Personal-Social Lesson Plan

School Counselor: Ms. Brea Adams

Date: March 10, 2015

Activity: Stress Management/Test Anxiety

Grade(s): 9-12
ASCA Student Standards (Domain/Standard/Competencies):
Personal/Social Development:
Standard A: Students will acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to
help them understand and respect self and others.

PS:A1 Acquire Self-knowledge

o PS:A1 Acquire Self-knowledge
o PS:A1.4 Understand change is a part of growth

Standard B: Students will make decisions, set goals and take necessary action to achieve
goals.

PS:B1 Self-knowledge Application

o PS:B1.1 Use a decision-making and problem-solving model
o PS:B1.3 Identify alternative solutions to a problem
o PS:B1.4 Develop effective coping skills for dealing with problems
o PS:B1.5 Demonstrate when, where and how to seek help for solving
problems and making decisions
o PS:B1.11 Use persistence and perseverance in acquiring knowledge and
skills

Learning Objective(s):
1. Students will be able to gather, analyze and apply information and ideas.
2. Students will be able to recognize and solve problems.
3. Students will learn to identify anxiety and develop stress management for
successful test taking.
4. Students will learn how to deal with their test-taking hindrances and how to cope
with stress.

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Materials:
1) Paper and pencil/pen
2) Small Notebooks
3) Post-it Notes
4) Note Pads
5) CD Player
6) Meditation Music

Procedure:

1) Develop Small Group Counseling Guidelines

a) Students brainstorm group commitments to create a safe space.
i) some suggestions include:
(1) One person speaks at a time.
(2) No Put-Downs allowed.
(3) All group members are encouraged to actively participate.
(4) Group members have the right to pass on an issue.
(5) Half-thoughts are okay.
(6) Step-up or step-down in terms of offering comments.
2) What is test anxiety and stress?
a) Students brainstorm a list of physical and emotional symptoms of test anxiety
using post-it notes.
b) Students define stress and discuss personal experiences with stress in a think-pairshare model.
(1) First, students write in journal about their experiences with stress for 5
minutes.
(2) Second, students share their reflections with a partner for 4 minutes.
(3) Third, students share 3-4 personal examples with the large group for 6
minutes.
3) How can we work through test anxiety and stress?
a) Students brainstorm various ways to deal with stress in small groups.
b) Students share out ideas for managing stress.
c) Students decide to practice one of their techniques before each class
4) Stress management technique modeling

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a) Breath Counting
i) Sit in a comfortable position with the spine straight and head inclined slightly
forward.

Gently close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then let the breath come
naturally without trying to influence it. Ideally it will be quiet and slow, but depth
and rhythm may vary.
o To begin the exercise, count "one" to yourself as you exhale.
o The next time you exhale, count "two," and so on up to "five."
o Then begin a new cycle, counting "one" on the next exhalation.
Never count higher than "five," and count only when you exhale. You will know
your attention has wandered when you find yourself up to "eight," "12," even
"19."

b) Practicing Positive Feedback

i) Step 1: Calm Yourself
(1) Use deep breathing to calm yourself down if you feel particularly stressed
or upset.
ii) Step 2: Identify the Situation
(1) Start by describing the situation that triggered your negative mood.
iii) Step 3: Analyze Your Mood
(1) Next, write down the mood, or moods, that you felt during the situation in
your journal.
iv) Step 4: Identify Automatic Thoughts
(1) Write down the natural reactions, or "automatic thoughts," you
experienced when you felt the mood. For example:
(a) Maybe my math skills aren't good enough."
(b) I always fail my written essays."
v) Step 5: Find Objective Supportive Evidence
(1) Identify the evidence that objectively supports your automatic thoughts.
(a) Your goal is to look objectively at what happened, and then to write
down specific events or comments that led to your automatic thoughts.
vi) Step 6: Find Objective Contradictory Evidence
(1) Next, identify and write down evidence that contradicts the automatic
thought.
vii) Step 7: Identify Fair and Balanced Thoughts
(1) By this stage, you've looked at both sides of the situation. You should now
have the information you need to take a fair, balanced view of what
happened.

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(2) If you still feel uncertain, discuss the situation with other people, or test
the question in some other way.
(3) When you come to a balanced view, write these thoughts down. The
balanced thoughts in this example might now include:
(a) "I am good at some math skills and need to work a little hard on
others."
(b) I enjoy writing and I can enjoy writing an essay for school.
viii)

Step 8: Monitor Your Present Mood

(a) You should now have a clearer view of the situation, and you're likely
to find that your mood has improved.
(b) Write down how you feel in your journal and what steps you can take
in the future.

5) Debrief
a) Students participate and give feedback on their current state of relaxation.
b) Group assignment: Have students keep a log of their stressful situations and
techniques they used to alleviate the stress during the week.
6) Follow Up: The school counselor will spend a portion of the next small group session
debriefing students experiences with stress management techniques and their effects
on their physical and mental well-being.

Assessment:
Plan for Evaluation: How will each of the following be collected?

Process Data: 100% of the junior class will complete this college and career
resources activity offered by the school counselor.

Perception Data: 75% of students will be able to name at least 3 stress

management techniques.

Outcome Data: The number of students taking at least 1 AP credit course in their
senior year will increase from 60% to 75%.

Pre-test
1) Please describe test anxiety and stress.
2) Please name some techniques you use to manage stress.

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3) On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being strongest), please circle how stressed you feel right
now.
1

10

4) On a scare of 1 to 5 (5 being strongest), how well prepared do your feel to manage

test anxiety and stress.

Post-test
1) Please describe test anxiety and stress.
2) Please name some techniques you use to manage stress.
3) On a scale of 1 to 10 (5 being highest), please circle how stressed you feel right now.
1

10

4) On a scare of 1 to 5 (5 being strongest), how well prepared do your feel to manage

test anxiety and stress.

Adapted from:
http://wvde.state.wv.us/counselors/group-lessons.html
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercises.html
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_81.htm