Mindfulness in the Classroom

Integrating student and teacher mindfulness into the classroom has been a growing topic of interest recently. Research says that 1 in every 5 students has a mental illness, being anxiety, depression, bipolar or other illnesses. Regardless of whether these increases are a result of awareness or increase in student pressure, educators need to work towards accommodating these students. As Shelley Moore, is constantly referring to, we need to reach to the outlier students, and as a result we will also help those students that do not necessarily require the same help.

My goal has been to research various methods I can incorporate subtle or even blatant ways to help students mentally. Whether this be with grounding techniques, such as deep breathing exercises, mental health days, fidgets, check-ins etc.

Integrating these techniques into my classroom is very important, not only for my students but for myself. As role models, we should be modelling positive behaviours that students can identify and recognize how they should be responding to their own crises’ or scenarios.

Activities with movement

When becoming anxious and stressed about something, one of the greatest facts that I ever learned was in an undergraduate Psychology course. My professor told us that our body is often confused when we are so anxious while sitting, because our heart rate is spiking yet our body is immobile. This confuses our brain, which further causes anxiety because of the lack of body movement. One of the best pieces of advice that I have heard from my professor is to keep my body moving during these times. This is particularly important within the confines of a classroom.

One way to ensure that anxiety is depleted is to ensure that students have the opportunity for movement. That is why I try to encourage activities with movement, and as many labs as possible to get students thinking and moving. This can be used in the classroom for station work, which is often what elementary educators do with centres. This movement helps deplete the anxiety and stresses that come with stagnancy.

Communal Learning

Communal learning is also something that I’ve found to ease student anxiety. Like myself, I’ve noticed that many students struggle with answering questions during class, or specifically lectures. Silence doesn’t even necessarily mean that the students don’t know the answer. I know that when I was growing up, I was extremely shy, and the idea of saying the answer out loud triggered almost immediate increased heart rate, and a red face. Most times I felt that my answer was partially or fully correct, I just didn’t have the confidence to share my thoughts. This is where social learning comes in to play. I’ve noticed that when students talk about questions or answers to questions, they are more likely to share their findings if they’ve collaborated with a partner. This is why I often turn to Think-Pair-Shares, or Table Collaborations or Thing-Share Squared. All of these techniques have increased student involvement, and allowed for me to see student learning in students that are more often silent than not.