A lot of research has been done to support the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in helping children respond to psychological and environmental challenges. I believe that giving children the tools to pay attention to their thoughts, emotions, sensations, and behaviors is integral in addressing the unique and everyday stressors of their lives. When these regulatory skills are learned and mastered early on, they provide some of the most valuable tools for kids to remain buoyant in life's troubled waters.
This essential education is largely pushed to the side in favor of meeting academic standards in the classroom and basic needs at home. I would like to use this project to assist in implementing a secular, mindfulness-based counseling core curriculum that can be delivered in large and small group formats at my school.
I would begin by providing professional learning to classroom teachers using ideas from Dan Siegal's Whole Brain Child and Thich Nhat Hanh's Planting Seeds. This would help build a school-wide framework by which all staff could incorporate mindfulness in their classroom teaching. On days when I taught counseling core, I would model experiential exercises using the Zenergy Chime and meditation, while discussing how mindfulness applies to the social-emotional, academic, and career development of children. I would use the Hoberman Sphere as a visual tool to help large groups of students learn and practice deep breathing and expand these exercises with additional activities from Yoga Bug, Mindfulness Matters, and Mindful Kids. I would also include read-alouds and videos like I Am Peace and The Fox and The Child to reinforce mindfulness concepts. For students needing additional support, I would use games like Feelmo, Conversation Cubes, Totika Self-Esteem, and Playing CBT in small group settings. I believe that this would engender communication, trust, and resiliency.
About my class
A lot of research has been done to support the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in helping children respond to psychological and environmental challenges. I believe that giving children the tools to pay attention to their thoughts, emotions, sensations, and behaviors is integral in addressing the unique and everyday stressors of their lives. When these regulatory skills are learned and mastered early on, they provide some of the most valuable tools for kids to remain buoyant in life's troubled waters.
This essential education is largely pushed to the side in favor of meeting academic standards in the classroom and basic needs at home. I would like to use this project to assist in implementing a secular, mindfulness-based counseling core curriculum that can be delivered in large and small group formats at my school.
I would begin by providing professional learning to classroom teachers using ideas from Dan Siegal's Whole Brain Child and Thich Nhat Hanh's Planting Seeds. This would help build a school-wide framework by which all staff could incorporate mindfulness in their classroom teaching. On days when I taught counseling core, I would model experiential exercises using the Zenergy Chime and meditation, while discussing how mindfulness applies to the social-emotional, academic, and career development of children. I would use the Hoberman Sphere as a visual tool to help large groups of students learn and practice deep breathing and expand these exercises with additional activities from Yoga Bug, Mindfulness Matters, and Mindful Kids. I would also include read-alouds and videos like I Am Peace and The Fox and The Child to reinforce mindfulness concepts. For students needing additional support, I would use games like Feelmo, Conversation Cubes, Totika Self-Esteem, and Playing CBT in small group settings. I believe that this would engender communication, trust, and resiliency.
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