I love how considerate your school, providing pre-exam breakfast as a way to help students settle their nerves on exam days, and ensure they are fed before an exam. I'm curious to learn if you've also tried teaching GCSE students grounding and breathing exercises they can practice to help them maximize calm and focus while waiting for the exam to start?
Hi, I have to confess we have told them about the app Headspace but in terms of exercises before exams we haven't tried that yet. Breathing exercises are not really an area of expertise for me personally but if you've trialled it before and have some resources / videos you use I'd love to give it a try.
Oh yes, Headspace is a great app. Another app some of my students like is Calm, because they like following the circle 'ballooning' in and out, like their stomach. I hear you on the breathing exercises. You may want to check out this resources, which used to introduce breath work options for exam stress management with KS4 students: https://www.calm.com/breathehttps://www.self.com/story/this-calming-gif-can-help-you-handle-stress Alternatively, if you have a colleague who can lead them through a grounding exercise, like a mindful eating exercise, that might be a way of weaving that in with the pre-exam breakfast support you already have in place. Here's how I first introduced a mindful eating exercise for grounding with my Year 11s, which worked really well and was always well received: https://elenivardaki.com/mock-exams/ Mandarins were in season so that's what I used, but you could use apples, raisins - whatever you have available in schools. A third option that I've found works well is to lead them through a 2-minute grounding exercise focused on muscle relaxation. I've got a click-and-play 2 minute recording you can download and have on file if this is something you'd like to try as a free meditation for my newsletter sign up: https://elenivardaki.com/free-meditation-sign-up/ I'd love to hear if any of these worked for your students, if you feel ready to give one a try! :)
I love how considerate your school, providing pre-exam breakfast as a way to help students settle their nerves on exam days, and ensure they are fed before an exam. I'm curious to learn if you've also tried teaching GCSE students grounding and breathing exercises they can practice to help them maximize calm and focus while waiting for the exam to start?
Hi, I have to confess we have told them about the app Headspace but in terms of exercises before exams we haven't tried that yet. Breathing exercises are not really an area of expertise for me personally but if you've trialled it before and have some resources / videos you use I'd love to give it a try.
Oh yes, Headspace is a great app. Another app some of my students like is Calm, because they like following the circle 'ballooning' in and out, like their stomach. I hear you on the breathing exercises. You may want to check out this resources, which used to introduce breath work options for exam stress management with KS4 students: https://www.calm.com/breathe https://www.self.com/story/this-calming-gif-can-help-you-handle-stress Alternatively, if you have a colleague who can lead them through a grounding exercise, like a mindful eating exercise, that might be a way of weaving that in with the pre-exam breakfast support you already have in place. Here's how I first introduced a mindful eating exercise for grounding with my Year 11s, which worked really well and was always well received: https://elenivardaki.com/mock-exams/ Mandarins were in season so that's what I used, but you could use apples, raisins - whatever you have available in schools. A third option that I've found works well is to lead them through a 2-minute grounding exercise focused on muscle relaxation. I've got a click-and-play 2 minute recording you can download and have on file if this is something you'd like to try as a free meditation for my newsletter sign up: https://elenivardaki.com/free-meditation-sign-up/ I'd love to hear if any of these worked for your students, if you feel ready to give one a try! :)