Classroom Resources for Unplanned Moments

As teachers we know that we always need to be prepared for the unexpected. Carefully planned lessons are often interrupted by unavoidable disruptions and we are left with time that has not been planned for, an extra 10 minutes after a fire drill, a canceled prep time, or that 15 minutes before lunch when your students have lost their “steam.”  There are lots of ways teachers can fill in this gap time, for instance, having students finish work they have they haven’t completed, doing a read aloud, even watching a movie or video. Every teacher has their own toolbox for moments like this.  As a Mindfulness Educator, I started to think of ways to use these "gap" moments to  practice mindful awareness in fun and creative ways. 

 Here are a few of my favorite:

Spread the Love- Compliment Project

In this activity students take turns being in the “hot seat” while their classmates write compliments on the board behind them. This activity only takes about 5 to 10 minutes per student, which means it would be something you could squeeze into the end of a class period. Be sure though, if you start this project you will eventually have time to get to each student in class.

Watch here 

Pass the Cup

This is a fun mindful game to sharpen concentration, practice empathy, and build your classroom community. Students are asked to silently pass a cup full of water without spilling. The first round tends to build confidence, but as you play you can increase the challenge. The second time you play try doing it with eyes closed. 

Watch here to learn more about this game.

The Slow Race

The slow race is game where you and your students see who can walk the SLOWEST across a room. You can make it fun by being silly and enjoying the competition of who can be slowest. This is a great game to use when kids need to calm themselves down or when they’re overwhelmed and distracted. The slow race can help them feel more centered and grounded. It will help them slow down.The key is to keep it simple, lighthearted, and fun. 

The slow race should last no more than 3 minutes.

Gravity Glue

http://gravityglue.com/

Explore the work of the artist Michael Grab. Have students watch as he creates amazing sculptures out of rocks. As he builds the sculptures you and your students can notice how focused and calm he is as he works. You might ask how frustration would affect his work.

Watch here

Be Kind

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”  Wendy Mass

Someone cuts you off in traffic on your way to work.  An employee behind a desk becomes impatient and rude.  An argument escalates with a coworker.  We’ve all been there.  We have all had those situations that make us irritable.  What do we do next?

Our minds become entangled in negativity when we start obsessing about poor behavior directed towards us in a given situation.  We judge and convict based on our limited knowledge of the scene we encounter.  At times we adopt someone else’s perspective as our own or criticize our fellow man.  Then what happens?  We react, verbalize our opinions and magnify unfavorable outcomes for those who are already hurting. 

The truth is we are all trying to find our way through this world.  Our paths and experiences might be different, but we have all stood in the midst of adversity wondering how to move forward.  We have all acted responding to emotions and events intensifying into uncharacteristic behavior.  Every single person wishes they could have a “do over” for at least one specific conversation or event in their lives.   This is all repressed when we are consumed by our own worlds.  We forget that everyone else has their own world, too. 

Mindfulness helps retrain the brain to create pathways for self-compassion and empathy for others.  Reflection on daily situations that cause disappointment, anger or fear can help shift perspective, perhaps even allowing us to see from another’s point of view.  Regular practice of embracing understanding can make space for forgiveness, allow healing, and even serve as a catalyst for growth.  After all, the meaningful question is never “What mistakes did I/they make?” but is instead “What did WE learn from it?”

We are all human; we all make mistakes.  Remembering this and acting with kindness may remove some of the bitterness and sting for those who need it most.

The Silent Breakfast Club

A good friend has recently become an empty nester and is trying to eat all her meals in silence. No TV. No music. No books. (Not even spiritual books or magazines.) And she's been really enjoying the practice. So she invited me to become a member of the "Silent Breakfast Club." So far we are the only members, but the concept is to sit in our respective homes, at whatever time we deem to be appropriate and mindfully consume our breakfast. She speaks eloquently about employing all her senses; the heat of the ceramic mug of tea in her hands, the smell of the strawberries, or toast, the beautiful spring morning light.

I was hooked before she finished the description. Day 1 of my journey in the Silent Breakfast Club was not a failure, but hardly the miracle of mindfulness promoted. My actual response was:  "Well I’m going to have to do a few things like clean my windows, dust and get a clock for the kitchen that isn’t so damn loud."  But I persevered the next day, moving to a different room that was possibly less dirty. The window facing the sun was smudged, but right outside a pair of birds was building a nest. It has been amazing to watch the construction. So I'm starting to feel like the silent breakfast, and mindful eating is good for me, and I'm getting good at it.

Blue the pony having lunch

At this time of year, when the grass is growing, but the paddock is mud, I tether our pony to the clothesline and let him enjoy the buffet that is our back lawn. So yesterday we lunched together, me with a salad, and him with the grass. I decided to extend my silent breakfast to lunch and while quietly eating my mind rambled: "That pony has barely come up for air. Look at him, his head is glued to the ground eating the grass as fast as he can." Then I looked down and my plate was empty. I ate my entire lunch without tasting a bite while silently scolding a pony. Hunh. It's my ego at work- thinking I'm getting "good" at mindful eating.  

I love it when the universe whacks me with the realization that I am a messy mortal, a mindful novice, and I should stop judging and continue practicing.

You Have A Superpower

The Mindful MBA

When I started my MBA program at W.P. Carey, I didn't have a full appreciation for the onslaught of fear, uncertainty and insecurity I would experience. The constant grind of prioritizing (read: adulting) and re-prioritizing (read: frantic, absurd amounts of list making) is truly indescribable.

But I was prepared... because I have a super power.

I started practicing mindfulness in 2013, and since then, my practice has experienced so many different phases. I've read books upon books and journals until my eyes were bleary. Podcasts, apps and technology galore. Lots of Oprah and lots of Chopra. Headspace, Insight Timer, you name it. (Nothing works better for classes than Inner Explorer).

In my program, mindfulness helps me to stay focused and shows me the light and silver linings I would otherwise miss. If you're a planner, you probably know what I mean when I say we planners can worry, anticipate, over-analyze and hyperventilate with the best of 'em.

Mindfulness gives us (especially the planners) space. It gives us room to breath. It shows us that extra 4.5 minutes we were looking for sandwiched between meetings. It allows you to be comfortable asking yourself, "Do I really need to rush on this?" It also makes you more effective in the times when the answer to that question is "Yes."

BYOS (Build Your Own Superpower)

Whenever I realize I've dropped off from my usual mindfulness regime, I try to come up with ways to build it back in like my own personal little Hoover dam. Hopefully these tips will help you build your own dam:

1. Tiny habits. Use a tiny habit to remind you when you need to practice.
2. Visualize. Set your phone screen saver or lap top or something you see every day to a quote or picture that reminds you to practice.
3. EVERY. DAY. Just do it. Just sit and breath.
4. Forgive yourself. Have compassion when you miss a day. Mindfulness is a lifestyle change, just like working out or flossing your teeth. You have to love yourself enough to do it, and you have to love yourself when you forget.
5. It's not the length that matters. Trust me. Even if it's only 16 seconds. Sometimes, it's the intention that is the most important piece.

Forcing forsythia and smiles.

I'm training myself to be mindfully optimistic about spring instead of wishing away the present; but it's not easy.  Embracing three days of cold rain and grey fog in late March challenges my best intentions. So I cheat a bit. Without threatening mother earth to quicken the pace of her slowly timed season change, I force forsythia. Forsythia is a wonderful, hardy shrub that explodes into tons of bright yellow flowers in early spring. When the buds finally burst nature proclaims that winter has passed, but that's in April.

The cheating begins in the dark of March. Before the blooms have begun to open, I sneak into the garden to cut stems and carry them into my house. Putting the sprigs into vases of warm water, I can practically hear the sticks sigh with relief from the harsh cold. Then I wait and watch. I consider it a meditation to spend mornings with my coffee willing the buds to unfold. Eventually bright yellow petals greet me in my kitchen and my impersonation of Mother Nature is complete.  And that makes me smile; which is another way to endure March.

My current favorite guided meditation includes the instruction to create the "suggestion of a smile" at the eyes, and the mouth, and inside the mouth. Just hearing the teacher giving this direction makes me smile, so I comply. And I've started applying this forced smile concept to my March life. In the early morning, when I go out to feed my horse, if the rain runs down my back I practice smiling with the inside of my mouth.  Or if a passing car splashes me with cold slush as I approach my mail box, I attempt smiling at the corner of my eyes. I've read that dopamine, endorphins and serotonin are all released when a person smiles. So maybe even pretending to smile makes a person happier. And if it doesn't I'm still cheating winter by forcing the bright, sunny forsythia in my kitchen. It'll do.     

Time To Take My Own Advice: Stop Worrying!

Time to Take My Own Advice

"When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened."
-- Winston Churchill

As I sit waiting for my husband to get out of surgery, I thought, this might be a great time to write about worrying. So I think I’ll stop now, that is worrying about him. He’s in great hands.

Worrying stresses our bodies. Drips cortisol and adrenalin throughout our systems wreaking havoc on our organs, muscles and tissues. Not such a good idea to do to ourselves.

Preparation and taking care of what we need to do is about all we can do. There is a certain amount of luck and chance in our lives. We’re all going to experience great ups and not so great downs. Getting used to that notion may help us accept what arrives, riding the waves of this wonderful human experience. When we worry, we miss the great stuff.

When we face a challenge, let’s face it. The pillows are in the car. The matzo ball soup is waiting for Davey when he gets home. So are croissants for tomorrow. I’ve cleared my schedule to be available for him all week. Even got him a friend sitter to be there so I could go to a Graham Nash concert we’d be scheduled to go to for seven months. He will heal and I’ll do the best I can to help him do that.

As a third grader said a few years ago, “I was walking home from school and worrying. Then I realized I was worrying and I remembered about mindfulness. I stopped, took a few deep breaths, and then had a great walk home.”

Worrying is a choice. The kids are smarter than we are. That is certain. I’m going to take this third grader’s advice. Take a few breaths, enjoy the quiet of working in a hospital and then meet my hubby in the recovery room with a smile on my face.

My Morning Routine

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. ~ Marcus Aurelius

As a new teacher I struggled with mornings in my classroom. From the outside you might have never known. I relied on mornings that were highly organized and structured. I knew my second graders thrived on routine and predicability. Each morning I met them at the door and greeted them with a smile and a warm hello. Morning work was always neatly placed on their desk alongside a sharpened pencil. Everything appeared neat and tidy and “ready to go.” Except it wasn’t. Each morning my students would rush into the classroom, race through their morning work and begin to unravel my tidy, neat, highly organized morning routine.  It had this, “off to the races” vibe that often felt chaotic and rushed to me. I hadn’t even begun teaching yet and often by 8:45 I was exhausted. My students seemed to do well with the routine, but I felt no joy in beginning my mornings like this. I craved something different, and I wondered if my students did too.

I decided to ask them. How did they like to approach mornings? Did they like to talk to their friends right away, or read a book quietly first? Did they want to start their day drawing, or writing stories, or doing math? I told them how I needed to walk slowly into morning instead of jumping right in. How starting the day out with loud noises and bright lights and lots of conversation made me feel overwhelmed. We talked about how interesting it was that each of us had unique way to greet mornings. We celebrated our differences and brainstormed ways we could create a classroom environment in the morning that honored each of us. 

This talk changed our mornings forever.

Collectively we decided it was best for everyone if we set a calm tone in the morning. Most of us preferred to start our mornings out this way. Students knew that when they entered the classroom each morning they would do so quietly. I played nature sounds or classical music  from my iPhone. Students had a choice of what kind of work they wanted to start the day with. Some students drew, some students read, some students worked on math, some students worked together playing a math or literacy game. I had time to listen if students needed to talk or had a problem they needed help working out. 

I no longer began my mornings racing around sharpening pencils, copying “morning work” or asking students to lower their voices. I began to look forward to the mornings and the quiet buzz of my classroom. I noticed I felt more positive and energized to begin my first lesson and, in turn, my students were more engaged. 

By connecting and listening to each other, our classroom community was stronger. It was during this time in my teaching that I had begun to practice mindfulness. I decided to introduce some of the techniques to my students. We incorporated mindful breathing into our morning meetings, and mindful listening into our walks in the hallway. We noticed how our bodies felt after practicing mindful awareness and shared how we could use these skills throughout our day. 

What started as a simple inquiry about mornings led to a transformation in how I approached challenges in my teaching. One of the most important practices in mindfulness is your willingness to try to be open to each experience. When you apply this mindset to your teaching the possibilities for new discovery are endless.