Mindfulness in the Art Room and Beyond

I’m really lucky to work in a place that’s super supportive of whatever seemingly strange thing I do with kids. And using mindfulness in the classroom is something that is at first glance REALLY hokey. The kids think it’s silly at first, I felt awkward….but… it’s magical and oh so important.

I decided to introduce Mindfulness into my classroom last year as a blanket strategy instead of a one time thing or something I do one on one or in a small group with kids who need it. Instead, I did it as a Warmup activity. Upon introducing it, we did it for a week and set aside the other warmup activities we had been doing. How did I introduce it? How did I get students to sit still or put away their phones? I hear the questions beginning from you.

I introduced it by sharing the research that spending time quietly sitting and paying attention to their breath actually increases brain function, helps with self regulation, and helps them learn. And by sharing the research – I literally said that sentence to students I just typed. Then I said, we are going to sit in silence for a minute, no phones, no talking. Now I’m a pretty lenient educator when it comes to talking and phones but during this time period I was strict. I waited for all phones to get put away and then I put on this video.

I instructed students to focus on the shape and try to inhale as the shape gets big and exhale as the shape gets small. And remind them that they don’t need to breathe as long if they can’t.

The next day, we used a different video.

This one uses a bell which is a nice variation and students can close their eyes.

The following day we used this one – which has a bell but it’s used in a different way and students can watch the image or can close their eyes.

The following two days I surveyed the class to find out which video they’d like to use and each class was drawn to something different.

Students then had a tool to use and I shared these videos with them. I utilized the Mindfulness as a Warmup each week and as the school year began to get progressively more stressful it was something we did often. Students would ask for it as a way to begin class. My AP Students actually speak about the use of mindfulness and breathing in their Survival Kits 

Now. I’m going to tell you something that’s really hard and might be somewhat controversial. You can’t use these strategies without actually practicing mindfulness yourself. Here’s why. You can’t really take that minute for yourself during the class because your job is to notice the students in the classroom or the ones who are coming in tardy or noticing that there are kids in the hall or whatever you need to notice outside of your breath. You also NEED IT TOO. (Yes that’s me yelling at you… you need mindfulness…you need to take a minute or two or five or ten for yourself) If you don’t believe me, here’s one of my favorite guys telling you why.

So take some time for yourself. Headspace is a great app to use (I use it daily) and I don’t get any money for constantly pressuring people to sign up but it’s wonderful. But there are tons of other ways too (Calm is one!).

This summer I was so lucky to be able to share some of the teacher mindfulness tools with some of my colleagues. We did some mindfulness exercises using some videos, some sensory exercises, and lots of sharing and reflecting. Here’s the slideshow from the workshop – which I’d love to do again! It was such a wonderful experience.

If you have other ways you use mindfulness, please share! As I continue using this practice with students, I’ll do another post – I have some ideas for next school year!