Blog Post 6- Mindfulness

      After using the "Calm" app for about a week, I can definitely say that I will continue to use it. I typically struggle with falling and staying asleep because my mind races with thoughts and ideas as I am trying to fall asleep. With the Calm app, I used the guided meditation to help ease my mind as I drifted to sleep. I usually fell asleep within the first few minutes of the meditation! I typically enjoy participating in yoga classes because I always liked the meditation aspect of the class. The meditations on the app made me feel the same degree of relaxation. This app will certainly prevent teacher burnout because after a long day teachers (and everyone!) need to get a restful night sleep. This app put me right to bed. Also, this will benefit students because after a long day of school, activities, sports, and chores, students need to rest as well. This app changed my overall sleep experience and I will definitely be recommending it to my friends and family.

     As I have gotten older, I have become more aware of the importance of mindfulness and meditation practices. When I was younger, I was not fully aware of the positive effects that these practices had. One thing that I did learn in the article "Nine Ways to Ensure Your Mindfulness Teaching Practices are Trauma Informed" that not all practices are beneficial to all students. Nearly 46% of all children in the U.S. have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience People who have experiences trauma in their lives may not feel comfortable closing their eyes or even turning their lights off. Typically, people associate these two practices with relaxation, but for some, this can be trauma inducing and only make the individual feel more uncomfortable or anxious. I feel like a good alternative as a teacher could be to say 'do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable" and list examples such as resting your head on the desk, standing up to stretch, or even closing your eyes. Giving students different options when practicing a mindfulness techniques can help them feel in charge of their body and let them control and figure out what feels best for them. This is a very valuable lesson I have learned through this article because I did not realize that some practices that I may find relaxing, can actually make a student feel uncomfortable. I will definitely keep this in my mind and utilize these different techniques when in my classroom.  

     Students may seek mindful practices within schools to help them relax throughout the day. Typically, this would promote the students overall mental health and even improve their classroom productivity. But as I had mentioned, this is not the case for all. If students are forced to meditate in ways they are not comfortable with will cause them to be more anxious or nervous in class, and will have a negative impact on their mental heath. 

     The short film, "Room to Breathe" shows the reality that many schools face. In this particular school, the counselor talks about how it is a rather large school district and that they get many behavioral referrals for the general education students. She also mentioned that there are virtually no behavior issues for the students in the honors classes. This was not a shock to me because typically the students are driven to learn (those in the honors program) are there for that sole purpose, and not to act out. The film also showed how teachers continuously struggled to get ahold of their classes. One teacher even commented that sometimes students act out because they do not feel that school is a place for them. One issue that i noticed is that to punish kids for their poor behavior, a teacher kicked the student out of class. This not only preventing the student from learning, but also enforces the idea that they can just be thrown out for acting out. Kids act out in seek of attention, and this only enforces that mentality. This also connects back to what the teacher mentioned that students feel that school is not a place for them. This further enhances this idea because why would a child want to engage and interact in a classroom that they constantly get kicked out of? 

    

     In Conclusion, mindfulness can be a great way for people to relax and ease their mind."Researchers theorize that mindfulness meditation promotes metacognitive awareness, decreases rumination via disengagement from perseverative cognitive activities and enhances attentional capacities through gains in working memory. These cognitive gains, in turn, contribute to effective emotion-regulation strategies." (Davis, 2012)  It is up to teachers to figure out different methods and practices in order to cater to each of their students individual needs. The more aware teachers are of their students needs, the more comfortable and relaxed a student will be while in school!

References: 

Long, R. (director/ producer). (2012) Room To Breathe [film]. ZAP Zoetrope Aubry Productions.

Schwartz, K. (2019). Nine ways to ensure your mindfulness teaching is trauma informed. KQED Mindshift. Link (Links to an external site.)

Why is Mindfulness Needed in Education. (n.d.). Mindful Schools.

Davis, Daphne. (2012) What are the benefits of mindfulness? American Psychology Association.