Meditation and Mindfulness in Schools

hi everyone for my project. I did mindfulness meditation in schools.

The reason I chose this topic is because I am currently a teacher.

I am on my sixth year of teaching english language arts and for middle

school students and it is my sixth year in the inner city setting.

So this does not just apply to students in an inner city setting.

It applies to all students, but specifically with my students, I often see,

I see anger frustration, anxiety,

stress and the they're not sure where it's coming from, what is causing it.

And they also do not know how to cope with these emotions.

So it is affecting their academic performance

and their social and emotional well being.

So to get started, here are some definitions,

meditation is increased concentration that leads to increased awareness.

Mindfulness is awareness of thoughts, feelings,

body sensations and surrounding environment and then both of

them put together is a mental training practice that

teaches the body to slow down racing thoughts let

go of negativity and also calm the body.

I wanted to include some mental health statistics when

it comes to students of a school age.

So it is kind of a lead way into why mindfulness

meditation is a good practice to be implemented into schools.

So between 10 and 20% of adolescents experience a mental health

issue or mental health issues in a 12 month period,

Average onset for mental illnesses is 12-24 years old.

So usually around the age of 12 to 14

students or Children start to develop a mental illness.

Um and it can even lead up to developing at age 24,

but that range of 12 years from 12 to

24 is where the average onset for mental illnesses is

50% of those mountain illnesses start by age 14

and mental health problems impact adolescents potential

to live a fulfilling and productive life.

So while these statistics are probably not shocking and you

might have all been aware most of these by now,

it is sometimes still a good idea to take a step back and look at

these statistics and really think about how

Children are being impacted by mental health,

by anger, by frustration, by anxiety, by stress, and how it's not even,

it's not just affecting academic performance,

but just their emotional well being.

So why should mindfulness meditation be implemented into schools?

So there have been studies done to show that it increases focus, attention,

self control, classroom participation and compassion.

It improves academic performance,

ability to resolve conflict and overall well being.

And it can also decrease levels of stress, depression, anxiety,

and disruptive behavior.

So while the academic performance is very important

in schools, so is the social mental and emotional well being of the child.

If the child is struggling mentally, they're not going to be able to perform.

I have students who are very intelligent and

on days that they're struggling mentally, whether something happened at home,

they're having a fight with a friend,

they're not able to live up to their full potential

um in class and it affects their academic performance.

So mindfulness meditation is kind of just, it is going to increase

progress in a student's life overall.

It's going to help in every aspect with academic, with social and emotional.

So I researched um many different studies of mindfulness meditation in school and

I came across three that I thought showed the most positive outcomes.

Not that there were any that showed negative outcomes,

but I identified with these studies because the first two

kind of talk about um

talk about one is academics, one is social,

emotional and then the third one kind of combines both

the results of both of the first two studies.

So here are a few examples of studies that have been completed.

So in 2016 they're 7 to 9 year olds were measured on

their emotional well being with school based mindfulness program and there was,

it was discovered that they had improvement in higher order thinking.

Student engagement

and they became more positive learners.

I found this study to be extremely interesting,

mainly because of the higher order thinking.

So as an english teacher, we are constantly reading, I'm asking questions.

I'm having, my students try to ask their own questions on a text.

I'm trying to have them think at a higher level because it helps to

comprehended stories.

So they're able to make better connections and break

down a text with the higher order thinking.

So with this I thought it was really interesting that maybe some

of my students who are not grasping the higher order thinking,

maybe it's because they are being blocked mentally by their emotions

and they're not able to get to that point.

So mindfulness meditation would help them.

The second study I looked into and I'm going to share was done in 2014.

And then it was a random randomized randomized control study

with more than 106th grade students and they completed classroom based

teacher implemented mindfulness meditation and it found that they were less

likely to develop suicidal ideations and thoughts of self harm.

So this study was away from the academics and was more on the child itself.

Over the past years with Covid,

I have more students who have expressed thoughts of self harm,

negative thoughts of suicide, even sometimes thoughts of hurting others

than I did before. Covid ever happened. So there's people obviously were isolated.

They were at home more. Some of my students school is their safe place.

So since Covid,

I have more and more students who come to me

with these thoughts of self harm and suicidal ideations.

And so,

I'm intrigued that if this was found in 2014 that mindfulness meditation could

really be beneficial to students now after coming out of the pandemic,

even though we are still living in a pandemic world,

kind of being on the other side of it. Maybe

if schools were implementing mindfulness meditation daily, it would help,

it would help students to have less suicidal ideations and thoughts of self harm.

And then the last study I'm sharing was done in 2016 and it was

with 4th and 5th graders who received

mindfulness training in an improved cognitive ability,

stress physiology, empathy, perspective, talking emotional control optimism.

And they were also more liked by their peers

because of the above bullet points and it also

decreased self reported symptoms of depression and peer rated aggression

as I previously mentioned before,

the third studies kind of a combination of the results of the first two studies,

but I think it's really important, especially because I teach

5th grade is my lowest grade, but I'm often still

getting to know the fourth graders because they will be in my class the

following year and then I will have them until they're in eighth grade.

So I like to take that year before to

also develop a relationship with the students come in so

that they can understand who I am and they know I am a person that they can trust.

And I like to also liked this study because

it really went into specifics about a person,

Although these studies are back from 2014 and 2016.

I wanted to incorporate them to show that

those all those years ago mindfulness meditation was being

implemented in school and was having a positive impact.

So that to show now that it can still have a positive impact in schools

and that I believe mindfulness meditation should be

used on a daily basis with students.

So I wanted to share some activities that

can be used as mindfulness meditation in schools.

Uh there are so many activities you can come across which at the in

the last slide I actually share some resources that can be used for,

not only just teachers for parents, uh

um any adult in a person's life that they can use to help

a student or help a child when they are overwhelmed with their emotions,

whether it's inside of school or outside of school.

So before

activities are implemented,

there are some points to consider whether you are a teacher, a faculty member,

a parent, uh an aunt, uncle,

grandmother or grandfather who's going to try to implement these activities.

Um the first one is to include yourself in the practice.

If a student is not given proof that something can work,

then they're not going to have a point to try it.

So anytime I give my students some kind of skill or technique or coping

mechanism to use,

I make sure it's what I have used before and I know has worked for

myself because then they are more likely to want to try to use it,

they see it being modeled by the person that they're

trusting at that time with in a vulnerable state.

So it's important to show that you understand what they are about to do,

so that they trust you

also make it positive.

Sometimes students can be a little indifferent

about trying something that's unlike what they're

used to doing.

So like in a classroom, if it's something outside their classroom routine,

so make it positive.

So maybe even you can dim the lights,

you can make it a really comforting and positive atmosphere so that the student

or students start to feel comfortable and to trust what they're about to do.

Also an

important one,

there is no failures that goes for your students who are

trying it or anyone who's trying a mindfulness meditation technique.

Um

your mind is going to wander and the whole point

of mindfulness meditation is to keep working towards the goal.

It's important to tell the Children that it's most

likely not going to work the first time,

not that it's not going to work,

but you might not feel the positive outcome you are looking for,

but it's important that there is no failure.

It is something you have to work towards and also be clear about the emotions.

So talk about different emotions that might be

felt or that you might be releasing during

coping a technique of mindfulness meditation.

So they understand what they might feel or again what they might be releasing.

So the first activity that I actually started to

do in my own life is mindful breathing.

So it's important to think about our breath when we're stressed,

we take shallow breaths and then that means that our heart

races up when we really kind of to relax our body,

we need to slow our heart rate.

So I like to call this with my students belly breaths because it's get,

it's a term that is more

on their level they're able to understand.

So you they can be sitting down, standing up, lying down,

you breathe in slow and deep for around five minutes.

You can count to three, even four or five on the inhale and the exhale.

And sometimes it's even important to have students put

their hands on their stomach so they can physically feel

the deep breath and to feel that it is starting

to slow down their heart rate and calm their body.

There is a Youtube video that shows how this mindful breathing works.

The next activity is the five senses. So the five senses, it's in a moment of stress.

It's a way for someone to reconnect with their bodies.

So things that they can see for things they can touch,

three things they can hear two things they can

smell and one thing that they can taste.

Um for younger students, they may not be able to think of that many um 5432 or one.

So as long as they can find one for each sense,

it will still help them reconnect with their body

and then the last activities, daily gratitude.

So it's really easy for humans to remember the negative. So

you could take a teacher again, it doesn't have to just be in school,

it could be at home auto.

Also remind students to remember the positives.

I'm actually going to start this in my class for the first five minutes.

My students are going to think about something they are thankful for and do this

daily gratitude so that it is starting to

reinforce positives in their life life and reframe

their mindset from the negatives they can share

with the class or keep it to themselves.

So with each one of those activities,

I did incorporate a Youtube video that can be watched to help.

And then there are also resources that can be used

to help um look at different types of coping mechanisms in

mindfulness meditation techniques and to help adults who are looking

into in schools who are looking into the mindfulness meditation.

Thanks everyone

Meditation and Mindfulness in Schools

Chapters

Audio TranscriptAuto-generated