Open Parachute lessons are designed to teach a core skillset to students, intended to prepare them for overcoming any current or future challenges they face that impact their mental health and well-being. Like any skill, these skills will be most effective if they are practiced regularly.
There are two methods that can help students practice their newly acquired skills:
Focus on reinforcing lesson content
Focus on the reinforcement of the lesson content by:
a) Reminding students about the skills they learned throughout the day/week following the lesson.
For example, if a situation arises that frustrates a student, you could remind them to use a strategy they learned in the lessons to help themselves with the feeling and express it in a helpful way.
b) Encouraging students to think about where in their lives they can practice the skills.
For example, you can encourage discussions about how the same skill can be applied in situations at school, with friends, at home, or during extracurricular activities.
Help Students Practice Core Skills
Help students practice the core skills that underlie the lessons by coaching students to overcome challenges (e.g., frustration with learning, friendship issues, school stress, etc.) through the use of mental health skills:
Step 1: Encourage students to explore how they feel about the situation/challenge.
For example, if a student is stressed about their grades, you can start a conversation by saying: “I see how hard this is and I want to understand so I can help. Do you want to tell me a bit more about what it feels like for you when you don’t get the grade you want?”
See our Help Article Helping Students Explore How They FEEL for more suggestions on how to increase emotional awareness in students.
Step 2: Encourage students to pause and take a breath.
For example, if two students are in an argument, you can say: “Can you both take a moment to just breathe and collect yourselves before we try to resolve this together?”
See our Help Article Helping Students Explore How They PAUSE for more suggestions on how to increase students’ ability to pause before reacting in unhelpful ways.
Step 3: Encourage students to think about their options.
For example, if a student is overwhelmed by an assignment, you can say: “Can you think of anything that might make this assignment seem less daunting?” or suggest a few ideas for them to consider, like “What would it look like if you broke this down into chunks?”
See our Help Article Helping Students Explore How They THINK for more suggestions on how to increase critical thinking in students.
Step 4: Encourage students to act in a way that helps them and others.
For example, if a student is disrupting the class, you can ask, "What can you do right now to calm down so that you are not disrupting the people around you?”
See our Help Article Helping Students Explore How They ACT for more suggestions on how to increase student’s ability to make helpful choices.