Mindfulness in the Classroom

https://tinyurl.com/yab8w64q

Over the past few years I have been trialing a variety of Mindfulness exercises for the classroom and timetable slots that suit.

Simple Habit and Headspace apps are incredibly powerful but are expensive and require a considerable outlay for schools with limited finances.

Smiling Mind is a non-profit App and can be specifically tailored to students of different ages.

Last year our school also participated in the Just Breathe project run by Bohdi and Kat from Australia. This was a marvelous focus for the students  and they understood the value of breathing quickly and clearly. They have daily audios for mindfulness breathing and now a YouTube channel  Once the project has been done by the school all the aspects of their website and resources are free to use. Their channel is free also.

https://tinyurl.com/ycw8yhm5

Recently I found a new site called MindYeti. We are currently trying this daily for a few weeks also. Nice a short calming videos/audio for students. However parts of it are locked out unless premium is purchased [again at quite a high cost]. An intro to MindYeti

Free for use are also the mindfulness exercises in FLOW which are part of the GoNoodle site. A great site for warm up's, brain breaks, mindfulness or just a plain bit of good ole fashion fun!

Graham Watts webinars for personal PD was undertaken in 2017 and he gives massive insight into the positives and benefits of regular Mindfulness/meditation with students.

https://tinyurl.com/yclgygfg

I have found that practicing small bits of mindfulness training are beneficial for learning and focus with students when undertaken straight after morning tea or before tests or after an eventful lunchtime. Keeping a regular time slot is beneficial for both students and teachers.


Students learn to practice breathing when they become anxious or stressed for whatever reason or event in their lives. I've heard from students who are still practicing it as they move on through to Intermediate. I've witnessed highly strung students using it to calm themselves automatically without prompting, I've witnessed students using it before a race or sports game.

I've also found that using Mindfulness in conjunction with viewing the brain animation series by Sentis on YouTube is also beneficial. Using the MindUp Curriculum  book and Your Fantastic Elastic Brain book all help for students to understand HOW their brain works and what we can do to support our own well being and learning. ClassDojo also have a selection of Mindset mini lessons and activities that support Primary students in developing a more positive attitude to learning. I have discovered that combinations of all of these things have not only helped ME to improve my positive well being and thinking but has also helped my students in well being and developing a positive growth Mindset.

A great source of Mindfulness activities is Mindfulteachers

Long may the growth and well being continue!

Just breathe, just breathe, just breathe...........

My interdisciplinary connection map

This was quite a taxing task to start with - firstly just trying to ascertain what interdisciplinary actually means.

Andrews (1990) defines interdisciplinary collaboration as occurring "when different professionals, possessing unique knowledge, skills, organizational perspectives, and personal attributes, engage in coordinated problem solving for a common purpose" (cited in Berg-Weger & Schneider, 1998).

Once I began they seemed to flow into different areas as can be seen by the map...additions kept popping into my head, so this image has now been changed five times.

See ONLINE with active links http://tinyurl.com/h3plnr7

As to focusing on one - tough call. I have decided to focus on my TEAM and my Team Leader as my interdisciplinary future focus as this is the plan in the forefront after completing my teacher inquiry aspect. This area for future focus will incorporate a variety of skill bases and can easily be thought of as interdisciplinary. My Team Leader has the skills [and has been doing this for many years) for running effective Mindfulness training in her classroom; a team colleague effectively runs a brainology type programme at the beginning of every year in her room; my proposal is to combine these expertise and knowledge with my goal to focus on Growth Mindset and begin a study on the effects and possible positives of running such programmes in conjunction with each other on the learners in my room. Also combining the outside expertise of Carol Dweck's information and Sentis productions. Jones (2009) cited interdisciplinary benefits as having a “wider knowledge base”, “wider personality base”, and a “wider design, teaching, and assessment methods to draw on and thus more balance in the overall approach” (Haynes, 2002, p.19). Reading a fellow Mindlabbers blog, which I will continue to follow with interest, has also inspired this interdisciplinary future plan of action. Dion Paxie has been running some interesting mindfulness activities on a daily basis and has through his blog he has inspired me to purchase books they have used as well as trial a few myself. Now to implement the plan in the new school year to see the overall effect it has on the students who have a ‘I can't do it’ attitude.

 Our focus would be to combine the knowledge and understanding of all three of us to create a programme that enriches and benefits our learners from the beginning of the year. We might also see if the combined ideals have any discernable or observable benefits to some of our learners, particularly those with fixed mindsets. Jones stated (2009) “the interdisciplinary approach is a team-taught enhancement of student performance, an integration of methodology and pedagogy, and a much needed lifelong learning skill” (p.3).  One would hope that as Jones (2009) suggests the “students and their teachers will advance in critical thinking, communication, creativity, pedagogy, and essential academia with the use interdisciplinary techniques” (p.5). Our interdisciplinary focus would follow a clear plan of action.

Initially students will be taught about a growth mindset, what it is and how it can affect their learning. They will be taught specifically about the workings of the brain and how this can benefit their learning using ‘Your Fantastic Elastic Brain Stretch It, Shape It’ (JoAnn M. Deak) and the ‘Mindup Curriculum’ as well as using Mindfulness Made Easy cd of exercises by Renew Your Mind. Boaler, 2013, commented on the teaching of the brain in schools being critically important and learning about its plasticity in improving students’ attitudes. “Research shows the plasticity of the brain and the ability of students to develop smartness through hard work and challenge” (p.145, p.150). Students will also be taught some mindfulness techniques and strategies, together with their peers.  According to Mrnjaus & Krneta, 2014, our subconscious and conscious minds are always searching for a 'handrail' to hold on to. This 'handrail' can be someone’s belief, spiritual thought or unknown energy, and it is something our minds perceive as true, this 'handrail' is called creative energy (p.1048). If we start to develop and challenge the subconscious attitude of the student we can start to change their mindset, which affects their ability to learn and achieve.  Mindfulness can begin to create a more positive subconscious brain and therefore improve the mindset of the student; the challenge will be whether we observe this change in students and teachers over the research period. We would need to incorporate some of Andrew Fullers ‘resilience’ training ideas too. The intention will also be to focus on how we as educators give feedback to students and how the students give feedback to each other. Lesson time during each week would focus on effective feedback strategies. The focus needs to move from being achievement based feedback or natural talent based to effort based; it needs to focus on the students understanding their steps to success and how their effort to achieve it is progressing.

http://tinyurl.com/hjzjkjb created by https://creately.com/

All these skills based teachings and knowledge from different people should prove to be a fascinating incite into the learners attitudes and minds as well as our own in a lot of respects. As the focus will not be a specific inquiry it should make for an interesting and adaptive learning focus over the year, which will encompass all aspects of our timetable and curriculum while also developing some life-long skills.

References:

Barton, K. C., & Smith, L. A. (2000). Themes or Motifs? Aiming for coherence through interdisciplinary outlines. Retrieved from http://auburn.edu/~silvesb/smicha/Barton&Smith.pdf

 

Boaler, J. (2013). Ability and Mathematics: The Mindset Revolution that Is Reshaping Education. FORUM: For Promoting 3-19 Comprehensive Education, 55(1), 143–152. http://doi.org/10.2304/forum.2013.55.1.143

 

Jones, C. (2009). Interdisciplinary Approach - Advantages, Disadvantages, and the Future Benefits of Interdisciplinary Studies, 7(2009), 1–6. Retrieved from http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=essai

 

Mathison, S., & Freeman, M. (1997). The Logic of Interdisciplinary Studies. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/mathisonlogic12004.pdf

 

Mrnjaus, K., & Krneta, M. (2014). Mindfulness, Concentration and Student Achievement – Challenges and Solutions. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116, 1044–1049. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.343

 

Mulligan, L. M., & Kuban, D. A. J. (2015). A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. Retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration./

Mindlab - literature review/discussion

Lots reading on mindfulness and growth mindset over the last few days relating to our research question:

What impact does growth mindset have on students achievement?

 

I think over the last bit of reading we need to add mindfulness to our research question. there seems to be a direct correlation between the two and thinking forward to my teacher inquiry it would be good to include mindfulness into this research. 

What impact does growth mindset and mindfulness have on students achievement?

 

I am not convinced that all mindsets can be changed if they are deep seated over many years but i may be persuaded to consider that teaching mindfulness could create a growth mindset in young people that they may carry on into their future lives.

 

I, myself have a fixed mindset with regard to teaching maths.  This is deep seated from a young age [refer to DCL1 and DCL2], while it has improved over the years and the mindset occasionally relaxes the fixed mindset overrides it often as it is so deep seated. The moment i am questioned on my teaching on maths, the moment someone comes in on a maths lesson, the moment someone questions my planning or teaching or grading in maths the fixed mindset comes right back and the stress and chip is retained. I don't believe this will ever change; we as teachers are constantly being judged by communities, by students, by parents, by management, by colleagues by media....therefore if our mindset is tentatively fixed we will always revert back to this as a coping mechanism. We all drop back to most learned behaviour.