Mental health has become a major concern for most schools, as students face rising pressures and adversities. The CDC reports that 37% of students feel persistently sad or hopeless — over one third of a classroom at any given time. 

It can be challenging for teachers and staff to assume the mental load of their students’ well-being, yet it should be a top priority. Schools face incredible challenges in tracking students’ mental health and wellness, but it can make all the difference in setting up successful classroom behavior and wellness. Here are five of the top strategies teachers and staff can adopt to become more attuned to their students’ mental health all year long.  

 

Foster Open Communication 

While we work hard to destigmatize mental health, especially in the classroom, many students remain reluctant and fearful to talk about it. Behavior and emotional wellness are intrinsically linked, as actions often show how someone feels inside. When a student is acting out, they’re likely struggling internally. It’s their way of communicating when they are scared or feel uncomfortable vocalizing their feelings.  

It’s up to teachers and staff to create an environment where students feel comfortable and safe to communicate concerns surrounding their mental health and that of their peers. To help encourage students to open up and communicate, ePraise allows students to submit incident reports online, giving them another avenue to step forward. 

 

Reinforce Positive Behavior 

Many conversations about behavior are negative by default. After all, yelling and sulking stick out a lot more than saying please and smiling! It’s easy to place an emphasis on correcting negative behavior, but there are also plenty of opportunities to leverage positive interactions. The positive behavior then snowballs into overall happier moods and an increase in their mental wellness. Implementing a rewards system in the classroom or even the school can be a great tool for encouraging overall morale.  

 

Track Information 

One child might be a model student during gym while acting out in math class. Another may be suddenly withdrawn, and a teacher may want to see if this has been a raised concern. In many schools, there isn’t an efficient and secure way to track student health information. And if there is, it doesn’t often entail a holistic view into a particular student’s well-being, or even the entire classroom. The start of the school year is a good time to ask yourself if your school has a system in place to track behavior management in the classroom. It should be accessible, but secure, to faculty and administration when they need to be in the know.  

 

Keep Parents in the Know 

Beyond the classroom, ask yourself how your school is communicating with parents. We all know that the classroom is just a portion of how a child spends their time, so keeping connected with parents about a student’s overall well-being is crucial for staying on top of mental health. 

With ePraise, parents and faculty can directly message on the platform. Teachers can observe and track positive and negative behaviors and immediately share that information with parents. Fostering openness and partnership with parents will always benefit the child, and in turn, the school.  

 

Tools for Classroom Behavior 

If your school doesn’t have a system in place to track and share classroom behavior for students, there’s a greater risk that concerning behavior will slip through the cracks. ePraise is designed specifically for private and independent K-12 schools to track and manage student behavior. It encourages students to speak up about sensitive topics, celebrate achievements through positive reinforcement, and keep parents and educators connected. 

Get in touch with our team to learn how you can seamlessly integrate ePraise into your Veracross single sign-on service.