Contemplating Stressors in the Cognitive Domain
While after reading Dr. Shanker’s two books, I feel as though I have a better understanding of the Five Domains, I’m also aware that I often think the most about the invisible stressors in the Biological Domain. Today, I started to think beyond this. I signed up for a two day inservice through our Board on meeting the needs of emergent and early readers. The school that I just came from was involved in an early intervention reading strategy initiative, and as such, I’ve learned a lot about oral language and reading intervention strategies through various school and Board workshops. I’m moving to a new school next year though — with different students and different needs — and I thought that we would ultimately all benefit from this course learning. I was excited for today, and I am excited to learn more tomorrow. The end of the session today though really got me thinking.
My Invisible Stressor
After spending a lot of time listening and reading about phonological awareness and the alphabetic principle, the session facilitators coordinated a game. They gave each table a package of words and phrases to sort using a Venn Diagram. To make things exciting, the facilitators told us that this was a competition, and that they would be picking up some prizes for tomorrow. At the end of a five hour session, people were eager to stand up, talk to the individuals at their table groups, and collaborate on this Venn Diagram. Or, at least, everybody seemed happy to do this … but me. At first, I thought that a competition would be enjoyable, but then I saw this envelope full of multiple terms, words, and letters that didn’t seem to make sense out of context. I felt very overwhelmed.
- Was I the only one that didn’t understand the terms?
- Was I the only one that was confused about how to sort them?
- Was everybody going to start questioning me — and my skills — if I made a mistake?
I was reluctant to share ideas with the group, certain that I was wrong. When others shared their ideas — even when I didn’t always agree with them — I was hesitant to speak up because I thought that maybe everybody knew more than me. I didn’t want to lead the group in the wrong direction if I was the one mistaken.
I found myself standing back from the table group. I found myself looking around at what other groups were doing. I started to listen in on their conversations, and tried to remove myself from the stress that I was feeling. Everybody else seemed to be enjoying the competition, but as I stood there doubting myself and my understanding of today’s material, I realized what it was like to experience an invisible stressor in the Cognitive Domain.
What really got me thinking though is that the facilitators never intended on this being a stressful exercise. They went out of their way to make it fun! They looked at ways to involve everyone. They circulated and supported our learning during the activity, and they kept the mood light throughout. But my doubts, impacted on my concentration, reduced my involvement, and made me question myself (and my knowledge base) even on the drive home.
This is when I started to think about the classroom environment. Even when we provide options and scaffold learning, are there still students that feel like I felt today? How do we identify these students? What do we do to support them? I can’t help but wonder what more we can do.
4 Comments
The poster mentioned her own reactions of moving away from her table, listening to other groups conversation, looking around and trying to disengage. I would guess that these signs would be pretty common. If we tuned in and really looked for them we would know who is struggling in the cognitive domain. It would be a good time to implement some strategies to reassure the student and to reframe the idea that not knowing something is something to be ashamed of. This is the reason we are engaging in activities. To learn from each other to understand that there is more than one way to understand material.
Thanks for sharing your observations, Jeanette! I’d be curious to know the different ways that this plays out in the classroom, but also in professional learning (for educators). This was a good reminder for me that even adults can have these moments of dysregulation.
Aviva
Hello Aviva, thank you for sharing your experience of a hidden stressor in the cognitive domain. Reading your words, I can relate to a similar situation during a grade level meeting that I was a part of at a previous school. We were all encouraged after the staff meeting to get into groups and interact sharing some of our ideas and current programs that we had incorporated into the classroom to support literacy in the early years.
I felt intimidated and reluctant to share as I was new, had no seniority and began to doubt myself. I offered to be the recorder so that I was some how contributing to the discussion. I definitely felt that everyone knew more than I did. As the ideas began to be voiced, I thought hey I know about this and that and so on. I sat quietly writing down everyone’s responses except my own. I smiled and nodded in agreement with what everyone had to say.
I can relate to what our students must be feeling, as I draw from my own educational experiences. At the time, I did not even know about self-regulation. Yet alone the five domains of stressors. I am fairly new to these concepts and am learning so much through the reflective process and by reading the experiences of others. Such as yourself.
I think that we can best help our students whose learning needs will differ by first becoming aware by using our ‘soft eyes,’ or ‘stress lenses,’ as you are now of what the physical signs of these hidden stressors may look like. We are then beginning to identify what the stressor(s) may be as well as the area that our student(s) may be struggling in. Alike us our students do not fully understand what they are experiencing. Or perhaps they may lack the confidence to speak up and have a voice in their learning, which communication is key to understanding how we can better inform our teaching practices and methods of delivery.
Thanks Colleen for sharing your story and the connection with the classroom! I love how you drew the parallel here.
Thinking about your experience, I wonder, would your growing understanding of stressors change your response in a similar situation now? I’d love to hear more.
Aviva