Social-Emotional / Mindfulness
This week I got to study the critical issue of social-emotional/mindfulness. This was actually a very interesting topic to discuss. The image I chose to depict this issue is one that explains the benefits of mindfulness (Kim, 2022). Mindfulness is a broad term because there are many tips and techniques that can be mastered to become a more mindful person. Being mindful means that one is aware of their feelings and actions. Learning to be mindful can include meditating, paying attention, and focusing on breathing. This image explains that being a mindful person can positively impact other areas of one's life. It can cause stress reduction, build better relationships, and improve cognitive activity.
I really enjoyed viewing the documentary “Room to Breathe”. It focused on a middle school in San Francisco in a math class. I was amazed to see the blatant disrespect to each other and the teacher that was occurring inside this classroom. These kids seemed to have no regard for the rules and did not care about the consequences of their actions. The school and the teacher realized that they had a lack of control over these kids and brought in a mindfulness specialist to help regain some order back into this learning environment. The specialist even struggled to gain the respect of these kids. Early on in the film, about twelve minutes in, the mindfulness coach mentioned the impact technology has had on society as a whole and how it has affected people focusing (Long, 2012). I agree with this statement. Take Tiktok for example, it is an app designed to keep one engaged and on the app. It is created to make short videos that cause you to move to the next video. This causes more harm as it decreases our attention spans. In this classroom, we saw students like Lesly, Jacqueline, Gerardo, and Omar wanting a better future for themselves but not knowing how to achieve it. It was as if they lost their self-control. They all did not take mindfulness seriously at first, but they started to realize through practice that it was benefiting their attitudes as well as keeping them calmer. They even improved their grades by using mindfulness in times when they were lacking focus or needed to be encouraged. At the end of the film, they demonstrated how each of the kids prospered in different ways after using mindfulness and continuing to use it outside of the classroom.
In an article I recently read about mindfulness, I really liked how it mentioned that teachers can use mindfulness practices throughout their day (Schwartz, 2019). I really liked this because students are not the only ones who need to take a minute and breathe. It really brought me back to the mental health unit we discussed a few weeks back. Taking a minute to be mindful and collect your thoughts can make all the difference in how we relay information and how it is portrayed to the students. Not everyone has a great day every day, so taking a minute to be mindful can be all that is needed to create a calmer atmosphere. In a different article called “Why is Mindfulness Needed in Education?” I learned that “Nearly 1 in 3 adolescents will meet criteria for an anxiety disorder by the age of 18” (Mindful Schools). This is a scary fact, but one that can be corrected. Mindfulness can help reduce levels of anxiety and stress as well as build emotional resilience. Another article discussed mindful practices. Yoga, meditation, and extended play at school are some to consider. Through implementing these activities “School administrators have highlighted that discipline referrals have decreased” (Berkowicz & Myers, 2021). Clearly, these examples all prove that mindfulness causes a positive behavioral change and it improves mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
For the past week, I have been more focused on improving my mindfulness. I have downloaded the app Calm and have been benefiting from it. It allows me to keep track of my daily emotions through emojis while tagging what caused my emotion, and notes on the matter. It also helps me decide what I want the app to focus on. It can be better sleep, meditation, anxiety reduction, etc. I am a big reader and it has a section for calming music when reading. I really like that and have been taking advantage of that during the week. Even if it is just for a little while, finding time to use the app has given me a sense of tranquility in my moments of anxiety.
In my freshman year of high school, I had studio art during the last period of the day. The classes were only 40 minutes long, but every day my teacher would take 10 minutes to have us follow a guided meditation. He would shut the lights and the doors and make us put our heads down and follow the sounds and control our breathing. It took me time to be comfortable doing it because when you get so focused on your breath it almost feels like an out-of-body experience because everything becomes so calm. It was a great way to end the day, taking a moment to reflect. I even found myself using it later on after the class. As future educators, it is our job to help relieve the anxieties our students may have. I think implementing mindfulness into a portion of our day can bring about calmness and even teach useful skills on how to manage and gain control in tough moments. It is not only a benefit to the students but also to us as educators as we can learn calming techniques on stressful days. Being mindful together is a bonding experience and I have had a beneficial experience meditating, it is definitely something I would implement in a classroom setting.
References
Long, R. (director/ producer). (2012) Room To Breathe [film]. ZAP Zoetrope Aubry Productions.
Why is Mindfulness Needed in Education? (n.d.). Mindful Schools.
Schwartz, K. (2019). Nine ways to ensure your mindfulness teaching is trauma informed. KQED Mindshift
Berkowicz, J. and Myers, A. (2021) Mindfulness, yoga, meditation and extended play in our schools (opinion), Education Week. Education Week. Available at: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-mindfulness-yoga-meditation-and-extended-play-in-our-schools/2016/11.
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