I have been thinking about my inquiry and keeping an open mind, something that has interested me this week was about a school that have replaced detention with meditation and the results were brilliant! This one video has led me further discovering really interesting mindful strategies and I have read testimonies of teacher, parents and students of how it has helped them. Do we all need to be a bit more mindful rather than mind FULL? Does this mind set help children? Does it help with behaviour management? Is it a life skill that we need to learn in school? Do teachers need to be mindful and teach children how to take care of their mind? Is this good teaching practise? Are you a better teaching by being mindful?
Maybe I could tie this in with teachers and schools behaviour management strategies what works and what doesn't, can you have one behaviour management strategy that suits every child? As you can see one video has created another 15 questions that hopefully are going to help me to refine my question. Below are some videos that I have found that have sparked this interest.
A school replaces detention with meditation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJq6oI_vO2U
This led me to find the Holistic Life Foundation that is introducing mindfulness into schools.
Holistic Life Foundation
http://hlfinc.org
Holistic Life- Ted Talk- I really recommend this video, it shows what they have done but talk alot about why breathing is so important. The video also takes you through breathing exercises.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBJ7MUJzvZc
I have also been told about Cosmic Kids youtube channel that teachers often play to children to explain those hard questions like 'why are people mean?' They explain it so well to children and create strong visuals to take through life. They use yoga and meditation in all their videos.
You Tube Cosmic Kids- Why are people mean?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5LLfdhGekA
This may or may not form part of my inquiry but I found it very interesting. It also has helped me to realise what type of teacher I want to be, combining this with Rita Pearsons view on education https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFnMTHhKdkw I feel more confident in my teaching and inspired to inspire other students.
A exercise for you all to try, take a moment to look at the photo and evaluate what you do day to day...
Where are you? Do you live in the past and think in the future? Where is your mind?
This is really interesting! - I had never thought about this and defiantly something I may ask around school to see general thoughts and feelings on this.
ReplyDeleteSometimes punishment such as detention is not the way forward with certain students and does in fact have zero effect and they end up in academic detention week after week! - I see it myself haha!
but a really interesting topic to look into further.
I really like the picture at the end of your blog Lois. I think so many of us live in the past and not the present. I like to think that I think in the present but I am always planning ahead :S
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas on replacing detention with meditation. Do you think it would fit for all children though as theres always one!!!
Hi Lois, it's really interesting to hear that a school has introduced meditation as a way of dealing with bad behaviour. My initial thoughts would be that you would need a balance of measures in place in order to discipline the range of children you may be teaching. I think in some cases meditation would be a great avenue but for some children and certain behaviour a harsher course of action would be needed in order to effectively deal with the problem. Would love to know your thoughts! Thanks Chloe
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting! I agree with what Chloe has said, this could be a great technique for some students but not necessarily for others! Would be interesting to look further into how systems have been set up to cater the different needs and techniques for different students. Some may react very positively to the meditation technique, but it may not be deemed harsh enough punishment for some situations?
ReplyDelete