Crowded classrooms, hectic teaching schedules and rowdy students have teachers across the country looking for ways to keep their classrooms calm. That may be one reason mindfulness programs have become so popular. Mindfulness can be practiced in many ways, but at its core mindfulness is self-awareness, a way for students to ground themselves in the moments, creating space to better understand and manage their feelings.
Mindfulness has become a core social and emotional learning strategy in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Texas. The district has even created a mindfulness specialist position, filled by James Butler, the district’s 2014 Teacher of the Year.
As part of a presentation at SXSW EDU, Butler and three of his former students shared what mindfulness looks like at multiple grade levels and why it’s helpful in their age group.
Fifth-grader Addison Green said she thinks if mindfulness was practiced more broadly, it would help kids better resolve social conflicts. She hopes emphasizing kindness would make some of the difficult social aspects of adolescence less painful.
First-grader Teo Cardenas, the youngest student in the group, said mindfulness helped when he collided with someone at school and had to go to the hospital. He said he was scared and crying, so he took deep breaths to calm himself down.
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