After watching the film "Room to Breathe" and reading the articles "Nine Ways to Ensure Your Mindfulness Teaching Is Trauma Informed" and "Why is Mindfulness Needed In Education" gave me an inside look at how to foster social-emotional and mindfulness learning into the classroom and why it is needed.
The film showed a behaviorally challenged class that needed a change. The teacher was very frustrated with the student's behavior because he wasn't able to control them. So they brought in a behavioral mindfulness specialist. She taught them breathing techniques, how to channel their inner thoughts and to have a healthy mindset. In doing this she would come in twice a week and do lessons based on mindfulness. I liked the example that the mindful teacher gave when eating the raisins. Even though the students didn't really like the raisins, the concept was to enjoy and savor what you have. I feel like throughout the film we slowly see the positive change in the student's behavior. Before they were loud, obnoxious, and constantly acted out, but now they are more calm and aware of the learning situation they are in. The students are using mindfulness when getting into heated situations with friends or family. Lots of these kids have stressful and heavy lives outside of school, so using mindfulness techniques helps control their thoughts and emotions. Using mindfulness gives them the opportunity to think clearly and respectfully. After watching the film, I noticed an overall theme that as educators we have to foster an environment where our students can feel calm, comfortable, and heard. We have to supply our students with the hope and belief that they are worthy. Using the mindfulness techniques truly helped struggling students become well-behaved people. I will definitely be using mindfulness in my future classroom because it truly set the tone for the students. How to act properly in class and connect with their minds and body.
Both the articles address the need for mindfulness teaching in classrooms. The examples they gave as to why students need mindfulness teaching is from trauma, ensure safety, relationship building, and for their own mental health (Why is Mindfulness Needed in Education). Students need to regulate their own emotions and understand how to cope with them properly. Thus providing schools with mindfulness teachings can help lower the risk of behavior challenges and increase relationship building. All of these reasons demonstrate why mindfulness should be educated. In the article "Nine Ways to Ensure your Mindfulness Teaching is Trauma Informed, I like the example they gave where teachers should have a "mindful check-in" each morning. (Schwartz, K. 2019). Have students take a deep breath and share their emotions. This gives the opportunity for each child to be heard, validated, and hopefully calm.
The app that I downloaded to help regulate mindfulness in my life is Calm. I've seen this app advertised before on social media so I thought I should check it out for this assignment. I really enjoyed using this because since it was on my phone and I check my phone every so often, it forced me to use it. I liked how it gave me the option to choose what I want to work on like improving my sleep, reducing stress, or help to focus my mind. I also liked how it made me take a small quiz before I began to get a better understanding of why I want to use the app. The first couple of days I was really good with finding time to do it. But as the days went on I forgot about it and skipped a day. I think it's important for me to set a time out maybe before I go to bed or right when I wake up to do it. Overall I enjoyed using this app and I definitely think I will keep it on my phone!
References
Long, R. (director/ producer). (2012) Room To Breathe [film]. ZAP Zoetrope Aubry Productions.
Schwartz, K. (2019). Nine ways to ensure your mindfulness teaching is trauma informed. KQED Mindshift. Link
Why is Mindfulness Needed in Education. (n.d.). Mindful Schools. Link
Picture: Gozenonline. (2016, July 21). Mindful Minute: Quick Mindfulness Meditation Exercise for Kids by GoZen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZME0JKiweL4
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