Why Every Student and Adult
Benefits from a Regular Circle Practice
By Kay Pranis
Author and Trainer
S
chools are places of great stress—with very few exceptions. Students are under stress
to perform academically, to regulate themselves so they do not get in trouble, to fit in
with their peers, to cope with the challenges of their lives outside of school. Educators
are under stress to produce test results, to manage student behavior, to redress the inequi-
ties of the larger society, to fit in with their peers. Both educators and students are under the
public microscope, analyzed, judged, and often found deficient. Most students and educa-
tors spend five days a week in this pressure cooker environment.
Under persistent stress we cannot access the higher parts of our brain to bring our best
thinking and creativity to our endeavors. This is true for both students and educators. In this
environment humans become rigid, reactive, and unregulated in their responses to what is
happening. The stress pattern is self-reinforcing. As the stress grows, performance declines
and produces more stress, which further limits capacity. This cycle has devastating conse-
quences for students and educators, creating a cycle of escalating triggering and reactivity
between adults and students. This stress can be present in all kinds of schools, not just the
schools that are struggling with poor test results or chronic behavior challenges.
We need to be intentional in breaking this cycle. Circle practice and mindfulness practice
hold enormous promise for changing this environment of persistent stress. I am most familiar
Continues on page 18
CSEE Connections
Winter 2019
Page 17