Sometimes students can’t explain how they are feeling. Using a continuum removes the pressure and lets students demonstrate visually how they are coping.

Year level

7-12

Duration

5 minutes

Type

In class activity

SEL Competencies

Self-awareness

Learning intention

Students can identify how they are feeling on a continuum of coping.

Key outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

  • recognise the different points of a continuum

  • acknowledge that stress can go up and down along a continuum and can change.

Materials needed

  • A4 paper or student workbooks

Mapped to

Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education

  • Plan, rehearse and evaluate strategies for managing situations where their own or others’ health, safety or wellbeing may be at risk (AC9HP10P08)

Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities

  • Personal and Social Capability:

    • Self-management

    • Self-awareness

NSW PDHPE Syllabus

  • Demonstrates self-management skills to effectively manage complex situations (PD4-9)

  • Plans, implements and critiques strategies to promote health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity in their communities (PD5-7)

Victorian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education

  • Examine barriers to seeking support and evaluate strategies to overcome these (VCHPEP125)

  • Evaluate situations and propose appropriate emotional responses and then reflect on possible outcomes of different responses to health and wellbeing (VCHPEP147)

Show details

Activity 1

Instructions

5 minutes

  1. Ask students to draw a continuum with the labels ‘Coping’ at one end and ‘Not coping’ at the other.

  2. Ask students to mark on the continuum with a circle how they were feeling before school that day.

  3. Ask students to mark how they are feeling right now.

Debrief:

Discuss with students that we all have different stressors, and that how we feel can change throughout the day, week, month and year.

Explain that it is important for students to be able to recognise how they are coping. If they are close to the ‘not coping’ end of the continuum, then they need to seek help.

Print

Free teaching resources emailed to you

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest teaching resources on mental health and wellbeing.

To see how we use this information check out our Privacy policy.