The teacher writes numbers on the white board in front of the class, 准备bet5365首页分数和小数的课程. 两个女孩在传纸条. A couple of kids in the back row are laughing about a secret joke. 有几个学生完全失去了注意力, 被窗户分心, 教室水族馆, 或者彼此. 有些人的书掉在地板上，其他人则转过身咯咯地笑. The classroom holds a mix of ethnicities, behavioral differences, and learning abilities. 以一个局外人, it can seem like a recipe for chaos: every kid for himself or herself, 和老师一起骑着马群.
但是老师有一个秘密武器:正念.
After she finishes her whiteboard work but before she starts the lesson on fractions, the teacher stands in front of the students to get their attention. She speaks in a soft voice meant to quiet them and get their attention. “让我们练习正念呼吸，”她说. 她教学生面朝前坐, 把手放在他们的肚子上, 感受他们呼吸的起伏. “吸气，一，二，三，呼气，一，二，三，”她重复说. 孩子们也跟着做. 有些人闭上眼睛. “吸气，一，二，三，呼气，一，二，三.这个练习只持续了大约一分钟. The students are calmer now, have more access to their 自我控制, and are more able to focus.
“Now more than ever, teaching mindfulness in the classroom is a necessity,” writes Edutopia. “我们的孩子感到压力和焦虑. 老师和家长也感到压力和焦虑. 我们的生活很忙碌, and we often find our thoughts buzzing over the past or worrying about the future. We need mindfulness because it teaches us to live in the present moment, 享受和体验我们面前的一切.”
“他们正在学习如何安顿自己的身体,利兹·斯莱德说, 拉奇蒙特的一名幼儿园教师, 纽约, 接受采访的 考虑到 网站. “曾经的狂野时光现在变得迷人了, sweet moment when we all take a pause and come back to being present.”
全国 疾病控制和预防中心 reports that a significant number of children today are experiencing stress and anxiety. 大约4.4 million children between the ages of 3 and 17 have been diagnosed with anxiety (that’s 7.占总人口的1%)，大约是1%.9 million between ages 3-17 have been diagnosed with depression (3.占总人口的2%). bet5365首页 74 percent of those diagnosed with depression also have anxiety. 除了, children diagnosed with depression or anxiety have a much higher chance of having behavior problems; 47 percent higher in the case of depression, 而在焦虑的情况下则高出38%.
这些情况会影响孩子的学习能力 美国儿科学会. 报告中有四个结论, “The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress,“用措辞强烈的语言解决了这个问题.
“Toxic stress can lead to potentially permanent changes in learning (linguistic, 认知, 和社会性技能), behavior (adaptive versus maladaptive responses to future adversity), and physiology (a hyperresponsive or chronically activated stress response) and can cause physiologic disruptions that result in higher levels of stress-related chronic diseases and increase the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles that lead to widening health disparities,报告的一个结论是这样说的.
In 2015, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence released the results of an online survey of 22,000名高中生以及他们对学校的感受. Among the top 10 emotions named, eight were negative and two were positive. 最常用的词是“tired(累)”(39%), “强调(29%), 和“无聊,”(26%.)但也有好消息, too: Students who believed that what they were learning was relevant to their lives and felt their teachers were engaged reported much more positive emotions, 如感兴趣, 尊重, 和幸福.
可以肯定的是, 缓解儿童压力的方法, mood disorders and behavioral disorders do not rest entirely in mindfulness. But many schools are finding mindfulness practice a good way to make children feel more calm, 安全, 随时准备学习.
加州里士满., a 5-week study was undertaken to determine the effects of a curriculum that included mindfulness training. Seventeen teachers and 409 students from kindergarten through sixth grade participated in the 2011 study, in which 83 percent of the students were from low-income households and 95 percent were ethnic minorities. 结果? Teachers reported “improved classroom behavior of their students (i.e., 关注, 自我控制, 参与活动, and caring/尊重 for others) that lasted up to 7 weeks post-intervention.”
那么课堂上的正念是什么样子的呢? It can be deep-breathing exercises, like the one in the example above. 它可以分享感官体验, such as listening to nature sounds or calming music in the classroom. It can take the form of guided imagery that mirrors the lesson you are teaching: an imaginary journey underwater, 例如, 研究海洋野生动物时. Or mindfulness can take the form of movement: yoga exercises in the classroom, 例如, 哪些学生可以在地板上做, 在座位上, 或者坐在他们的桌子上.
“Try picking one mindfulness practice to start for yourself,” suggests Edutopia. 然后把它介绍给你的学生, adapting the experience to cater to their needs — even if it’s for only two to five minutes per day during transitions or for brain breaks. 你可以试着每周引入一种新的正念练习, 每个月, 或每一项, 或者只选择一个想法(正念呼吸), 例如)，并且全年都要练习. 现在就种下正念和冥想的种子, 它会伴随你的学生一生.”
If you’ve never introduced mindfulness to your students, bet5365首页’s Online 专业发展 程序提供“把正念练习(冥想)带进任何教室，” an online class that helps you practice mindfulness at first and then instructs you in translating those skills to your classrooms. 自定进度课程有以下目标:
- To help you understand different forms and techniques for meditation;
- To help you understand and address any concerns that might be raised regarding bringing mindfulness exercises to the classroom; and
- To learn some basic techniques you can then teach to your students.
“Bringing 考虑到ness Practices (Meditation) into any Classroom” is completely online, 是自学, and earns you a semester credit toward your professional development. 要注册,请单击 在这里; to get more information or browse course curriculum for bet5365首页 Online, 访问该网站 在这里.
照片来源:Wavebreak Media，通过istockphoto
