Managing anxiety of students

[Adelaide9216]

Hello,

I was speaking with a professor a few days ago, and she mentionned that her undergraduate students are more anxious than ever before, especially when it comes to grades. Like she said that 5 years before now, it wasn't as bad. How as a TA do you manage students who appear to be wayyy to anxious about their grades? And is this something that you've noticed yourselves as TAs in your students? 

[rising_star]

Ummm... this is going to bother/upset some people but, I really don't see it as my job to manage students' mental health. Instead, I point them to the appropriate campus resources and encourage them to take advantage of them. Because I am not trained in mental health care so beyond general statements that almost anyone could find on the internet, I don't have much to offer students.

As far as grades themselves, I generally remind students who are freaking out that X assignment is worth only Y percentage of their course grade. That context can be helpful because it reminds them that they may have failed a particular assignment but that assignment is only worth like 5% of their course grade so they could still, in theory at least, get an A. Oh, and I frequently tell them that grades don't really matter, that you don't need a 4.0 to get into grad/law/med school, and that employers are going to care about things beyond your grades when hiring you. Better to have real experience and interests than anything else so I push them to do internships for credit, get summer jobs, do summer research, etc.

[TakeruK]

I do the best I can, but ultimately, I try to remember 1) not to beat myself up over circumstances I can't control and 2) remind myself that there are circumstances affecting the student that I may not know about so I try to not judge.

I found that the best thing I can do is to be transparent and upfront with things that cause anxiety, such as evaluations and deadlines. I set regular and predictable homework due dates: e.g. every Wednesday at 5pm so they know what is expected and can plan for it. I show students how I grade ahead of time so they know what to expect. I return each week's graded homework before the next assignment is due, so they can learn from it and not have to worry about making the same mistakes again.

We also generally  have big final projects, and we talk about them at the beginning of the course. We ask for deliverables partway through, e.g. a draft proposal for the project at Week 4, which ensures they get things on track and we can catch issues early on. We make ourselves available with extra office hours for the project near the end. We also use some class time near the end of the semester as in-class work period so that students won't leave the work to the last minute and to encourage students to seek help.

We also had a fairly lenient policy for extensions and such concessions. Ultimately it was the professor who made the decision, but I TA'ed for the same person all the years and the policy is always to believe the student when they say they need more time. Sometimes the extension is declined but it was because it would pile up with another extension and that sometimes they just need to let something go. I also don't really see the need to question/doubt students when they ask for accomodations/concessions (see also: https://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2017/06/19/to-my-colleagues-on-the-death-of-their-students-grandmothers/).

That said, I agree with @rising_star that ultimately, instructors are not responsible for their students' mental health. I think we should not be doing things that cause extra anxiety for no reason or because of our disorganization (e.g. avoid changing deadlines, saying one thing but doing another etc.) However, we need to direct students to the right resources on campus if they need help managing their anxiety. I think we'd likely do more harm than good if we try to diagnose students and try to help them without training or qualifications.

 

[rising_star]

I should've said some of what @TakeruK said in their post, btw. I accept late work with no penalty provided a student tells me in advance (and that could be 5 min before class, but shhh I try not to tell them that). Why? Because it's like a job where you ask for permission to miss a deadline and then wait to see if you'll be allowed to. I also don't care about the reason for that extension and typically ask students to tell me when they can realistically expect to submit the work. The only time I change deadlines is to push them back for everyone, not just for one person.

I hold more than the required minimum number of office hours each week, am available by appointment, and encourage students to just drop in when they're in the building/hallway to chat. I tell jokes about my own college grades and those of other faculty. Once I showed an entire class my college transcript as a way of pointing out that their grades in that one course weren't going to keep them from achieving their goals AND that your major in college doesn't really determine your life since I'm now in a completely different field than what I studied in undergrad.

And this is a small thing: no extra credit. Ever. For any reason. Why? Because students will work themselves up in a tizzy trying to do every last bit of extra credit to salvage their grade rather than focusing on the work itself. (Also, because if something is so important that I want people to do it, it's going to be an assignment and not extra credit.)

At the end of the day, we can encourage students to develop the skills needed to manage their anxiety but we can't keep it from existing and that's important to remember for the sake of your own mental health. I've been known to tell students that the campus counseling center is basically the only time in your life where you can have an almost unlimited number of weekly appointments and go to group sessions all without having to spend a dime out of pocket (ours is fully covered by their campus fees). I couple that with telling them that as a working adult, I pay over $100/month for health insurance and would have a $20 co-pay to see a therapist if I wanted to AND there's probably a 2-3 month wait for that first appointment. The message for them? Do it now while it's cheaper and you have easy access to it. That approach has worked for me with several students so I keep using it.

[Hope.for.the.best]

3 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

Hello,

I was speaking with a professor a few days ago, and she mentionned that her undergraduate students are more anxious than ever before, especially when it comes to grades. Like she said that 5 years before now, it wasn't as bad. How as a TA do you manage students who appear to be wayyy to anxious about their grades? And is this something that you've noticed yourselves as TAs in your students? 

I have taught students from the pre-med program, so they are anxious to start with, as they need good grades to get into med school. As @rising_star and @TakeruK pointed out, we cannot do much on students' mental health but refer them to appropriate sources (if necessary). There was a student who broke down suddenly in class the year before I started teaching. He was crying all the way without telling anyone why. The professor discretely took him out of the class and called the counselling centre. A counsellor arrived and took care of the situation. So that's basically the TAs' protocol for situation like that. 

Personally, I have not encountered students who are overly anxious. They did try to ask for more marks after I went through test papers, but they generally took it well after I explained why they were not awarded the marks. There was a student who was a bit obsessed with the marking scheme, but she was more on the learning side than to argue for more marks. My friend, however, was a bit less fortunate. A student in his class sent him an email that she should have got full marks for her assignment. He understood that she was simply too stressed out for med school, but he was upset by the email as she sounded very rude. He handled well by meeting up the student and explaining why she lost marks, in the presence of the professor. Another time, he came across an international student who struggled with understanding English. He happened to speak the student's native language, but he remained professional and spoke English the whole time. Out of anxiety, that student requested him to repeat in his native language after the class. He handled well again by referring the student to the English classes at school. 

I think keeping in touch with your professor is helpful, as it is easier for you to turn to him/her for help should something difficult arises. It would also be helpful to know what resources are on your campus, like the counselling centre, educational advice centre, language classes etc., so you know where to direct your students when they are struggling. 

[MastigosAtLarge]

Crossposting this.  I've TA'd five courses, and I've been hired by my department to look into how our professors and TAs respond to learners in distress, and to recommend department-wide change moving forward.

My biggest tip is to remember that you are not a psychologist.  If you notice any sign that one of your learners is in distress (whether they make a disclosure of sexual violence, suicidal ideation, a suicide plan, disordered eating, etc, OR whether they cry in office hours or send you an anxious email) tell the professor or the department head.  Do not tell the learner that it's normal.  Do not assume they're just trying to get a higher grade out of you. 

You're right, OP, that learners are more anxious than ever.  The numbers I'm familiar with are that over 8% of undergrads seriously consider suicide and over 51% experience what they call "overwhelming anxiety".  Do not take the chance that you, as not the expert, incorrectly evaluate what is going on. 

You are part of educating the whole learner, and that includes responding to their emotional development, not only their academic needs.  And remember, a learner's mental state contributes to their academic performance.  But this all also means that it's important to remember that you are not a psychologist.  You don't have the resources to pinpoint what's going on, nor provide a learner who really is in crisis with what they need. 

So inform the people who can help the learner obtain those things, do not assume it's nothing.