High School Faculty Responses: Anxiety in a High School Environment

1. About how often do you see students that show symptoms of anxiety or
overwhelming stress?
a. Everyday-weekly

2. Do you feel that the students who struggle from anxiety are aware of it or know
how to properly cope with?
a. Students are aware of their anxiety, but either do not know who to
cope or not willing to try.
b. Those who are aware have been given coping strategies
c. Unsure how to deal with stressors that come from higher places
and are out of their control

3. What about this school environment do you think causes the most anxiety for
students?
a. Heavy work load
b. Teachers also feel anxiety, which can eventually affect the
students negatively
c. The constant push for high achievements
d. Some teachers do not realize the work load they are giving to the
students
e. Competitive nature of the school

4. How do you go about helping a student who is showing signs of anxiety?

a. Let them know everything will be ok
b. Encourage them to seek help
c. Refer to student services
d. Create an outlet to express feeling, make fun activites and breaks
e. Humor and sharing their own personal stories

5. How do you reach out to students who might be too afraid or embarrassed to talk
about their issues?
a. Create a comfortable open environment
b. Create a relationship with the students, check in on them
c. Casual conversations, and bring up the issue
d. Subtle hints to encourage them to get help w/o calling them out

6. Is anxiety ever considered when evaluating students performance or well being?

a. Not always, when brought to attention
b. Yes

7. Do you feel like Centennial or other high schools are well aware of the effects of
anxiety on the brain?
a. no
b. Yes, but little action is being made
c. Yes, very evident in Centennial
 8. Would addressing anxiety help make Centennial a more comfortable and open
environment? And to what extent?
a. Yes, would help make centennial a more open and comfortable
environment and students would feel less alone
b. Yes, it would help the people know how to help one another and
build relationships

9. What are a few factors that could impact the level of anxiety felt by a student that
are not school related?
a. Family relationships
b. Life at home
c. Social media
d. Acceptance by peers

10. Do you feel like students who take more challenging classes experience more
anxiety than those you dont? Is academic rigor a factor that plays into the level or
anxiety?
a. Yes, high level classes can increase stress
b. It depends on the student, everyone learns and performs
differently
c. Most likely
11. What aspects of a classroom environment do you think could increase the
amount of anxiety felt by a student? Lessen it?
a. Personality of the teacher (approachable or unapproachable)
b. Level of strictness
c. Tone of the classroom (flexible vs rigid, intense vs relaxed)
d. Connection between teacher and student or lack thereof (trust,
understanding)
e. Teaching style
f. Self confidence of the students themselves
12. Do you feel that you would be able to identify if a student is experiencing
anxiety? If so how?
a. Possibly, it is difficult to clearly analyze every student
b. Can point out specific characteristics: flustered, exhausted, timid,
sensitive etc
c. Students can easily conceal what they are feeling if fear of looking
weak or feeling vulnerable