Blog Post # 3: Bringing Mindfulness Into the Classroom

"People don't realize that now is all there ever is; there is no past or future except as memory or anticipation in your mind. " -Eckhart Tolle.  

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Hello again!

This entry comes on the heels of some recent personal growth, and reflection of how my experiences and learning to cope with anxiety will translate into my teaching, and the incorporation of 21st Century Literacies into my future pedagogical practice. After years of living under a cloud of anxiety, with occasional showers of overwhelming situational anxiety, I have been led to resources of channeling these feelings, and quieting my mind in a way I never thought possible. For me, the solution has been mindfulness in meditation and yoga practice. This tool now allows me to handle situations that were unfathomable for me in the past, and react and make decisions from a place of tranquility and self-confidence. My goal is to extend this philosophy into my teaching practice.

Mindfulness and mediation has recently gained a lot of traction, and means different things to different people. My adopted definition of the concept relates to developing an awareness and calm acknowledgement of one's current thoughts and feelings in the present moment, in a non-judgmental way. I value this perspective for the sense of clarity that it has provided me, and would love to share some research of how it has recently been implemented in schools.

Current Struggles Faced by Students:

In examining current rates of mental health issues experienced by students today, a study by Whitley, Smith, and Vallancourt, (2012) reported that the percentage of children and youth experiencing mental health difficulties - including anxiety, depression, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is suggested to be between 15% and 30% and is expected to increase by 50% by the year 2020. It is then clear why mental health literacy should be in the forefront of educators' minds. These statistics mean a lot more than simply diagnosing our students and predicting future trends. It means that these students will experience significant side-effects from these mental health issues, including; lower academic achievement, less school engagement and participation, poorer peer and family relationships, and higher drop-out rates (Whitley, Smith, and Vallancourt & 2012). By extension, mental health literacy blends seamlessly with character education and the approach of mindfulness.

Character education aims to create a positive school climate, boost human relations, increase academic achievement, encouraging prosocial conflict resolution strategies and promoting cognitive and emotional intelligences (Stiff-Williams, 2012). These are precisely the outcomes that have been achieved when mindfulness has been implemented in the classroom.

The following image provides a nice summary of these:


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Students today experience stressors and distractors unfathomable to the previous generation. Students navigate through diverse social roles - from being a friend, a student, an employee, an athlete- and responsibilities, and as a result of too many expectation, and thus experience anticipation and stress. Teachers can provide students with tools of handling these stressors by being fully present in the Now, rather than worrying and planning the future using the practice of mindfulness. For me, this lesson has shifted my cognitive preoccupation of planning, to a reminder to live in the Now by taking actions in moment. The ultimate result for me has been removal of stress about the future, which actually feels lighter, and makes my perspective clearer.
An article that has examined the effects of meditation in ADHD has shown the increased capabilities experienced by these students to function in the environment, to settle into lessons with more ease and to interact with peers more calmly. Benefits also extended outside of the classroom, as these students reported better sleep and a less stressful time studying or doing homework (article).

Susan Kaiser does a wonderful job of summarizing the practice of mindfulness in education by relating the concept to the 'new' ABC's: attention, balance and compassion. For me, these are a few significant 21st Century educational outcomes.




Mindfulness Applied at Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute in Toronto
This high school is a local example of meditation being brought into the classroom. All 200 grade 9 students have taken part in six workshops over a period of six moths aimed at teaching meditation practices such as: "practised breathing, body scans (a meditation exercise that draws attention to different parts of the body), and learning to “surf the wave” of difficult emotions, like anger or anxiety" (article). These practices have not only helped students to deal with difficult, or frustrating experiences, but have been scientifically proven to be as effective at warding off relapses in depression as medication. Additionally, science shows us that mindfulness engages and develops the prefrontal cortex - the area of the brain responsible for higher thinking and self-control.

Mindfulness Elements in Project-Based Learning
I am so pleased to come across teachers who are incorporating mindfulness fundamentals in combination with meaningful 21st Century objectives in rich performance tasks for their students. The online resource of High Tech High contains some meaningful examples of some exciting student projects. One project, entitled The Body Language Intersession, teaches students about eating disorders through poetry and personal narrative of examining media culture's portrayal and effects on eating disorders. The interesting aim of this project is expressing oneself through art and dance. Such projects are beneficial for students because they take the emphasis away from thinking, and planning, to actually putting ideas into practice in a very kinesthetic way (article).
A second project, called In My Life, is deeply rooted in character education, and teaching students why sharing personal narratives with others is important. I believe this is a fantastic way of building relationships and is also rooted in mediation through the belief that we are all interconnected by our feelings to very personal life experiences.

The very presentation, and connections made by students as a result of this assignment are simply outstanding:

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Of course, this is only one way of engaging students, providing them with tools to help them handle stressful situations and become more engaged, and more compassionate individuals. I certainly hope to see such practices more widely implemented, but I think that we are on the path of providing students with meaningful ways of balancing the multitude of expectations and responsibilities that they face in today's ever-changing world.

Thanks for reading,

Ana






References:
Whitley, J., Smith, J. D., & Vaillancourt, T. (2012). Promoting mental health literacy among educators: Critical in school-based prevention and intervention. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 28(1), 56-70.

Stiff-Williams, H. R. (2010). Widening the Lens to Teach Character Education Alongside Standards Curriculum. Clearing House, 83(4), 115-120. doi:10.1080/00098651003653030