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Carol Dweck - A Study on Praise and Mindsets

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Can Meditation Help with ADHD?

"Extensive research has proven that mindfulness training integrates the brain and strengthens the important executive functions that support emotional and social intelligence, as well as academic success," says Daniel J. Siegal, neurobiologist and author of The Mindful Brain. (#CommissionsEarned)

What Are the Benefits of Meditation for Students?

Classmates who practice mindful meditation together every day are more likely to trust and support one another. In addition, students who meditate often experience the following benefits:

Increase attention span

Harness energy in healthy ways

Tap into creativity

Improve self-regulation, confidence, problem solving, focus, compassion and empathy

Learn to pause, slow down, and be calm in times of stress

"Meditation is very, very, very peaceful, relaxing, and it makes me feel calm when I do meditation," said one student. "If I am sad, angry or disappointed meditation makes me feel better. That's why I love meditation!"

Indeed, teachers and parents report that students are ready to process new information and actively learn following meditation and yoga sessions, particularly physically active ones.

"Without mindfulness, my daughter cannot absorb what is being taught and she doesn't have the interest in learning," said one parent. "She is clouded with anxiety, but with daily meditation and some yoga she is able to clear her mind of these distractions and move into a state of reception and intrigue. Meditation was the most talked about learning tool during her second-grade year. She taught us how to do it and would practice it on her own as well. To this day, she uses meditation to calm herself when she is frustrated with her sister or me. These sorts of skills are imperative life skills that help her to feel confident, centered, and ready to take on the world."
[Free Download: Kid-Friendly Mindful Meditation Exercises]
How Can I Teach Mindfulness to a Child?

Integrate mindful meditation into your curriculum using these 10 exercises:

1. Set the stage for mindfulness by watching, "Teaching the ABCs of Attention, Balance, and Compassion by Susan Kaiser Greenland" together as a class. Assign books about mindfulness, like Imaginations by Carolyn Clarke, as well.

2. Put meditation and yoga on the daily schedule. Practice yoga poses in the morning, and meditation at the end of the day. Start with the "Take 5" method where students take five slow breaths inhaling through the nose, then exhaling through the mouth. From there, build up to longer activities.

3. Take a "noticing walk" around the school or playground. Tell students to silently tap into all of their senses. Stop to look at pebbles, or listen to the sound of leaves blowing in the breeze. Then, at the end of the walk, ask each student to share one observation. Talk about how you walk by these things every day, and rarely pause to take them in. On a rainy day, dim the lights and ask students to breathe in time to color-changing LED lights. Play soothing music and use a diffuser with lavender, orange, cinnamon, or lemon scent to create a peaceful atmosphere. Help students practice mindful listening by cataloging how many different noises they can notice in one minute.

4. Team up with the art teacher on a project to craft a glitter jar where students choose three colors of glitter - one each to represent thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Fill a container with water and a few pinches of each glitter, seal the jar, and ask students: What shakes up your emotions in positive and negative ways? Is it winning a sports game? Fighting with a sibling? Ask the kids to swirl the jar with each thought. Then tell them to be still, practice the "take 5" method, and set down the jar. As the glitter slowly settles to the bottom, so too will their thoughts and feelings come under control.

5. Buy a yoga card deck, like Yoga Pretzels. Let students take turns picking a pose and practicing it as a class. Challenge them to learn the Sanskrit name of each pose. Try changing from pose to pose in slow motion. After your students have mastered all of the poses in a deck, ask them to invent a new pose, and give it a name. As a bonus, let your students use chimes, a singing bowl, or a gong to signal the end of meditation.
[Your Child's Brain on Mindful Meditation]
6. Practice mindful eating during snack or lunch time. Give a few raisins to each student, telling them to pretend they are aliens who have just landed on earth. Ask them to look at each wrinkle and fold, to touch the fruit and notice its plumpness. Give the raisin a squeeze to see if it makes a sound. Smell it. Then ask your students to place one raisin in their mouths, and notice how it feels when they chew and swallow. Ask the children to answer three questions: Was anything surprising? What did you notice about the raisin that you never did before? Did any thoughts not related to raisins pop into your head? For homework, students can demonstrate this activity to their families.

7. Use a "peace rock" for meditation. Hand out smooth rocks you gathered over the summer, or take students on a walk to find a special rock on the playground. Instruct them to hold the rocks in their hands and stare at them while completing a breathing exercise. Then, use the rocks to build cairns in small groups. This exercise builds patience as each rock is carefully balanced atop another, and teaches frustration tolerance when the rocks fall down in a heap.

8.Create a gratitude circle. Ask your students to sit together and send peaceful thoughts to a person or a pet they really love. Then, stop and ask each child to send peaceful thoughts to himself or herself. Next, ask them to take turns sharing a reflection of thanksgiving or a kindness about another student. Write down their words and create a gratitude jar filled with the notes. Pull them out throughout the year.

9. Play the marble roll game. Give each student an empty paper towel or toilet paper roll, and have the class stand in a line. Give the student at the head of the line a marble, and instruct your students to pass it down the line using only the rolls - not their hands. If the marble falls to the ground, the activity starts over.

10. Ask students to write their own guided meditation scripts once the class is familiar with meditation practice. Start by asking students to imagine a special place they love. Ask them to describe it in great detail using each of their five senses. Include breathing techniques throughout the meditation, and then close with some form of relaxation. Share the first draft with classmates, then get suggestions (and compliments), revise, test it out, and create a final piece. Students can then go "on tour" and give guided meditations to other classes. You can even use Vocaroo to record the meditation to share with family and friends. Listen to a sample guided meditation here.
[Expert Webinar: How Meditation Helps Students with ADHD Thrive]
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10 Mindfulness Exercises for Stronger School Focus

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"Extensive research has proven that mindfulness training integrates the brain and strengthens the important executive functions that support emotional and social intelligence, as well as academic success," says Daniel J. Siegal, neurobiologist and author of The Mindful Brain . (#CommissionsEarned) Classmates who practice mindful meditation together every day are more likely to trust and support one another.

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Headspace | Meditation | Accepting the Mind

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Social emotional learning (SEL) is a facet of learning that is difficult to assess and evaluate in students. Teachers must analyze student behavior and convert their observations into ratings and values on charts, which is complicated to say the least. It is also an ambitious task to try and reach children who have a social learning challenge in the hopes of helping them develop these crucial skills.

Luckily, these difficulties have caught the attention of some very innovative people, who have created digital tools that help develop and assess SEL.

Here are five great social emotional learning apps that you can use with your students to help them develop SEL skills:

1. SuperBetter

SuperBetter is a free mobile app that turns everyday actions into video game objectives. It encourages its players to set reasonable goals for themselves (stop smoking, be more active, overcome anxiety, etc.) and also to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Players can use "power-ups" (healthy actions like drinking water, taking a walk, or reaching out to a friend), do
"quests," and battle "bad guys" (representing bad habits and emotional challenges) to achieve their goals. The app is self-regulated, self-paced, and accepts customization to fit your goals.

Teachers can suggest that their students use this app to help them plan homework, study, practice for an oral presentation to overcome anxiety, have healthy sleeping habits, maintain a positive attitude in class, or any other areas where they're struggling or would like to develop better skills.

Pros:
It's free
It lets players set their own goals
It uses video game progression and rewards to encourage healthy behavior

Cons:
The only accountability is to oneself, so success very much relies on one's own determination
Not suitable for very young children because it requires players to have a good level of self-control

2. Middle School Confidential

Middle School Confidential is a collection of digitally rendered graphic novels designed for children aged 8-14. It aims to help tweens and teenagers tackle their lack of self-confidence with an easy-to-navigate story.

The app explores many situations that are difficult for teens, especially in a school context, where self-confidence (or lack thereof) plays an important role in the outcome of social experiences. Bullying, positive self-image and social interactions, friendship, and critical thinking are all subjects that are explored and discussed in Middle School Confidential.

This is a good app for teachers who want to help their students develop good social skills and promote healthy classroom culture by using an interesting and interactive story.

Pros:
It's reasonably priced
The app includes background noises that make each scene come alive
The player can send emails to the "characters" of the story to discuss and share their feelings

Cons:
Although it aptly discusses self-confidence and relationships, it doesn't have a cooperative or teamwork aspect
While it focuses very much on children 8-14 years old, it may not appeal or be suitable for people outside of the target age group

3. The Social Express

The Social Express is an educational curriculum designed to teach children and teenagers how to perceive emotions and handle social situations. It uses interactive animated videos that put its protagonists in many different scenarios, and the player is prompted to evaluate the emotions of the scene and decide what action the characters should do.

The characters are presented in social encounters inside and outside of school, where identifying and understanding their companions' emotions and state of mind is beneficial to the resolution. In doing so, players are encouraged to adopt positive social behaviors and develop their social emotional intelligence.

This is a useful tool for teachers who are looking for a visual aid for teaching students about positive social interactions or for teachers who want to help special needs students develop emotional intelligence.

Pros:
It can be used individually as well as in groups
The animated videos show the results of both good and bad decisions

Cons:
The app focuses on teaching positive social behaviors to children with a social learning challenge, so players outside its target audience may not find it as useful

4. Smiling Mind

Smiling Mind is an Aussie-designed mobile app that aims to teach "mindfulness" to people of all ages through sessions of guided meditation of varying length. It contains a vast repertoire of programs aimed at different age groups (from ages 6-12, to teenagers, young adults, etc.) and different activities (school, daily commute, sport, relaxation, and more).

The app is easy to navigate, and you can begin a new program at any time. You can use the app for a minute, two, or 10 anytime during your day to have a break and refocus.

This app can be helpful for students who have difficulty concentrating in class, who experience outbursts of frustration and anger, or who just need a short boost of calming energy during the day. Teachers can also use the school programs to initiate their entire class to relaxation and guided meditation.

Pros:
It's free
It takes mere seconds to set up and can be used for short "boosts" of mindfulness during the day
The programs for children and students are especially well done

Cons:
Its focus is mainly on self-improvement and healthy habits; only a small portion of its lessons tackle relationships

5. Classcraft

Classcraft is a classroom management tool that uses gamification to boost student engagement. One of its stronger aspects is its effect on class culture and student behavior: It encourages cooperation, communication, and other social emotional skills by rewarding these behaviors through its game aspects.

The program truly connects with children because it is built around an environment they know and are passionate about: video games. Unlike the other apps in this list, Classcraft is a much more in-depth management tool that also gamifies every aspect of the classroom to make it more engaging and fun - from quizzes and grades to exam review and teamwork.

This system is great for teachers who want to use gaming principles to develop collaboration, accountability, positive social interactions, and a healthy culture in their classroom.

Pros:
It is available to play for free, and it also has a Premium version that has even more features
It is an extremely versatile system for classroom management with many interactive tools
It is completely customizable to accommodate all subjects, grade levels, and students or teacher needs

Cons:
It requires a higher degree of involvement to make it work than it does for smaller apps
At the moment, Classcraft uses a fantasy theme, which some teachers might not care for
Photo credit: Syda Productions / Shutterstock.com

Adrien is a community manager intern at Classcraft. He enjoys literature, poetry, and video games. He studies English Literature and Linguistics.

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The 5 best social emotional learning apps for teachers - Classcraft Blog

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Social emotional learning (SEL) is a facet of learning that is difficult to assess and evaluate in students. Teachers must analyze student behavior and convert their observations into ratings and values on charts, which is complicated to say the least.

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