Fatigue, stress and pressure at the end of the school year: what is happening in the classroom?
The third term is here, and with it comes a feeling shared by many teachers: too much content, too little time, and overwhelmed students . But there's a key idea that can completely change how you approach this time in the classroom: when the brain is overloaded, learning capacity decreases. And when this happens, we need more time to get to the same place. In other words, going faster is often, paradoxically, going slower.
At the end of the school year, there is not only greater academic demand , but also:
- Accumulated fatigue (cognitive and emotional).
- More pressure for results.
- Lower tolerance for frustration.
- Greater social need (friends, exams, changes...).
When stress and fatigue accumulate, the brain enters "survival mode." This causes the limbic system—responsible for emotions—to become more active, interpreting situations as more threatening and generating more intense emotional responses. Likewise, the prefrontal cortex—responsible for planning, attention, and control—becomes fatigued and less able to regulate these reactions. This results in an imbalance: greater emotion and less control.
At the end of the school year there is greater academic demand, more accumulated fatigue, less tolerance for frustration and more pressure for results.
Furthermore, the arrival of warmer weather can make it difficult to concentrate, especially when students spend many hours indoors. And the anticipation of holidays and summer often leads students to have other thoughts on their minds, which can also affect their level of attention and engagement.
All of this translates in the classroom to students who are more reactive, more distracted, or seemingly disconnected. It's not that they don't want to learn; it's that at that moment they don't have all the necessary cognitive resources available. Understanding this allows us to shift our perspective: rather than demanding more, it's necessary to help them regain the conditions they need to learn again.
And it is precisely here that, in an attempt to cover everything, the mistake is often made of accelerating the pace, increasing the demands, and trying to finish the syllabus "no matter what." But we don't realize that we are asking more of a brain that, precisely, is functioning with fewer resources. Far from helping, this often leads to:
- More blocking.
- More disruptive behaviors.
- More "invisible students" (those who silently disconnect).
Social-emotional training in classrooms: a tool for life
Four practical keys for teachers
1. Lower the load, increase the clarity
It's not about doing less, but about doing more essential things.
- Prioritize key content.
- Give simple and specific instructions.
- Avoid overloading with too much new information.
2. Segment time (micro-goals)
A tired brain can't sustain long sessions, so we recommend:
- Work in blocks of 10 or 15 minutes.
- Set very clear goals for each blog.
- Close each block with a feeling of "I've done it".
This activates dopamine, motivation, and persistence.
3. Regulate before demanding
A student who is dysregulated cannot learn, even if they want to. Micro-strategies to help regulate students:
- Lower your voice.
- Get closer physically.
- Take short breaks.
- Valid before correction.
Strategies to strengthen the bond between teachers and students
4. End with meaning, not just with notes
The end of the school year is much more than an assessment. It's a key opportunity to give meaning to everything that has been experienced and learned. We often focus on whether students have mastered the material, but we forget an essential part: what are they truly taking away from this process?
That's why it's worthwhile to create spaces (even if brief) to help them stop and look back:
- What have you learned in this course that you didn't know how to do before?
- What has been the most difficult for you and how have you overcome it?
- In what ways would you say you have improved as a person, not just as a student?
The third term is not just a race to the finish line, but an opportunity to give meaning to everything experienced and learned, and to understand how they felt while learning.
These types of questions activate the prefrontal cortex from a different perspective: not through demands, but through awareness and integration . Furthermore:
- It provides coherence in learning.
- It helps to consolidate memory (giving fixed meaning is better than repeating).
- It strengthens self-esteem and the feeling of competence.
A meaningful end to a course doesn't mean grand activities. It means ensuring that students not only finish the course but also understand what they've learned along the way . This is especially important for students who may not have achieved outstanding academic results but have made small, often overlooked, improvements.
The biggest changes in classroom climate don't come from major interventions, but from sustained, small-scale decisions. The third term isn't just a race to the finish line. It's an opportunity to see how students arrive. Because in the end, what makes the difference isn't just what they've learned, but how they've felt while learning.
