The Mindful Way to Test

 April showers (of rain and snow) bring....testing season.

Testing often brings on anxiety, stress, and frustration. This can hinder a students' ability to do their best. 

We can help with mindfulness.

Here is a video sharing the benefits of a mindfulness practice before a test is taken. If you take time to watch the video you will learn that students can increase test scores if they are taught to practice mindful breathing before and during the testing. Have you ever considered playing Inner Explorer before starting a test? Did you know if you navigate to the Counselor Series you will find a couple of testing mindfulness? Try one! 

I have spent time this week exploring various Inner Explorer lessons at various levels. I encourage you to move up or down based on how you feel your students will receive and process the material. A middle school class who has been practicing regularly is not too young to try a high school mindfulness. A upper elementary class who daily engages in mindfulness could try a middle school mindfulness and be successful. 

In my exploration I listened to some good meditations on; testing taking mindfulness, growth mindset, handling big emotions, and even some from the new safety series.

Inner Explorer has recently launched a new Safety series. This one is great for after a drill, an unexpected stressful event, or maybe even a challenging test. Help your students decompress and shake it off. Imagine after taking a high stakes test you are gifted with a mindfulness that acknowledges that you just went through something stressful. 

We could all benefit from someone addressing reality and not brushing over it. This is mindfulness. It's saying "It is cold outside. I can handle the cold." and after you handle the cold saying "I made it!" Mindfulness isn't tricking your mind to think something else. It is acknowledging and accepting reality to help us build strength and perseverance. 

Let's take some time to acknowledge and accept that testing is anxiety inducing and not tell our students to brush it off or maybe even to suck it up (I hope we aren't saying this...but you may be tempted to at times).

In a 2016 paper,  Test anxiety and a high-stakes standardized reading comprehension test: A behavioral genetics perspective, we look at the stark reality that 10-40% of our students experience test anxiety. The large gap is based on gender, race, and socio-economic status.  If you think about the diversity of our students you will see we have students on the low end and students on the high end of anxiety.

We can combat this anxiety by equipping our students with a growth mindset and a mindful calm and readiness to succeed. 

It may also help your students to ask them to take time to examine their sleep and electronic habits. 

Our students for their ages should be going to bed between 7:00pm-9:00pm. The time increases with ago and can change based on wake up time. Come to my office and look at the sleep schedules I have posted.

For the best sleep possible our students should also stop looking at/watching a screen at least an hour before bed. 

Mindful testing cannot be done by chance. Mindful testing is a choice. It is a conscious action you need to choose for your students. You need to work hard to create the environment you desire to ensure that your students achieve at their fullest potential.