SMILING MIND

Students who struggle to learn math seem to have difficulty with learning in general.  I question how to help them.  I have often thought so many of my students just need to relax and calm down so that they can learn.  As a society that is constantly multi-tasking, mindfulness has become the new buzz word. What does mindfulness mean and how could this help my students?  In search of yoga and mediation practice for young children, I came across an elementary curriculum specifically for mediation.  So far, I have just printed the materials and listened to some of the breathing exercises.  I have also downloaded the app. I am excited to try this with a few of my students.  I believe many of my students live with chronic stress and I am hopeful that this could help them focus to learn math.

Smiling Mind website

The Bubble Journey for 7 - 11 years old audio download

Below is a photo and caption from the Smiling Mind website.

As much as I am excited to begin to use this program, this photo gives me some concern as it appears students are praying.  I am somewhat concerned that parents might become upset as meditation could be viewed as crossing the line with spirituality.  So far, the audio recordings that I have previewed just focus on breathing and finding calmness within.  In any case, I plan to get prior approval from my district before I implement this program.  Below is a parent letter that I will share with my building principal and parents.

The intent of this program is to help children learn how to manage stress and live a healthier life.  I have experimented with playing various types of music in the classroom.  When the music stops, students always ask for me to play more.  I have witnessed the positive affect of music. If music can help students to focus, I am interested to learn more about the possibilities of meditation. The Smiling Mind program also claims that children may display an increase in levels of empathy with fellow students.  As I plan to implement this program in full next year, I am thinking about how to monitor the levels of empathy with my students.  Teaching empathy has been a long time goal of educators without specific lesson plans.  How do we teach empathy and could this program really increase empathy?  I am hopeful that self-reflection could lead to greater compassion for others.   

Read an article from the Huffington Post about how a first grade classroom is using meditation.