Mindfulness in the Classroom

“Parents and teachers tell kids 100 times a day to pay attention,” he says. “But we never teach them how.”
-Phillip Goldman, Stanford University

“I have always found some insanity at the thought of yelling at kids to be quiet.”
-Barry Bachenheimer

When one thinks of mindfulness or yoga, thoughts of hippies sitting in a circle saying “Ohm” may come to mind. Instead, try to think for a moment about the value of silence.

There is value in silence. Kids (and many adults) are always “plugged in” from the time they wake up. The TV is on, DVD players in the car, texting, IM, email, blogs, readers, and more create both an internal and external chatter (dare I say “noise”) that is a digital cacophony throughout the day. We use Media or stimulation to get us through time, whether it is sitting on a bus, waiting at the doctors, or (gasp) sitting at the dinner table with our families.

I just finished co-teaching an after school workshop with a district colleague, Christine Davison on the subject of mindfulness in the classroom and it was very well received.

In the workshop we dealt with several topics:

1. The power of the deep cleansing breath before you begin a task and after you end it. Clear the mind and body.
2. “Musing”: To wonder, to ponder. A Topic is given. Learners prepare before hand. Then musing starts with no set goal, no text, except what is mentally brought and where the discussion leads you.
3. Caring and Compassion: “Where seldom is heard a discouraging word…”. Kindness on par with consideration. Perspective into others feelings. Because kids text more than they talk sometimes, we are seeing a loss of emotional intelligence. Kids can’t read emotional cues as well because they don’t see faces. As teachers we need to need empathy and to teach with empathy in order to teach empathy.
4. Media Inflammation: The idea that the purpose of the news is to cause a reaction, to get you passioned and perhaps upset. To keep your filters on the not let news (and a constant media cycle) dictate your emotions.
5. Visualization: Athletes have done this for years. Picturing actions before delivery. Identify your anxiety and visualize yourself working through it. Be in the zone, not zoned out.

To read more, look up the works of Jonathan Kabat-Zinn or read one of the more popular downloaded articles last year from the New York Times on the subject of mindfulness.

It is good to be mindful…and technological!