Social/ Emotional Mindfulness

                                                

     This week's module, Social and Emotional Mindfulness, explored the concept of how to control one's emotions and alleviate student stress. It has been seen that "An increasing number of today's students face challenges that affect their ability to focus attention, regulate difficult emotions, build inner resilience, and form healthy and supportive relationships'' (Why Is Mindfulness Needed in Education?) These concentrations can directly affect a student's studies because if their emotions are unbalanced, they will struggle to retain information. The module gave us primary sources through the viewing of the video, and reading various articles which all promote the importance of mindfulness and the benefits it brings forward. 

   The film Room to Breathe was interesting and eye-opening. Prior to viewing the film I was never one to believe in meditation and mindfulness techniques because they never worked much for me. However, after viewing the film and reading how the student's had shown long term changes from the institution of social mindfulness lessons, I had developed a new perspective on the practice. The film not only showed student interaction within the classroom, but outside the classroom at home, or with friends, which allowed for the viewer to develop a personal connection with the students and see why they act the way they do. The particular middle school that these classes were implemented in was one that contained many disruptive students with no respect for their teachers. The school was having abnormally high suspension rates and was incessantly having students sent out of classrooms. The school felt that by including these mindfulness lessons, which included two visits a week for 20 minutes, would reduce conflict within students and teach impulse control. The classes were not only conducive to the student, but the teacher as well. The main teacher in the film explained that as an educator you begin to burnout because how can you develop a relationship with a student who is nothing but disruptive and has no desire to do better for themselves. One study showed that educators are burning out and that 61% of teachers reported being stressed out, 58% of teachers said their mental health is unwell or not where it should be, and that public educators have been breaking records for the most amount of educators quitting their jobs within the same time frames (Why Is Mindfulness Needed in Education?) It is important to note that the mental health of students is not the only important aspect, but teachers' as well because without educators we would have no one to teach our students. 

    When considering mindfulness practices, one has to consider the emotional process that it involves. In recent findings, it has been noted that "Students may have experienced trauma that makes sitting silently with their eyes closed feel threatening, and teachers can’t assume it will be an easy practice for every child" and "That awareness is important to create an inclusive environment, but it doesn’t mean that teachers shouldn’t cultivate their own mindfulness practice or use some techniques with students" (Schwartz, 2019.) Teachers have the freedom to be creative with mindfulness practices, but need to remind themselves that not every student is going to feel comfortable with certain aspects. The article "Nine Ways To Ensure Your Mindfulness Teaching Practice Is Trauma- Informed" explores various techniques and safeguards for practicing mindfulness with students. These include: Do no harm, Establish a sense of safety, Build relational mindfulness, Understand Intersectionality. Be mindful of implicit bias and culture., Understand the "window of tolerance", the paradox of mental training, prioritize somatic-based exercises, Don't over -identify with mindful logistics, and think about daily mindfulness interventions" (Schwartz, 2019.) . All of these strategies and conscious applications help teachers interact with students and take note of their emotional reactions and triggers. It is important to understand that mindfulness is not routine or structure, but a state of being or emotional understanding, to help one calm down. 

Requiring us to use an app for the week was a great idea, and one we all needed. In my future classroom I might implement my students to use the app the entire school year and log their feelings weekly for now. I used the app Smiling Mind, because it sounded cute so I chose that one. The app was conducive because it forced me to take time out of the day to simply breathe and recollect myself. I also used my apple watch which I like because at various points in the day when I am stressed, it buzzes and reminds me to take a few minutes to breathe. It has been seen that these apps help people have less stress, better social relationships, improved memory (Vozza, 2019.) and The app was overall awesome and I plan to try some of the others you suggested. 

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.

Vozza, S. (2019, November 1). 3 unexpected benefits of using mindfulness apps. Fast Company. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.fastcompany.com/90425079/3-unexpected-benefits-of-using-mindfulness-apps.

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