ELE 2050/MLE 4760: Social Emotional Resources: Mindfulness

The curriculum covers these five key mindfulness practices: Breath awareness Body awareness Focusing on gratitude Kindness toward self and others Open awareness Each chapter includes a detailed lesson plan with suggested wording, as well as support materials (e.g., journal templates, activity sheets, and infographics). These tools, as well as audio recordings of the practices, are also available on our website as free eResources for classroom use.

This boxed card deck includes 50 creative mindfulness games, visualizations and exercises divided into 5 categories to help children feel grounded, find calm, improve focus, practice loving-kindness and relax. Whimsical full-color illustrations on both sides of the cards break down each practice into easy-to-follow steps. Tips on individual cards plus an 8-page instructional booklet show modifications that make these activities inclusive for children of all abilities.

Helping Kids Live Mindfully: A Grab Bag of Classroom Activities for Middle School Students helps students enhance their lives by using Mindfulness on a daily basis in school and at home. It gives them the tools to cope with anger, frustration, and stress, while helping them learn how to talk and listen to get positive results. The book aims to help students maximize their school experience academically and socially.

Surviving School Stress provides the reader with fundamental components of different types of stress, stressors, and strategies for interventions. In Part I, Dr. Lebrun breaks down the individual components of each type of stress and provides readers with a clear understanding of the key concepts and essential questions needed to be able to effectively intervene with children and adolescents within a school or home setting.Part II of the book provides a framework for educators to use to guide small and large group lessons in a school setting. Each lesson can be individually presented. The small group lessons are meant to guide students in a very focused direction. The general classroom lessons can be adapted depending on the needs of the group within that particular classroom. This resource is suitable for all special education teachers, general classroom teachers at the K-12 levels, behavior consultants, and school mental health counselors.

This handbook addresses the educational uses of mindfulness in schools. It summarizes the state of the science and describes current and emerging applications and challenges throughout the field. It explores mindfulness concepts in scientific, theoretical, and practical terms and examines training opportunities both as an aspect of teachers' professional development and a means to enhance students' social-emotional and academic skills. Chapters discuss mindfulness and contemplative pedagogy programs that have produced positive student outcomes, including stress relief, self-care, and improved classroom and institutional engagement.  Featured topics include:  A comprehensive view of mindfulness in the modern era. Contemplative education and the roots of resilience.  Mindfulness practice and its effect on students' social-emotional learning. A cognitive neuroscience perspective on mindfulness in education that addresses students' academic and social skills development.  Mindfulness training for teachers and administrators. Two universal mindfulness education programs for elementary and middle school students. The Handbook of Mindfulness in Education is a must-have resource for researchers, graduate students, clinicians, and practitioners in psychology, psychiatry, education, and medicine, as well as counseling, social work, and rehabilitation therapy.

In recent decades, education at all levels has been seriously impoverished by a growing obsession with standards, targets, skills and competences. According to this model, only a circumscribed range of basic cognitive skills and competences are the business of education, whose main role is to provide employability credentials for people competing for jobs in the global economy. The result is a one-dimensional, economistic and bleakly utilitarian conception of the educational task. In Mindfulness and Learning: Celebrating the Affective Dimension of Education, Terry Hyland advances the thesis that education stands in need of a rejuvenation of its affective function - the impact it has on the emotional, social, moral and personal development of learners. Drawing on the Buddhist conception of mindfulness, he advances a powerful argument for redressing this imbalance by enhancing the affective domain of learning. Mindfulness and Learning: Celebrating the Affective Dimension of Education shows how the concept and practice of 'mindfulness' - non-judgmental, present moment awareness and experience - can enrich learning at all levels. Mindfulness thus contributes to the enhanced achievement of general educational goals, and helps remedy the gross deficiency of the affective/emotional aspects of contemporary theory and practice.  The author outlines a mindfulness-based affective education (MBAE) programme and shows how it might be introduced into educational provision from the early years to adult education with a view to harmonising the cognitive-affective balance across the system.

This book shows teachers how to use the evidence-proven technique of mindfulness to manage the stressful demands of the classroom, cultivate an exceptional school environment and revitalise their teaching and their students' learning. Drawing on basic and applied research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and education, as well as the author's extensive experience as a mindfulness practitioner, teacher, teacher educator and scientist, it provides exercises in relaxation, movement, deep listening, and more, all with real-time classroom applications.

With foreword by Paul Liabenow Build compassionate classroom environments and mindful schools that prioritize high levels of achievement and high levels of well-being. Based on the latest neuroscience research, Mindfulness Practices details how mindfulness in schools can lead to new, improved ways of educating, learning, and living. The book's mindful education exercises are easily adaptable across grade levels -- from prekindergarten through high school -- as well as across urban, suburban, and rural school settings. Mindfulness exercises and trauma-informed practices for a positive learning environment: Explore the theory behind mindful education, including the interrelated nature of physiology, cognition, emotions, and mindfulness for students. Learn how mindfulness in schools contributes to a positive mindset, alleviates the impact of toxic stress, and takes advantage of neuroplasticity. Understand the effects of trauma and ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) on student behavior and the ability to learn, and discover trauma-informed practices that support healing. Acquire research-based mindfulness practices, including breathing exercises, yoga for the classroom, meditation for students, and cognitive reflection and awareness. Reignite the passion that first drew you to education and prioritize self-care for yourself and your students. Discover how to build a heart-centered learning community in classrooms and create mindful schools. Contents: Foreword by Paul Liabenow Introduction Part I: The Urgency of Now Chapter 1: The Need to Care Chapter 2: The Journey--Healing Along the Way Chapter 3: Our Brain and the Mind-Body Connection Part II: Mindfulness Practices--Getting Practical Chapter 4: A Deep Breath Chapter 5: Move and Stretch--Yoga and Meditation Basics Chapter 6: Mindful Sensation, Presence, and Emotion Part III: Mindful and Compassionate Classrooms and School Communities Chapter 7: Mindful Instruction--Paying Attention to Your Students Chapter 8: Executive Functioning Chapter 9: Mindful Leadership From Within--A New Mindset Epilogue References and Resources Index

Much of the literature about stress and its effects on children is focused on how these various groups can learn how to "cope," "adapt," and/or "manage" stress. Practicing mindfulness, on the other hand, is about becoming familiar with how one responds to stress and, as important, how one can differentiate between stressors that generate beneficial actions and ones that escalate distress and discomfort. It was the latter approach that characterized the year-long mindfulness project that a group of racial, ethnic, and culturally diverse fifth graders in a local Boston public school participated in during the AY2016-2017.