Mindfulness for You and Your Students

 Spring break is great time to jump start your mindfulness routine. To teach mindfulness we must first practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is an important part of a student's educational experience. Mindfulness is an important part of anyone's day. 

"MRI scans show that after an eight-week course of mindfulness practice, the brain’s “fight or flight” center, the amygdala, appears to shrink. This primal region of the brain, associated with fear and emotion, is involved in the initiation of the body’s response to stress.

As the amygdala shrinks, the pre-frontal cortex – associated with higher order brain functions such as awareness, concentration and decision-making – becomes thicker." -Quote from Scientific American

Upon our return from spring break we will enter week one of the ten weeks left to this school year. What would it look like inside your classroom if you utilized those ten weeks to put a greater emphasis on a mindfulness practice? 

Studies continue to show how mindfulness calms the brain and helps with emotional regulation. 

This time of year can become a challenge with the up and down weather, rain, and even still the possibility of snow. School is drawing near to the end of students are ready for summer. This time of year there is more testing. Mindfulness can help students be calm and ready for testing. Mindfulness can help students better accept indoor recess when the weather is bad. Mindfulness can help students focus when all they really want to do is be outside 

Mindfulness can help you find a place of calm when you are stressed about testing and scores. Mindfulness can help you relax and refocus your plans when you have to have indoor recess.

Mindfulness can help you focus on the moment when all you want to do is be outside enjoying the sun and warm weather. 

Benefits of Mindfulness in the Classroom

Please take a few minutes to watch this video and think about how mindfulness could help you and help your students. Mindfulness in the classroom

The Toolbox is You This link is to the mindfulness mentioned in the video link above. It has some easy mindfulness exercises you can utilize with your students. 

We are in the homestretch and mindfulness can get us to the finish line with less stress. 

Why not give it a try?

RULER

 This week I had the opportunity to spend some time in music class. I observed a great conversation about mindfulness, ways to calm down, and utilizing the mood meter. 

I wanted to take some time to share the RULER method which can be utilized along side the mood meter.

RULER

R: Recognize emotions in Yourself and Others

U: Understand the Causes and Consequences of emotions

L: Label emotions with Nuanced vocabulary (using the Mood Meter)

E: Express emotions in accordance with cultural norms and social context (how you show emotions in various places)

R: Regulate emotions with Helpful Strategies (maybe you need to learn healthy ways to let them express an emotion)

The first step to Ruler relates to simply acknowledging you have a feeling. Recognizing your own emotions is an important step in helping others recognize their own emotions. 

Then we need to understand the emotion. We cannot simply say "I am having a feeling" and walk away. Stating a feeling exists is only the first step in emotional intelligence. Understanding emotions means we know where they are coming from, what has caused this emotion to arise? And then understand the consequence of the emotion. Will this emotion benefit me? Will it cause a problem if not addressed? 

Label this emotion. Once you have recognized you are feeling an emotion give it a name. This is the psychology saying of "name it to tame it." Help students label their emotions. Giving something a name makes it real and relatable. Giving it a name also gives you permission to feel the emotion. 

No emotion is wrong. There are not "normal" or "abnormal" emotions. All emotions are normal.  

Labeling emotions can be a struggle. My husband always resorts to "what's wrong" and never "what are you feeling?" Because of this our 9 year old has picked up the phrase. I am saying over and over that when we ask what is wrong, we are implying something is wrong and how we are feeling might be wrong. Let's ask "what are you feeling and how can I help?" Allow yourself and others to identify and label an emotion. You can say "it appears you might be feeling upset," but give your students a chance to try to express themselves first. 

The E... this is the sticky one for our friends. I had a conversation this morning with a fifth grade friend about this topic. You are allowed to feel your feelings. We encourage you to name them and understand them....then....it's time to express them in the school appropriate way. The friend I spoke with is well acquainted with anger and expresses it as they feel fit, stating "where I am from..." I retort, "It's not where you are from, it is where you are at." We need to teach ourselves and our students how to express emotions in a way that is not harmful to themselves or others. We need to model this and express this over and over again. We are often facing students who will say "my dad says to hit back" "my mom said don't let them see how they affect you." The norm for school is; we don't hit/hit back and its not only acceptable but encouraged to share how someone affects you. Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with sixth grade boys and teach them "I statements." One of the young men came back later in the day to clarify how to properly use the statement. " I feel.... when ... because " "I feel upset when you call me out  for talking, because I am not the only one talking but I feel singled out."

Then comes the last R. Regulation. This is key. Our students need the skills to regulate their emotions. We cannot simply tell them to stop being angry. Maybe no one has ever taught them how to calm the storm inside. 

Mindfulness is a great tool for emotional regulation. It teaches us to calm our bodies to explore our feelings in the present moment. A guided mediation like those on Inner Explorer can present new ways to feel an emotion and let go of an emotion. 

Take some time this week to explore using the RULER method with your students. 

Let's Get Gritty

Before you click on the link below I wanted to give you some time codes. Feel free to watch it all if you would like to address hypothesis and theory in psychology....but for our purposes now start at about 2:40 and watch to 6:30 with a focus on what she says at about 5:30.

Bean Bag Epiphany

Now that you've watched our selection from the video I encourage you to take time to reflect on her words. She said that when she had her bean bag epiphany, for the first time she realized while she would be alright, her students would not. While she has been through college, statistics says that only about 2-3 students in her class will graduate college. 

For me this video says it all. What we do each day is for our students and their future. My future is already on a good path. I've been to college, I am employed, and I am doing well. Our students are in the statistical demographic that says they are more likely to fail than thrive. 

But we can change that.

How did the speaker of our video, Clair Robertson-Karft, PhD, director of ImpactED at University of Pennsylvania grow her students TWO YEARS in ONE YEAR?

Grit

Grit is defined as a disposition toward perseverance and passion for long-term goals.

Do you have grit?

Studies have shown that gritter teachers are more effective teachers.

Studies have shown that gritter teachers stay in the profession longer.

How does this connect to mindfulness?

Mindfulness matters, but if you do not do it with grit you may not see the benefit. You need to have the disposition toward PERSEVERANCE and PASSION for LONG-TERM.  

In a study out of New Zealand, acting with awareness and non-judgement predicted grit.

Mindfulness teaches us how to act with awareness in a non-judgmental way. 

From this we can see that as the teachers, educators, leaders, and staff at the school mindfulness can help us with our own grit. We can then help instill the grit into our students by utilizing the skills of mindfulness.

Much of grit research connects strongly to having a growth mindset. Studies have shown that students who have a growth mindset can and will outperform those without a growth mindset. This is true no matter the IQ level of the students.

Looking at grit and growth mindset we can use mindfulness to open students to the idea of being present and aware each and every day. We can use mindfulness to literally grow and change their brains toward a growth mindset and grit.

In the article Grit and Mindfulness we can read information on brain growth through mindfulness and how this can help build grit and a growth mindset.

This week I challenge you to utilize Inner Explorer, even if your students groan or make comments about not liking how it sounds. You may have one student who is silent but needs it and loves it. And those loud voice against it.... keep using it and build grit. Let your grit build their grit. Have the passion and perseverance to continue.

If you are still with me and showing some grit right now I want to get personal. I have a student who struggles daily. I am using my grit to not give up on this student. In this student's life people have given up. I want to show true grit and keep going. I am using his signature character strengths and my own signature character strengths... the VIA assessment link to find your own is in a previous blog Character. This student is a long-term goal but I'm not giving up. My daily mindfulness practice of gratitude helps me focus on the positives. My mindfulness practice of deep breathing keeps me calm. My mindfulness exploration to write these blogs helps me gain perspective and gives me a renewed trust in my grit.

Do you have grit?

How gritty are you?

Curiosity

We have have all heard the term "multitasking." Some people believe they are master multitaskers, others admit they find this a challenge.

Truth is science tells us that our brains cannot multitask. What our brains truly engage in is what science calls "switchtasking." This is the process of quickly shifting from one task to another and then back again. 

Switchtasking has been shown to lower productivity and reduce comprehension. 

What does this have to do with mindfulness and our students?

The word that keeps coming to my mind: Curiosity

If we engage our students in curiosity daily they cannot be bored. As we know brains cannot truly multitask. So either you can cultivate curiosity or you can let boredom grow.

I have students come to my office day after day and tell me that they were acting out because they were bored.

How can we cultivate curiosity? 

Mindfulness teaches us to be present in our current feelings, space, and time. 

Utilize mindfulness to create curiosity. 

Your own personal mindfulness practice can help you become curious too. Instead of thinking "why did he do that again?" Be curious and ask "what is he feeling at this moment?" "why is he showing his feelings in this way?" "how can I help?"

Use curiosity when talking about practicing mindfulness. Give the students guiding questions? 

What am I feeling in my body?

Is my mind present?

Am I feeling safe?

What do I need today?

This curious mindfulness fits with daily asking students to identify feelings on the mood meter. When we share our feelings they will become curious about their own and where they are coming from.

Get Curious This article talks about curiosity and mindfulness. One of the things that stood out to me is the thought that we get stuck on the way we believe things should or should not be. Do you ever have an idea of the way things should go in your classroom, or the way they should not go? What if you became curious about why they are going different from how you imagined or planned? 

The article references the old expression "curiosity killed the cat..." In fact, it hypothesized that curiosity might help us not kill the cat. What does this mean? Use mindfulness to be more curious about student behavior and maybe, just maybe the student will thrive. 

I encourage you to participate in the mindfulness challenge using Inner Explorer. It's not too late to start. Mindfulness is important. 

Remember to reach out if you need help or guidance. I am always happy to help.