resources, articles advice• Classroom resources – Brain Sticks,

Stress Well and Exam Attack

•

Morning: The Problems

10.00-11.30 – Understanding teenage brains and stress

11.30-11.50 – Break

11.50-12.45 – Screens and social media

12.45-1.15 – Questions and discussion

1.15-2.00 – Lunch

Afternoon: Some Solutions

2.00-3.15 – Six strategies for schools

3.15-3.25 - Break

3.25-4.00 – Questions and discussion

Afternoon: Some Solutions

The key to everything is understanding

Aiming for

“active agency”

“Our brains in our hands”

“Active agency” comes from:

1. Understanding how we work

2. Building growth (not “fixed”) mindset

– We learn by doing – skills are acquired, more than innate/inherent

3. Learn to learn from mistakes / failure

– Need chance to fail

– What went wrong? “Metacognition”

– Replace “helicopter” parenting with “safety-net” parenting

Result: active agency AND resilience

Resilience: • Ability to bounce back after failure or problems• Can be learnt / improved• Requires practice / experience• Is compromised by:

– early difficulties – continued negative events - “learned helplessness”– over-protection

Over-protection damages resilience

I will be telling parents:

“Be a safety-net parent, not a helicopter parent”

What makes adolescence special?

A. State of Brain – internal pressures

B. Stage of Life – external pressures

Adolescence is biological, natural,

universal, TEMPORARY () and positive

Most important brain difference

Prefrontal cortex develops last (mid-20s):

“control centre” – logic/reason, decision-making, impulse control, prediction

Limbic system, with amygdala – emotion, impulse, reward, reaction, instinct

PFC

This can affect:

• Emotions (volatility / control)

• Empathy

• Impulse control

• Peer pressure behaviour

• And risk-taking

See Blame My Brain for details

Sleep changes – a triple whammy

• Biological need for more sleep – 9 ¼ hours

• “Body clock” acts differently:

– Switches melatonin ON late at night

– But switches it OFF later in the morning

• Vital for health + wellbeing performance

• See my website Resources + Wellbeing sections

Teenage stress – “stage of life”

First, what is stress?

• A positive, biological response to threat

– Adrenalin + cortisol

– To maximise performance

• So, what’s the problem?

1. Over-reaction panic (strategy on website)

2. Cortisol builds up many negative effects

3. “Preoccupation”

“Preoccupation”

• The “bandwidth” analogy

– Every conscious action uses some brain bandwidth

– If attention is occupied, we cannot perform 100%

– Over-occupation stress

– Performance suffers

• Five BIG bandwidth occupiers:

1. Intrusive thoughts and worries

2. Change and new things

3. Processing information

4. Internet/screens

5. Resisting temptationThe Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin

Consider how these

apply to young people

Different teenage stressors

• Perfect storm of change

• Exams – high stakes

• A regular school day: – Constant pressure to do better

– Friend/peer issues

– Self-consciousness

– Especially for introverts

Think of each “occupying” bandwidth +

raising cortisol

And then came the Internet and digital and social media….

Psychology of screens and social media

Applies to all ages

Don’t be over-awed by “digital natives”!

The Internet/WWW

• Knowledge is good, BUT….

–Fake news, sharing lies

–Repetition of bad news emotional effect

–And anxiety

See The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin

My book, LIFE ONLINE, late 2018

…and Social Media

• Social networking very important, but…– Highly addictive – social + curiosity

– More “friends” than we can manage (cf Robin Dunbar)

– Competition with perfect images/lives• Snapchat perefection

– Measuring self-worth by number of “likes”

– “Online disinhibition effect” cyber-bullyingIrresistible by Adam Alter

The Happiness Effect by Donna Freitas

I’ve not finished…

• Info overload – “continuous partial attention” ~ occupation of

“bandwidth”– Trying to multi-task: ineffective + tiring

• Loss of conversation skills? • Lowering of empathy?• Over-use loss of time for healthy activities: exercise,

face-to-face and daydreaming / thinking

See my website for all the science

Major negative results

• Digital overload: ‘continuous partial attention’ and mental exhaustion

• Potential for cortisol build-up

• Potential for increased anxiety

• Loss of attention and focus

• Theft of dreaming time: reacting, not thinking; absorbing, not creating

We are “programmed” to act in certain ways

For survival or success

So, we should tell them (us?) to STOP, right?

A. Social – for survival and success

B. Curious – for success

C. Distracted – for survival

Screens give us endless reward buzzes tempting addictive

Time for some solutions!

But first, lunch…

1. Build resilience

R is the ability:

• To bounce back after failure/setback/disaster

• To manage stress response appropriately

• To rationalise and compartmentalise “bad” things

• To try again

• Poor attachment (John Bowlby)

• Adolescent separation stage

• Helicopter parenting (and teaching/pastoral)

• Learned helplessness

• Over-protection – trigger warnings/offence

• Bad maths excess anxiety

What hinders resilience in teens?

How to build it

• Allow failure

– Teach metacognition

– Encourage risk-taking

• Teach growth mindset

– How brains learn – pathway-building

• Frame praise for effort more than talent

2. Teach stress management

• Educate and empower with strategies – for life

• Educate parents, too

• Teach students to recognise symptoms early and take action

A: Relaxation wellbeing performance

Manage stress

Better sleep

Betterwellbeing

Better performance

Better wellbeing

B: Empower daily relaxation

Discuss healthy activities to lower cortisol and discuss how these can easily be built into their day

1. Varied – physical and mental

2. Deliberate extra benefit

Daily relaxation ideas

bath

walk

music

read

drawstroke a

pet

make somethin

g

breathe deeply

write

mindfulness

daydream

laugh

be alone OR

social

look at nature

any exercise

SWITCH OFF!

3. Respect and cater for introverts

1. Understand intro/extroversion– Greater need for personal space– Often work better alone

2. Time, permission and place to be alone3. Adapt teaching if necessary – cater for all4. Give introverted students strategies:

– To get what they need– To learn extrovert skills (and vice versa)

See “Quiet Power – The Secret Strengths of Introverts” by Susan Cain

4. Enable better sleep

See my website and handouts for

advice.

Share with students and

parents.

Main sleep messages

• VERY important for health, wellbeing and learning

• Get the most you can but don’t panic when you can’t

• Start 1.5 hours before you want to feel sleepy

1. Remove daylight:A. From outside B. From screens

2. Create winding-down routine

3. Block all worries from your mind:A. Distance B. Distract

Visit www.nicolamorgan.com for MUCH MORE advice

5. Manage screen time

(See my Life Online website section)

1. Understand the biology and psychology –don’t forget the addictive qualities – we need to build self-control

The conversations in your head

5. Manage screen time

(See my Life Online website section)

1. Understand the biology and psychology –don’t forget the addictive qualities

2. Create strong school policy based on that

3. Include SOS time – Switch Off Screens

4. Model good practice ourselves

Good screen-time policy:

1. Know the score – be informed

2. Don’t demonise screens

3. Same behaviours for adults and teenagers

4. Phones out of sight/hearing when working

5. Practise uni-tasking

6. Notice if self-esteem/stress are affected – SOS

7. Switch off 1.5 hours before bed

8. Do enough: exercise, non-screen relaxing, face-to-face, sleep, thinking/nothing

6. Encourage reading for pleasure

Evidence?

Reading Agency Literature Review 2015:

• Self-esteem; greater life satisfaction

• Increased vocab and general knowledge

• Increased empathy + self-understanding

• Better mood + relationships

• Reduced stress

Readaxation

“The deliberate act of reading for the purpose of

relaxation, wellbeing and

therefore performance”

Why would reading reduce stress?

• Readers believe it’s relaxing – confirmation bias

• Can direct emotions – autonomy

• Allows “engagement” / “flow”

• Chance to forget present worries and shift thinking to something else

• Facilitates sleep

How to build a reading school

• Fund and value the library and librarian

• Focus on reading for PLEASURE – it’s good for you but it’s not spinach

• Never disparage a reading choice

• Model – reading is for all ages

• Talk about books you love

• Whole-school/class reading – DEAR, ERIC

• Make time

The key to everything is understanding

Aiming for

“active agency”

“Our brains in our hands”

The brains in your

classroom: stress and

performancewith Nicola Morgan

Information, classroom materials

and free resources:

www.nicolamorgan.com

Tasks for Today’s Parents

1. Understand psychology of stress2. Model:

Managing your own stress Growth mindset Healthy screen-time~ pre-bed ~ meal-times ~ when someone is talking

3. Just be there - a strong safety-net4. Don’t bring missing PE kit into school!