Puzzling

According to a Harvard University study, our minds wander 47% of the time. Nearly half of our attention is taking a trip away from the present. How do combat this and help ourselves and our students gain a better focus?

Mindful activities are a great way to enjoy a mindful moment and train your brain to become more present.

Putting a puzzle together takes time and focus. The bigger the puzzle the more time it takes. The more complicated the puzzle the more focus it takes.

We are all a puzzle. We are all a piece connecting us to a larger puzzle.

Let’s use this week to connect ourselves with each other while connecting together the pieces of a puzzle.

Many of our students feel as if they do not fit into our school, their own homes, and some their own bodies. Bullying often reinforces these thoughts and feelings. According to Stopbullying.gov, bullying most often is not the simple act of a single student bullying another student. Most often what is seen is known as the Group Phenomenon, this is where a group of students support the bully in their negative actions toward another student.

While we explore bullying this month lets continue to utilize our mindfulness to create unity and bring forth calm. When considering the group phenomenon we can see the need to teach our students how to work together and stand up for each other.

This week I encourage you to utilize your morning welcome time to complete a class puzzle. This is a great way to teach your students about how to work together, wait for each other with turn taking, standing up for each other  by encouraging words when they notice a struggle, and staying with each other, not giving up when they feel the task becomes too difficult.

Let the students work together to figure out the best way to start the puzzle, how to organize the pieces, and work side-by-side. Provide encouragement, if you observe a struggle to start the puzzle, offer an idea or encourage the students to give you an idea of how to start. Teach by example and join your students in the activity and use encouraging words to support effort and determination.

As the students work remind them of mindful breathing when they get frustrated with a puzzle piece. Puzzles can be difficult, taking a moment to pause and take a deep breath can help refocus. Remember, our focus wanders nearly half of the time, use deep breathing to refocus during this time.

Give the students a set amount of time each day. When the time is up make some observations on how much they have accomplished together. Ask them how they feel about the progress. Inquire about the teamwork. Make observations about how much more work was accomplished as a team and suggest that without teamwork it would not be as much of a success. If you have observed a struggle with teamwork, or notice students not participating have a class discussion about how to encourage, support, and work together to complete a task. This would be a good time to use some “Just Like Me” or “May you” statements. “I noticed James struggling. I struggle at times too. Just like me James wants to do better at puzzles. Just like me James deserves another chance tomorrow. May you find a calm focus tomorrow James.”

I like this mindfulness activity for October as a way to increase supporting each other, working together, and talking with our students about helping not hurting each other. This is a great interconnected activity that allows lots of heartful mindfulness. As the puzzle is interconnected and cannot be completed without each piece., so too is your class interconnect and cannot be complete without each student and teacher.

Let’s continue to help teacher our students practice our Bullying Awareness Month theme “ Fortis Stands for You” and help them learn to stand for each other.

If you would like to work on a puzzle and are in need of one, please come see me. I have a shelf full of puzzles that can be checked out to your class!