Helping students focus in the classroom: the mindful breath
The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.
When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.
~Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
If you’re taking the time to read this post, you have probably experienced the stress of trying to manage a classroom with distracted students. One of the many roles of educators includes “classroom behavior management,” and the pressure to implement curriculum goals and prepare students for state tests is increasing.
Maybe one of your students has a tendency to talk a lot and is often disrupting others. It could be a student who isn’t distracting but seems internally preoccupied - looking out the window or nervously tapping on a pencil. Maybe you have a student who likes to sing or crack jokes during an important lesson. Regardless of the situation, you have an agenda to follow and some students don’t seem receptive. What ends up happening next? Are you able to help your student with a calm reminder? Do you have to call for support? Do you find your stress levels increasing?
Sometimes behavior can escalate as a student becomes increasingly agitated or upset. The behavior might be related to a condition such as ADHD or anxiety, or it might be something else. Maybe that child is hungry or sleep deprived. Maybe they’re feeling overwhelmed or confused and are uncomfortable asking for help. There are a variety of reasons that lead to disruptive behavior and you don’t have time to figure each one out while trying to implement your lesson plan.
Here’s where a simple mindfulness exercise can help you calm down, which in turn will help the student calm down. When we feel pressured and stressed our students will also feel it. Neuropsychology teaches us that we have mirror neurons and kids are especially sensitive to our emotional states. They will mirror back to us the emotions we are feeling, so if we’re stressed they are likely to also feel it.
Children learn behaviorally and that means how we respond to a stressful situation in the moment is going to provide a model for how a child responds.
Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us of the importance of mindfulness with loved ones in the quote above. I believe this applies to students we teach. We are usually in the teaching profession because we care about others and feel inspired to help. We are important authority figures in our student’s lives and have an opportunity to be a major positive influence.
Mindfulness helps us address the concern in the moment by not jumping to conclusions about the student’s intention or labeling them as “oppositional.” One way to do this is to practice deep breathing. Take a deep breath in as your belly expands, hold it for a count of 3, then slowly and intentionally exhale and notice yourself calming down with each out breath. As you calm down you will notice your students start to calm down as they pick up on your energy. This gives you the space to resolve the issue at hand in a way that is most effective for you and your students.
A study by Hartel, Nguyen & Guzik in 2017 in the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science found that the use of a 3-minute mindfulness meditation prior to the start of class provided a “positive learning environment for students who are under pressure to perform well academically and in their careers.” We can practice this type of meditation with students of all ages, modifying the length and activity depending on the ages of the children. For example:
Younger students can practice breathing out of a straw. This helps them slow down their breath, which activates the relaxation response. The relaxation response helps students calm down and be more receptive to learning and retaining new information.
Older students can practice the 5 senses exercise in the beginning of class, which helps them feel grounded and present, ready to learn. You can go around the room and have them name what they see, taste, feel (sensations in the body), hear and smell.
This week try one of these exercises and see how it goes. It will take some getting used to but over time you’ll find that the intentional practice of slowing down can actually help boost productivity.
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If you’re interested in bringing mindfulness into your school setting contact me! I look forward to hearing from you.