Blog # 12: Mindfulness and Social Emotional Learning

My new knowledge on trauma, mindfulness, and social emotional learning impacts my understanding of my future students lives and my role in supporting them in multiple ways. My knowledge of trauma has impacted how I handle situations in general, let alone how I handle situations in the classroom. I think all people experience trauma to some extent. When we learn it's okay to not fully understand, but acknowledge that someone else has experienced trauma makes you more understanding. I have become more emotionally responsive to students and the lives they live with after spending time in the classroom with students during field experience. I have hd two professors mention breathing exercises when it comes to a few techniques related to mindfulness. There are many resources to use related to mindfulness in the classroom, some examples are Go Noodle, Calming Corners, Community Circle can be a place for students to practice mindfulness. Something that I think will be extremely beneficial in my own classroom will be the use of "mindful moments", it's just a small break from all the things happening around us, a moment of quiet, or a moment to close our eyes. I learned a lot of new skills from the article by Sarah Montgomery, some of which were just ways to implement these ideas based on what you're already doing in the classroom. You don't have to change your curriculum to base it around mindfulness, you can just alter some things so it fits. This article focused on mindfulness in kindergarten but I really am confident it will be a wonderful skill to practice in the art room.

In regard to the documentary we watched, "Paper Tigers" I learned a lot about how social and emotional learning benefits students. I also learned that it's not all butterflies and rainbows. The teachers have to give these students the one person in their lives that won't ever give up on them. It is an emotionally charged experience for all parties. It's portrayed as a make it or break it moment and there's a lot at stake for these students. They've grown up in situations I can't even begin to relate to, but I want to be the teacher that doesn't give up on her students. I want my classroom to be a place they want to come to school for, not because its all fun but because I am able to provide them with opportunities and experiences they might not ever have anywhere else. Paper Tigers brought a lot into perspective for me, it's not going to be easy, but when you make that difference in just one student, it's worth it.

I really do think that breathing and walking mindfulness exercises translate to more positive and engaging citizens. If we put an emphasis on our mental health, we gain coping, empathic, and engaging skills that make citizenship development make a difference. We all could use a little more peace, kindness, and patience in this world. Teaching our students these skills will change the world and the people we live in, after all they are the next generation. Using mindfulness can feel really empowering and I think we need more of that for our students. I think one of the most important pieces from the article I took from was that if we teach mindfulness in our students it will spread to their families and community. That's the best way of spreading these messages and skills.


I can't help but think about this in a "performance art brain" is what I'm going to call it. In performance we spend time practicing our mindfulness through action based art making and I really would like to implement some of these exercises in my own art classroom in the future. In a lot of ways performance art is mindfulness - being at peace with what's around you. Since starting performance art I feel my mindfulness and my ability to understand other people's mindfulness has changed significantly. One exercise I think about often is the swaying exercise, it's goal is to bring the class together fully, but I can also see it being a mindfulness exercise. You all stand in a circle close enough to  be shoulder to shoulder. You all close your eyes and sway back and forth together as one unit, not separate people. We focus on breathing, becoming a piece of the full puzzle. I could definitely see myself using this in the future to bring mindfulness to my classes.

Throughout this experience the last few weeks, I think I need to start asking myself this question more. What about you? We can do this, we're almost there! Have a great week!