4-H 693
The Rural
Crisis
Comes to
School
Teacher Handout for Videotape
As a teacher, you may be the most important source of help outside the family for children or teenagers who are experiencing severe stress. Often when there is a crisis in the home, adult members ot the family may stop being involved in community affairs. Children attending school may be the only contact the family has with the outside world. The teachers and other school staff in the videotape were able to show their care and concern for youngsters who were experiencing stress.
You are a "significant other" to the child under stress and you may be able to offer him or her the kinds of guidance and direction that parents who are under stress often cannot.
As you establish a caring relationship with such youngsters by listening and helping them express feelings, they will feel your support and may begin to or continue to deal constructively with the problem.
This publication offers suggestions for activities within the classroom, as well as ways to become an effective helper on an individual basis. As you learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of stress in children or teenagers you will be able to identify youngsters who are in need of special help.
Creating a Caring Relationship
The teachers in the videotape were able to show their students that they cared for them as people, above and beyond the subject matter they were teaching. As a teacher, you Probably already have many of the skills needed to be an effective
helper. Creating an atmosphere where young people feel cared for and safe to share feelings is a first step in helping them. The following points may help you communicate your caring and acceptance of the student who comes to you with a problem.
1.	Show sensitivity and warmth.
•	Tone of voice—Match voice to emotional tone of situation.
•	Eye contact—Maintain appropriate gaze, not a stare, but don't look away.
•	Posture—Lean forward, relaxed, yet attentive.
•	Position—Seat yourself in an open position with nothing between you and child, same eye level.
•	Rate of speech—Speak at a natural pace, at times slower than usual.
•	Level of energy—Maintain alertness throughout interaction.
•	Setting—Avoid interruptions.
2.	Communicate acceptance.
•	Consider the youngster as a worthwhile person.
•	Realize that his/her perception of the situation may be different from yours.
•	Express a nonjudgmental attitude. Separate the person from the behavior and the feelings expressed.
Anger is O.K. and appropriate in certain situations.
3.	Show a desire to understand.
•	Youngsters will sense the adult's effort to understand.
•	Be aware of your own nonverbal messages.
•	Try to understand the child's/teen-ager's feelings, but don't assume you already know those feelings.
•	Listen for questions and try answering some of them by asking, "What do you think?"
Listening: A Vital Ingredient to Helping a Child Under Stress
Listening to the child/teenager is an effective way of putting caring into action. Listening may appear to be a passive process, but in reality it is an active process that is hard work. Listening requires hearing not only the content of what the child is saying but also hearing the feeling beneath the surface. Among the questions the teacher may want to ask himself/herself are the following:
1.	What is the meaning of this experience from the child's perspective?
2.	From whom does the child feel support at this time?
3.	How does the child feel about himself/herself at this time?
4.	How does the child feel about significant others in this situation?
5.	What does the child want and need in this relationship with me?
Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service West Lafayette, Indiana