Lesson Plan Template

School Counselor: Kalie Dotson

Date: 3/10/15

Activity: Stress reduction strategies guidance lesson

Grade(s): All 8th graders
ASCA Student Standards (Domain/Standard/Competencies):
Category 1: Mindset Standards. 1. Belief in the development of the whole self,
including a healthy balance of mental, social/emotional and physical well being
Category 2: Behavior Standards. Self Management Skills- 7. Demonstrate
effective coping skills when faced with a problem. 8. Demonstrate the ability to
balance school, home, and community activities.
Learning Objective(s):
1. Students will come away from the lesson with tangible, useful strategies for
managing their stress.
2. Students will have a better idea of their biggest stressors and their personal
responses to stress.
3. Students will be able to identify their reactions (mental, physical, relational) to
stress.
Materials: Breathing ball (Hoberman sphere), PowerPoint on stress,
worksheets/paper for every student to divide into three sections
Procedure:
1. Go through data showing common stressors for 8th graders at Shuksan. Ask
students to write down three of their biggest stressors on one column of their
paper.
2. Talk about slide discussing ways that students say they feel their stress. Ask
students to write down three ways that they know theyre stressed (physical,
mental, relational).
3. Show YouTube video about ways to cope with stress. Ask students to discuss
with partners some of the strategies they saw and ones they could see
themselves using.
4. Practice three breathing techniques together (hoberman sphere, rocketship
breath, smell the cake, blow out the candles), then do a progressive muscle
relaxation exercise with students.

5. Ask students to write down three of the techniques they learned today that
they could use when they are feeling stressed (could be the ones in the video
and/or the ones we practiced, or new ones they thought of).
Plan for Evaluation: How will each of the following be collected?
Process Data: The lesson will be delivered to all 8th graders at Shuksan Middle
School (about 200 students)
Perception Data: Students will take a pre-test consisting of the following
questions and rate them on a likert scale of 1-4 (1 means does not apply to me
at all, 4 means I agree, this applies to me): 1. I have strategies that I use when
I get stressed that reduce my stress and calm me down. 2. I have people I know I
can talk to when I feel stressed or overwhelmed. 3. I can identify at least two
changes in my body or thoughts that help me know Im stressed. 4. It is
important to me to find ways to decrease my stress so that I can feel balanced
with other social and school-related activities.
Students will answer the same four questions as a post-test.
Outcome Data: Hoped-for outcomes include: Increased student awareness of
ways to identify stress in their body and ways to decrease it. Increased student
awareness of specific strategies for dealing with stress.
Follow Up: Check in with classroom teachers about what they thought was
effective for the students and additional interventions that they would
recommend for future lessons.