Mindfulness in Education

I am always grateful for the summer and I wondered why.  I then take a few breaths, and I remember.  In the summer, I have time to feel my breath, coming in and out…  As soon as the last school bus leaves, teachers are faced, for the first time in 180 days with the emptiness and the absence from constant busyness.   That’s when teachers can truly feel breathing in; taking in energy, instead of only remembering the exhausted sighs out; energy leaving our bodies.   We often don’t take the time to notice such a simple yet critical activity like breathing.  I have recently come to understand how practicing mindfulness of breath can have a positive impact on education.

This simple awareness of each breath is a big part of a concept in “mindfulness”.  Mindfulness is to be aware of the present moment.   The mindfulness study started about 30 years ago with the chronic physical pain reduction and management research.  After several positive results were proven, mindfulness practices have been implemented into the mental health field as an effective strategy for coping with stress and anxiety.  This success has caught the attention of educators.  Now, many advocate for practicing mindfulness in our classrooms as tool to help teachers and students deal with the social, emotional, and cognitive challenges that impact many of our students and families. 

Over the past few years, I have read research and testimonial articles on mindfulness.  I became curious.  What is this really all about?  What am I supposed to feel when I am mindful?  To satisfy my curiosity, I enrolled in the Mindful Fundamental online course (http://www.mindfulschools.org) in the summer 2015.  I learned that mindfulness is the act of bringing awareness to any experience just as it is.  I was becoming more aware, paying more attention to what I was doing during my new fitness challenge.  It was my first experience of mindfulness; to be aware of the present moment, not past nor future.  Gradually I became better at noticing my emotion and physical sensations.  I realized I had a fear of being judged.  Accepting negative emotions like this was difficult at times.   Emotion and thoughts are like clouds. Clouds can hover over me at times, though I know they will eventually float away.  I began to wonder, what if my students understood this concept?  What if my students could accept their emotions and manage them one at a time?  What if they learned to be kind to themselves?  Would their learning improve?  I started visualizing what this might look like in my classroom.  My own experience with mindfulness practice built my confidence of sharing mindfulness with my students for the upcoming school year.  At the end of the summer, I decided to implement mindfulness in my classroom.  I took in a big breath, and started to plan.

On the first day of the school, brand new second grade students excitedly and nervously entered in their classroom.  “OK, class, this year you will learn something you have never learned before.  It will stick with you from today on.  It is called Mindfulness.”  I had two students that year who had been identified as having behavioral concerns from their previous teachers. I knew I had some challenges.  I was curious about how these students would respond to the practice of mindfulness. I knew I had to help them understand.  In front of the class, I held up a clear water bottle filled with ¾ full of water and sparkling glitter on the bottom.  “It is your mind.” I shook the bottle.  Students eyes were glued on the shining glitter all over the place inside of the bottle.  “It is still your mind.  But it is called ‘monkey mind.’  Let’s watch it settle.”  This visual tool itself clearly explained to my students about the difference between focused and unfocused minds on the first day of their second grade year.  It was the first lesson in mindfulness.

From then on, I implemented five minutes of daily mindfulness practice and several weekly mini social emotional related lessons (MindUp)  to cultivated my second graders’ mindfulness. Some of the mini lessons included the scientific study of the brain, like what part of brain would respond through mindfulness.  Gradually, they started recognizing it as a tool for self-regulation.  They began to recognize when they had strong emotion, and how to focus when they were surrounded by distraction.  Especially, noticing their own emotion cultivated their compassion among themselves and others. Towards the end of the year, I heard my students engaged in meaningful conversations using the sophisticated vocabulary like “prefrontal cortex” and “neuroplasticity”. 

As a routine, my students listened to the five minutes daily guided mindfulness practice program (Smiling Mind http://smilingmind.com.au/) as soon as the school bell rang each morning.  During the five minutes, students’ hands were on their bellies to feel their breath coming and going.  The practice ended with the tranquil sound of bell….  I witnessed several occasions when students’ intentional breathing attempts, many cases, closing their eyes so that they can block out distractions.  The most surprising fact was that the students identified as having behavioral concerns paid attention to their breaths during daily mindfulness practice.   Many students wanted to share their success story in the circle time.  “I was angry when my friend didn’t play with me. Then I used mindfulness.” “I used mindfulness before math fact practice. I did well.”  Using their own words to explain their mindful experiences was a huge accomplishment for second grade students.  Students know when they are experiencing strong emotions, they cannot make good choices.  As the year went by, students recognize the frustration more quickly in the complicated academic tasks, then they took some breaths.  As they found calmness, they self-talked, not to pout but try again to the challenging tasks.  Additionally, the significant growth data in my math class was seen from September to May using the district mandated trimester assessments.  Interestingly, compared to the last year’s high academic group without mindfulness reinforcement, this year’s group showed more growth than previous year’s group. So why don’t we implement mindfulness in our learning community?

Adults, too, need to be aware of present moment and take care of themselves.  Mindful adults create a mindful atmosphere when they teach mindfulness in class.  Students feel it.  That’s how we develop relationships.  Mindful Schools’ trainers have developed the K-12 mindfulness curriculum that focuses on its benefit.  They have visuals that show two wings of a bird, one as focus and another self-regulation.  This curriculum guide is a rather simple implementation for the classroom and shows how it is not just one more thing to do as burden.  When every teacher and staff intentionally apply mindfulness in their practice, we cultivate a safe and pleasant school culture.  A mindful learning community strengthens students’ critical thinking and observation skills. It is also true that teachers with mindfulness convey effective messages in the current social emotional skills programs, such as Love and Logic and PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Supports).  A structural training in Professional Development must happen in order to create the mindful school community. 

Families can benefit from learning about mindfulness.  It can be a tool for growing positive social emotional skills at home.  We can invite parents to a mindfulness workshop with Love and Logic parenting class.  Mindful parents utilize Love and Logic strategies more effectively.  School staff must collaborate with families to create and share clear knowledge about mindfulness.  We can ask PTSA for the sponsorship when we invite a mindfulness speaker.  As they gain their knowledge of mindfulness, they, too, become aware of the present moment. 

Now you realize it doesn’t have to be only summer time to notice your breaths.  As soon as you are aware of exhaustion, breathe in.  And out.  Enjoy one moment at a time.  When students find out that they are capable to be aware of present moment, they will start using mindfulness as a tool to manage themselves and focus.  Learning will become their joy.

Kick off of the Summer Adventure

Pedaling on the orange sunset reflection  

In my closed world, a pedaling boat was something to do in public.  I’ve never thought about it available in the private property.  We are lucky to be invited at the Moore’s cabin, privileged to pedal on the transparent calm lake water.  While little wind creates marble like pattern on the water surface, each marble changes its size, shape, and color when kids get on the pedal boat.  It rocks back and forth.  Marble shapes waddle with human created commotion on the quiet surface of water.  Young riders start pedaling toward the sunset.  A boat draws wavy line behind as it goes further from our sight.  The fire like orange blends into the almost-over-sky blue and coming-into-indigo blue.  The lake reflects all of the magic of colors and make the world double impressive panorama view.  Sweet Sadie lays down and pokes her nose over the edge of the dock, keeping her eye on her human friends she made.

Relaxing… without bathroom trips at night

“Thank you, I am totally relaxed….,” I say to my massage therapist every month.  Even then, I need to make a couple of bathroom trips during my precious sleep.  I am a dreamer, too.  Sometimes I double dream. …..I cannot find the building where I am supposed to take final exam. Someone tells me the direction that never makes sense.  When I panic, I tell myself, “It’s just a dream.”  I hear my alarm and turn it off, relieved.  The next moment, I notice I really need to find my homework to turn in.  I just woke up!  Oh, no! It must be a dream.  And it was….. I say “relax” often to educate my brain I am relaxed, but it takes time for my body to learn relaxation, until I really sleep through the night without bathroom trips or double dreams.  Lake is great.  Probably a little bit of everything contributes to my No-Bathroom-Trip sleep, like an 8 hour drive and a glass of wine, I pass out after the second retaining breath with the lake magic.

Ice cream flavor must be huckleberry Priest Lake is known as the Huckleberry Haven.  Why not try huckleberry ice cream?  My friend told me that I should stop the store that makes “good” huckleberry milkshakes in the area.  On my drive up to Priest Lake is not as easy as I imagined.  I am about to going around a whole lake!   My eyes are as fierce as a red bull after passed 8:15 pm.  It is almost a longest day time, however, what am I going to do after dark in the woods?  “Skyler, pick up the phone and call Cindy, now!”  The cabin is the best I can find.  No huckleberry milkshake stand, today.

Eat burnt marshmallows, oh well

 

If you don’t like camping or fire or marshmallow or all, you are wasting a whole a lot of joy in your life.  Reconsider to try them!  Marshmallows are soft and white like summer cloud in the hot blue sky.  I didn’t like marshmallows when I was little because too much sweetness and stickiness.  See, I wasted my childhood’s joy by disliking them!  The strange word in my small world changed my whole perspective.  S’mores.  “How do you read that word?”  I asked a friend from Thailand in the English school. “I don’t know,” she said, “But it is good.”  Once I hit the first camp fire kumbaya, roasted marshmallows became addiction.  Of course, the munching the perfectly roasted light brown almost falls from the stick is the best, but at the same time, creating part of the perfectly roasted light brown almost falls from the stick is the worst addiction.  If you succeed or not, you have to eat them all!  Your experiment would be to set a marshmallows over the top of the fire flame or over the red hot coal.  The time management is another hard task.  How quickly or slowly take away from the fire?  If you have the perfect spot and time, you will get the perfect one.  The possibilities are depending on your experiences, just like your profession.  You will continue your roasted marshmallows challenge until running out of marshmallows or your mouth no longer take imperfect sweet samples.  The best part, there are someone who laughs at you when the marshmallows catches fire.  Time of joy.

Sadie is the friendliest canine we have ever met

Sadie is the black soft coated lab mix.  Her silky coat is irresistible to stroke on or just look at.  When she went to the pup beauty shop, she came home a Hollywood like shiny animal star. In the Charlotte’s Web, buttermilk made Wilber extra polish.  I wonder what buttermilk would do to Sadie’s coat.  She is the one lucky dog who was picked by the loving family who generously invited and treated us like their family.  Sadie watches all commotions that my kids create in the lake.  “One, two, three!” They splash into the still early summer cold water.  Wet and goose bumped bodies are wrapped up the towel, shivering.  Sadie knows they are seeking warmth.  She lays down on the sunny porch waiting for them.  She is prepared to share her warm coat with them.

Trails for walk, run, bike, and mark territories

There is no doubt that many people want to stay for a week or more at Priest Lake.  It’s not just lake, but so many trails that you can hike or bike.  From the campgrounds, you can access to a variety of trail heads that you can enjoy.  A father and son duo on the bike try to bike on the wilderness.  Bad news to dad, first trail biking from his back surgery.  The young boy looks almost out of breath just reaching to the trail head.  Good news is that there are easier options for them.  Happy family turns around and looks for another adventure.  While Scott takes my kids for running on another trail, Cindy and I walk on the campground gravel road.  Her happy canine finds a squirrel and barks at it with her wildly wagged tail.  When she gives up, she just marks some of her territories.  Nature calls her.

Lucy has trouble accepting other than herself

Mindfulness is hard enough on people, but I have strong desire for Lucy the little narcissist puppy to learn one. Her owner says, “Lucy, not all dogs want to play with you.”  Huh?  Maybe this owner needs some mindfulness practice, too.  Self-acceptance and self-awareness are important, however, self-admiration is often dangerous.  Try to put yourself into other people’s shoe.  Use empathy and compassion.  Hoping, one day, Lucy and her owner find peaceful moments even with other campers and dogs.

Art gallery is named Entre

Entre Gallery, I think, the place to eat.  There would be different exotic food displayed just like art gallery.   Maybe with some fee, you could test bite all food you see.  But Entre Gallery is the pure art gallery.  The arts.  Unique arts.  Technically, there are some food, like pretzel mix and orange water because they have an open house. In fact, I purchased things other than art, like huckleberry pepper jelly.  But even my-not-so-artistic eyes enjoy inspirational colors in the glasses and sophisticated curving on the wood work.  My hungry artistic brain is full and wants more.

Ken and Barbie special workout suits and hairdo

A typical American stereo type model is Barbie.  She has blond hair and blue eyes, big boobs, and flat tummy.  Somehow, some people manage to copy Barbie over 50 years old thanks to the advanced medical technology.  It, however, requires a lot of money.  So if you see someone who looks like Barbie, that person probably would be wealthy and have deep knowledge about healthy diet and rigor exercise on top of the most recent medical information including facial spa, body wrap, artificial sun tan, and plastic surgery.  Her bright colored shirts and white pants should be bleached and ironed at all times.  She might know interesting exercise poses from her fitness classes which we might think weird.  Her guy has perfect hair setting up the boat ready at the dock.  He, too, shows off beautiful artificial sun-tanned skin.  When he smiles, his extreme white teeth shines in the sun.  They have a perfect baby boy, Skipper, now grown in the early 20s meets a girl of his dream at the lake party.  Next year, Skipper proposes her in the same place.  She says yes.  That’s how far I know.  Do you think this Cinderella dream continues?

Emerge multi-layer colors at the horizon 

Look at this panorama photo.  You would say, “It’s so beautiful.”  But you don’t know that I am sharing this scene with my special people which make this scene more special.  To make more special, think of what I have done with my special people.  One snap of water reflection brings back all of treasurable experiences into present moment.  Different colors emerge in the one place so harmoniously.  Individual colors don’t look well blended, but they actually do into the nature.  It does to the human relationships.  Even if someone is very difficult to get along, you can find some common and emerge at some degree if you are willing.  And the differences surprisingly well blended.  Extend your hand and empathy.  This world we live in is not so bad if we are kind.  Emerged multi-layer colors are beautiful not only at the lake, but everywhere else.

Special Thank you to 

Cindy and Scott!

Mindfulness in the Classroom Wrap Up

Practicing daily mindfulness in my classroom started experimentally.  I had read enough articles and watched testimonial videos before the school year started that stated mindfulness can rewire our brains. Although it is true, it is difficult to observe your brain's growth very easily.  The way of finding effect is to be aware of how you feel at the moment.  Then, bring yourself back to the calming stage in your mind by observing your own breath.

In my classroom, we have done daily five minute mindfulness practice and gratitude journal.  We often discuss how we feel while we think we are mindful and when mindfulness would help in our lives.  Responses were almost always positive.  Happy.  Calm.  Peaceful.  Of course, there have been some behavior issues here and there.  Hmmm, maybe kids did an okay job on responding to mindfulness.  Yet, there are many other factors that could cause their behavior choices, such as a small number of students, just a lucky year, or most kids might have been mellow to begin with...

On the last day of May in the casual conversation after recess, I discovered the most incredible story just like  How Mindfulness Empowers Us in my own classroom.

Student: The soccer was fun but the first graders were yelling at us and complaining a lot.
Teacher: That is unfortunate.
S: But Pete (not real name) wasn't yelling and complaining.  He was mindful.
T: How so?
S: I noticed that his face was so red and mad and his fists were clenched,  he was just breathing and trying to calm himself.
T: That sounds incredible.  Is that right, Pete?
Pete: It was hard, but I tried my best and I used my mindfulness!
Several Students: Good job, Pete.  I am proud of you.

Consider, that these students are second graders, they did beyond a great job on the critical situation.  Our daily mindfulness practice not only effected on Pete, but students who were surrounding him.  I told my class, "I feel happy when you are proud and happy to use mindfulness."  I conclude that this year's experiment proved me to continue help youngsters' inner peace through mindfulness practice.

 

Be Humble

The first time that I read Charlotte's Web, I thought Charlotte was just teaching her little friend interesting words and their definitions.  I totally ignored Charlotte's actions of explaining their meanings without using words herself.  Look at the word "humble". 

Surely it is Charlotte and her creative work that is humble: she asks for no prizes, no recognition, only the assurance that her best friend will be spared from the Christmas table. In a world where few people seem connected enough to nature and open to the beauty of the world because they are constantly seeking success, power or wealth, Charlotte represents a truly humble soul who needs nothing more than her feelings to create a miracle. Her love for Wilbur is enough to do that.  (excerpt from Charlotte's Web Summary)

As a parent, I always dream about my own children's successes.  Is it because I am looking for power and wealth in their future lives?  I may have thought about it indirectly.  How much do I have to get involved and advocate them?  I paused for a moment.  The point is what kind of success you are talking about as well as what kind of power and wealth.

Power of choice, for instance.  If your child is confident enough to make great decisions in his life, that's his success.  That is the power.  Another example is wealth of knowledge.  If your child always enjoys new knowledge, that's her success.  She will have a rich knowledge to fulfill her life and continue her desire to learn.

Failure.  Let your child fail.  If your child struggles, searches for answers, and finds a way to flip his disappointment into triumph, that process is called "success".  Don't give him answers easily.  I humbly advocate my children by letting them take risks.  I want them to feel successful by being able to enjoy themselves and their lives.  It will be "Terrific"!

Break from the Silence

There once was a boy in Japan who had been sleeping for the last three years.  As he slept, he grew.  His arms and legs outgrew from his bed.  Although his parents worried, of course, they laid back because he looked content, happy, and like he was growing so strong.  One day, out of the blue, he woke up.  "Mother, Father, I have a duty.  I must go."  He had been thinking about how he could protect his village from the evil villain in his sleep.  Or perhaps he had pretended to be sleeping all along.  Off he went.  Face to face.  He recruited some helpers and got this evil villain out of the village.  The villagers appreciated this boy's action and respected the importance of "Thinking time".........

I finally break my silence like this boy.  I haven't seen a villain in my life nor have I found some tactic for brilliant ideas.  But I feel like I have stored a good amount of energy during the long silence.  I have been practicing mindfulness at home and at the classroom every day starting shortly before the break from my blog.  I also started a gratitude journal with my family.  I tried to make at least one compliment randomly every day.  I continued exercise and yoga.  There have been ups and downs, however, all experiences became my blood.

People need breaks and rest.  I now understand this.  It is okay to be tired.  It is okay to take a break whether it's long or short.  I have learned that I feel peaceful when I can accept who I am.  I keep the on-off balance so I can make a happy outcome for me, the people around me, and our community.