# Lesson 3.7: Stress: What It Is, and My Stress Map

**Unit:** Unit 3, Growing Up, Getting Along (Human Development and Relationships)
**Topic:** 3.2 Self-Concept, Peers, and Stress
**Grade:** 6 to 8 (written at grade 7; see Differentiation for the grade 6 support and grade 8 stretch)
**Days:** 1 class period of 40 minutes (day 74 of the year)
**Room:** Classroom or FACS lab

**Coordination line:** This lesson is about everyday stress and how to notice it. Anxiety disorders, depression, and anything clinical are the health teacher's and the counselor's. The stress map is private and is never collected. If a student writes or says something that needs an adult, the school's reporting process applies. [Sal: know it before this lesson, and tell the counselor the day it runs.]

## Standards

- NYS module line: NYS HDR 3. Peer Influence and Stress Management d) Recognize that adolescents experience common problems
- NYS module line: NYS HDR 3. Peer Influence and Stress Management e) Identify the causes of stress and examine appropriate ways to manage stressors
- CTE theme line: CTE HSW 6. Stress Management a) Define "stress" and identify situations that contribute to stress
- CTE theme line: CTE HSW 6. Stress Management c) Recognize signs of stress and take steps to reduce its impact on overall wellness
- NYS FACS Learning Standard 2 (Intermediate), Key Idea: Students will know the basic principles of home and community safety. They can demonstrate the skills necessary to maintain their homes and workplaces in a safe and comfortable condition. They can provide a safe and nurturing environment for themselves and others.; Performance Indicator: none of the three Standard 2 indicators fits; the key idea's "safe and nurturing environment for themselves" is what a student who can read their own stress signals maintains. The state assigns only Standard 2 to HDR.
- CDOS Standard 3a Universal Foundation Skills: Personal Qualities
- National FCS 3.0: 13.1.6 Show ways to manage stress at home, at work, and in the community.
- National FCS 3.0: 14.1.1 Explain the physical, emotional, social, psychological, cultural, and spiritual sides of individual and family wellness.

(The "who to ask" step also serves CTE HSW 5. Social-Emotional Learning e) Identify school personnel with whom to discuss social, emotional, or mental health issues, quoted here verbatim but not counted as one of the two theme lines. 14.1.1 is the only 14.1.x competency in the 3.0 text that touches stress, through "emotional" and "psychological" components of wellness; it is confirmed and cited.)

## Enduring understanding and essential question

**Big idea:** Stress is the body's alarm. A little of it sharpens you; too much of it, for too long, wears you down. You cannot turn the alarm off, but you can learn where it goes off and what to do next.
**Essential question:** Where does your stress live: in your stomach, your shoulders, your Sunday night, your phone, or somewhere else?

## Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. (Low) Define stress, distinguish good stress from bad stress with one example of each, and list six body signals of stress.
2. (Mid) On a private stress map, identify when and where their own stress shows up (time of day, day of week, place, situation) and classify each stressor into one of five common adolescent categories (school, friends, family, phones, money).
3. (High) Judge which one stressor on the map is the biggest and whether it is the kind you handle yourself or the kind you bring to an adult, and name the adult, with a reason.

## Vocabulary

Tier 2 (general academic): signal, category, pattern, appropriate
Tier 3 (FACS): stress, stressor, good stress (eustress, named only), bad stress (distress, named only), body signals, stress management. See the unit vocabulary list (`Vocabulary 03.md`) for Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish.

## Materials and setup

- `Handout 03.07 - Private Stress Map.md`, one per student; the map pages go in the FACS folder and are never collected; the exit strip at the bottom is torn off and turned in
- Slides: `Slides 03.07 - Stress What It Is and My Stress Map`
- A blank body outline on slide 5 (a plain figure, no gender, no features) for the body signals list
- The school's "who to ask" list on slide 10: counselor, nurse, any teacher, the main office, a trusted adult at home, and a national or local help line the school approves [Sal: fill in the names, room numbers, and the help line your school uses before you teach this]
- Timer visible to the class
- Setup notes: none beyond the slides. Reread the coordination line.

## Pre-assessment

The do now is a private 1 to 5 rating of "how stressed I feel right now" and one word for why. It is not collected. The hands vote that follows ("hands if you wrote a 4 or 5") tells you the room's level and whether to slow the lesson down.

## Do now and hook (Time: 4 min)

On the board: "Private. Rate how stressed you feel right now, 1 (calm) to 5 (a lot). Write one word for why. Nobody collects this."

Debrief: "Hands if you wrote 4 or 5. Hands if you wrote 1 or 2." Both hands go up; that is the point. Then the hook, slide 2: a smoke alarm described in words. "This goes off when there is smoke. It also goes off when you make toast. It is doing its job both times. So is your stress. Today you learn to tell the toast from the fire."

## Procedure

| Step | Teacher will | Students will | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Direct instruction: what stress is, good and bad | Slides 3 and 4. Stress: the body's response to a demand or a threat; the heart speeds up, the muscles tighten, the mind focuses or races. Good stress: short, pointed at something you can do (a game, a test you studied for, a performance); it sharpens you and then it leaves. Bad stress: too big, too long, or pointed at something you cannot control; it wears you down and does not leave on its own. Same alarm, different fire. Tie to Lesson 3.3: the adolescent brain feels stress strongly, and sleep (Lesson 2.6) is the first thing that makes it worse when it is short. | Copy the definition and the good vs bad table onto the handout, Part 1, with one example of each from the slide. | 7 min |
| 2. Body signals | Slide 5, the blank body outline. Build the list from the room: headache, stomach ache, tight shoulders, fast heart, sweaty hands, trouble sleeping, snapping at people, not hungry or very hungry, cannot focus, tired all the time. Students mark on their own outline (Part 2) where their stress shows up first. Say: "The first signal is the useful one. It is the early warning." | Mark their first two or three signals on the outline. Circle the earliest one. | 6 min |
| 3. Learning activity: the private stress map | Slides 6 to 8. The map has two grids: when (time of day by day of week) and where (home, school, bus, phone, practice, other). Students shade the cells where stress shows up most, then list their stressors in the margin and tag each with a category: school, friends, family, phones, money. Show the five categories with a general example each (a test; a group chat argument; a sibling; a post that got no likes; a thing everyone else can buy). Say twice: this page is yours and stays in your folder. | Shade the grids. List stressors with a category letter. Star the biggest one. | 10 min |
| 4. Handle it or bring it: who to ask | Slides 9 and 10. Two piles: the kind you handle yourself with a tool (tomorrow's lesson) and the kind you bring to an adult: anything that lasts for weeks, anything about safety, anything that makes you not want to be here, or a friend who says any of those. Then the who: the school's list (counselor by name and room, nurse, any teacher, the office), an adult at home, and the approved help line. Assign the exit strip: my biggest stressor's category (not the stressor), handle or bring, and the adult I would go to (a role, not a name). | Sort their starred stressor. Fill the exit strip. Copy the who-to-ask list onto the back of the map for keeps. | 8 min |

## Questions to ask

Monitor understanding:
- What is one example of good stress? What makes it "good"?
- Which body signal shows up first for a lot of people? Why does knowing your first signal matter?
- Which category does "my friend read my message and did not answer" belong to? Could it be two?

Deepen learning:
- The alarm goes off for toast and for fire. What would happen if you taped over the alarm so it never went off?
- Sunday night shows up on a lot of stress maps. What is actually happening on Sunday night, and what could move it?
- Why is "bring it to an adult" harder than it sounds, and what would make it easier?

## Check for understanding

Whiteboard check after Step 1: "Good stress or bad stress: nervous before a game you practiced for all week." A "got it" answer is good, with "short and pointed at something I can do." Clipboard during Step 3 (looking only at whether the grids are shaded and the categories are tagged, not at what is written): a yes or no on "map has shading," "stressors are tagged," "one is starred." The exit strip is read after class.

## Closure (Time: 5 min)

Tear off the exit strip and turn it in: 3 body signals of stress, 2 categories of stress most common for people your age, 1 adult (a role) you would bring the big kind to. Two students read a "1" aloud if they choose. Sort the strips; the categories students named most decide which two stressors the Stress Plan example uses in Lesson 3.9. Say what Lesson 3.8 is: "Tomorrow you test six tools on your own stress, in this room, and keep the ones that work."

## Differentiation and supports

- ELL: the body outline needs no words; the five categories have picture cues (a book, two people, a house, a phone, a coin); word bank on the handout for stress, body, signal, help, and adult in Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish; sentence starter for the exit strip: "I would bring the big kind to ___ because ___."
- IEP and 504 (general): the map may be shaded with three levels instead of five; the stressor list can be three items; a student may fill the exit strip orally with the teacher; a student who finds the topic hard may stop at Part 2 and do Part 3 with the counselor later (arranged in advance).
- Grade 6 support: the map has the "when" grid only; three categories (school, friends, family); the exit strip has the categories printed to circle.
- Grade 8 stretch: Part 4 on the handout: look at the map for a pattern (same time every week, same place) and write two sentences on what could change the pattern, not the feeling.
- UDL checkpoint used: multiple means of engagement (everything self-referencing is private; the exit strip asks for categories and roles, never content) and multiple means of representation (a body outline, two grids, five picture-cued categories).
- No-kitchen or no-machine alternative: not needed.

## Assessment

| Objective | Standards met | Learning task | Assessment (formative or summative; tool) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Define stress, distinguish good from bad, list six signals | HDR 3. e); HSW 6. a) and c); National FCS 14.1.1 | Part 1 and Part 2, Steps 1 and 2; whiteboard check | Formative; handout checked for the table and six signals; the definition returns on the Unit 3 test |
| 2. Map when and where; classify stressors into five categories | HDR 3. d) and e); HSW 6. a); CDOS 3a Personal Qualities | Stress map, Step 3 | Formative; clipboard yes on shading, tags, and a star (content not read); daily work, complete or partial |
| 3. Judge the biggest stressor, handle or bring, name the adult | HDR 3. e); HSW 6. c); National FCS 13.1.6; Std 2 KI | Exit strip, Step 4 | Formative; exit strip checked for a category, a sort, and a role; this feeds the Stress Plan, the formal check for Topic 3.2, in Lesson 3.9 |

## Homework

None. Optional: tonight, notice the first body signal when something stresses you and write one word for it on the map. Private.

## Connections

Inside the building: the counselor and nurse are named on slide 10 and get a copy of the "handle it or bring it" slide; the health teacher owns anything clinical and gets the good vs bad table so the words match. Community: the approved help line on slide 10. [Sal: your school will have a policy on which help lines go on a slide; ask before you print it.]

## Sources

- NYS Middle Level CTE FACS Content Module 02, Human Development and Relationships (nyctecenter.org, June 2018), lines 3. d) and 3. e). Copy in `02 Standards/NYS Module PDFs/`.
- NYS Middle Level CTE Theme Module, Health, Safety, and Wellness, lines 6. a), 6. c), and 5. e). Same folder.
- NYS Learning Standards for Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Sciences (1996), Standard 2, Intermediate, FACS strand. Wording per `02 Standards/STANDARDS SOURCES - web research.md`, section 2.
- National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education 3.0 (LEAD FCS Education, 2018), competencies 13.1.6 and 14.1.1.
- The good stress and bad stress framing and the body signals list follow the general account on the National Institute of Mental Health fact sheet on stress for teens ("I'm So Stressed Out," nimh.nih.gov). [Sal: confirm the page before teaching.]
- Sal's own materials: the sleep window from Lesson 2.6 is referenced as the first thing that shortens under stress.

## Teacher notes

- The map is private and you say so twice, once before and once after. You look only at whether it is shaded and tagged. If a student wants you to read it, that is their choice, and then the coordination line applies.
- If the period runs short, cut Step 2 to a whole-class list with no outline marking. Never cut Step 4; the who-to-ask list is the one thing every student must leave with.
- Common mistake: students label every stress "bad." The game example fixes it. Ask who has ever played better because they were a little nervous.
- Sunday night and the bus show up on a lot of maps. Neither is a surprise; both are useful to name out loud without asking anyone to own them.
- [Sal: the HDR module's illustrative activity is a mindfulness journal with prompts about stress, peer pressure, gratitude, and mindset. If you want a journal running across Topic 3.2, this map is its first page; the toolkit card and the Stress Plan are pages two and three.]