Five Habits in the Classroom to Promote Students’ Emotional Well-being

“If the student experience is not enriching or does not promote a balance between the different areas of young people’s lives, it will be difficult for them to develop a commitment to the course.”

During the pandemic, the number of students who expressed negative emotions that affected their school performance, family relationships, and friends increased. The fear of catching COVID-19, social isolation, or losing a loved one can bring feelings of anguish, stress, sadness, and depression, especially among young people. It is crucial to let those going through such situations know that they are not alone. Complex processes in which multiple agents participate govern people’s well-being, which change as the individual grows. In the early years, a child’s emotional development depends mainly on the family. This changes in adolescence and youth, when circles of friends, the school environment, and the agents who participate play a more decisive role (Fernández, Fallas and García, 2020).

Psychologists usually handle emotional health. However, social agents such as the family and educational institutions are a great support. That is why teachers are fundamental for the integral development of students since they spend much of their time in educational centers. What happens in the face-to-face or virtual classroom determines students’ perception of their environment and how they interact. With everyone’s effort, we can help improve the mental well-being of students. If you are a teacher, in this article, I share five practices to use in the physical or virtual classroom to care for the emotional health of your students.

“From this practice, I’ve been able to support students by referring them to specialists in the area of wellness and counseling for vocational guidance issues, situations of gender violence, and emotional care.”

The student at the center of our teaching

If student experience is not enriching or balanced in the various areas of the life of young people, they will hardly develop a commitment to your course. According to Adler (2017) in the book “Positive Education: Educating for Academic Success and Full Life,” the educational processes must be clear about how it contributes to developing students; it should focus on the transmission of knowledge and skills and on developing students seeking their integral well-being. Although educational institutions usually focus on professional development, they should not overlook that future professionals are also people who will be citizens, parents, caregivers, neighbors, or active members of our society.

During the last three years, I have focused on developing practices to make my classes safe and emotionally healthy through simple actions that I have shared with colleagues teaching other subjects. They have also had good results, evidenced by the student opinion surveys of the courses. Our institution, Tecnológico de Monterrey, through its Leadership and Student Training (LIFE, 2021) area, undertakes multiple interventions to offer spaces for listening and reflection, which trigger the integral development of students. However, what can we as professors do to contribute to the well-being of our students in our classrooms? Students’ development and emotional care should be a commitment we share as teachers, regardless of whether our classes are theoretical, practical, formative, or preparing for professions.

Five habits in the classroom to promote the well-being of students

1. Ask them, “How do you feel?”

It may sound elementary, but if you include as part of your routine asking your students how they feel at the beginning of each class, you will notice that little by little, they become comfortable expressing their feelings, what they like, feel or what bothers them. Do a simple survey in an application like Zoom or Menti, giving 3 or 4 category options of everyday emotions, for example:

1. Calm, relaxation, serenity;

2. Tired, discouraged, lazy;

3. Nervous, angry, frustrated, or afraid;

4. Happy, excited, enthused.

After doing this simple survey, you will have relevant information about the mood of the group. You can ask them the reason for their emotions, and you may discover it is a good day or a bad day, or it has to do with something repetitive that can affect how your class will go. For example, they arrive hungrily, their class schedule is burdensome, or they have a class before yours that leaves them exhausted. The important thing is to have information that lets you improve the students’ mood in your class, and, above all, your students perceive that you care how they feel and are doing something about it.

2. Show them that you are interested in knowing them

From the first days of class, invest some time to let your students realize that you are interested in knowing them. Don’t wait the entire semester to find out who they are and what matters to them, as you will delay something instrumental that triggers your students’ engagement with your class. Ask them how they would like you to address each of them, what pronunciation they prefer, identify foreigners, know what majors they have declared, and even their birthdays. This simple information can help you establish a closer relationship with them, strengthening the group’s bond. I like to take a moment of each class to congratulate those having birthdays during the week, which lets them know that I am aware of who they are and that this is important to me.

3. Consider their needs

One mistake we usually make is to believe that students are the ones who must adapt to our times and our agendas exclusively, falling into a degree of misunderstanding of their needs and possibilities. Remember that students do not take only our class; we must respect their time schedules and agenda of activities. Therefore, I suggest that your course be as structured as possible from the beginning of the semester, that you set out the class rules clearly, and that your students know the activities they will have and the deadlines during the course period. In my case, it is not uncommon for students to turn in assignments or evidence in the first weeks of the semester, seeking to avoid doing it in those times when they are full of work in other courses. This way, students will adapt their deliverables to your times, respecting deadlines but managing time according to their needs.

4. Encourage them to get to know their classmates

If the pandemic has taken anything away from us, it is the opportunity for human contact. Remember that educational institutions are learning spaces and socialization environments, so it is crucial that, within a comprehensive vision, we encourage students to relate, talk, interact, and build social networks. At the beginning of my classes, I have had student pairs ask one another about their hobbies, tastes, or interests, making the first minutes of collaborative work dedicated to students getting to know each other a little. A relevant transversal competency for every professional is establishing healthy social relationships. Our classrooms can be ideal spaces to develop these skills.

5. Feedback, feedback, feedback

A fundamental part of every class is the moments of feedback we have with our students. However, we must promote these spaces of dialogue not just for information about a deliverable or an assignment but for talk and interaction with our students. It is not unusual for students to feel comfortable with some teachers to ask them things about their future or tell them something happening to them, exposing the need they sometimes have to express how they feel and talk to someone with whom they feel safe. It is important to note that with this practice, I do not intend that we get into the lives of our students and their problems, but rather, that we are open to listening to what they have to tell us and, if it is necessary, refer them to someone who can help them with their needs. Personally, my students know that they can ask me for advice when they like, which can be about the class or whatever they want. With this practice, I have supported students by guiding them to specialists in health and well-being, vocational counseling, and professionals who deal with gender violence and emotional attention.

Reflection

As you may have noticed, the habits I suggest do not relate to a class or a specific topic. They are an invitation to change our attitude about some processes we carry out in our classes more than actions. Frequently, we seek a commitment from our students to the class through questions such as, “What can we do to make our class better?” However, the first question we should ask ourselves is, “What can I do to make this class better?” Let us consider that the new educational Tec21 educational model invites us to change our role, putting our students at the center and accompanying them in the formative process of their lives. I also share an infographic related to the content of this article that you can use.

I invite you to adopt these practices, and I assure you that your students will thank you. Later, do not forget to share your experiences so we continue to improve education together.

About the author

Dr. José Carlos Vázquez Parra has a bachelor’s in Psychology, a master’s in Education, and a Ph.D. in Humanistic Studies. He has more than one hundred publications on topics of ethics, human rationality, and gender studies. He was recognized as Doctor Honoris Causa by the International Organization for Inclusion and Educational Quality (OIICE) in 2021 and received the National Inspiring Teacher Award 2018 at Tecnologico de Monterrey. He is currently a professor-researcher at the School of Humanities and Education.

References

Adler, A. (2017). Educación Positiva: Educando para el Éxito Académico y para la Vida Plena. Papeles del Psicólogo, 38(1), 50-57.

Fernández, N., Fallas, M., & García, J. (2020). Voces protagónicas para el bienestar en la escuela: análisis cualitativo de la perspectiva de los agentes implicados. Voces y Silencias. Revista Latinoamericana de Educación, 11(2), 49-66. doi: https://doi.org/10.18175/VyS11.2.2020.3

LIFE. (2021). Liderazgo y Formación Estudiantil. Obtained from Tecnológico de Monterrey: http://www.cem.itesm.mx/life/

Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

José Carlos Vázquez Parra

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