Just over a year ago now, I was listening to a CBC broadcast about a school district in Vancouver. They had embraced a new program that was going to focus on self-regulation amongst their students. This was the first time I had heard the term “self-regulation” in an educational setting, however, the concept wasn’t new to me at all. I had already experienced numerous days as a teacher where I just glanced around my room, realizing that my efforts were ineffective with all the trauma and anxiety that my students were dealing with in their own lives. My school constantly seemed to be experimenting with new ideas and new programs designed to help regulate the students in our classrooms, so I felt ecstatic to hear about the initiatives of this district. There’s always a sense of relief in hearing that a larger group is embracing ideas that you are already passionate about. And in this case, I felt hopeful that others also felt the urgency in helping students find a place where learning might actually be possible.
Recently, I have been introduced to the ‘MindUp’ Curriculum. In Goldie Hawn’s TEDtalk on this program, she mentions that she wanted to develop a program simply to make kids happy. Through this dream, she brought together researchers and a team of educators to look at what it would take to create such a program. They realized that ‘Stressed Children’ are unable to learn and that creating an optimistic and safe class for these children was vital. MindUp “is a way for children to get in touch with their emotions, to regulate their emotions, and to manage their stress” (G. Hawn). All these factors lead toward a student’s inability to focus and absorb new ideas. Dan Siegel, author of ‘The Mindful Brain’, feels that our current education system serves to imprison our brains. We need to focus more on teaching reflective strategies, resilience, and relationships.
I am eager to experiment with this program as I find more and more teachers who are embracing it in their classrooms. I’m looking to connect with more teachers who are using these strategies in their classrooms. I was inspired by @alicekeeler ‘s blog on mindful learners in her classroom in Langley. The breathing techniques used to settle the brain and the classroom activities in the MindUp Curriculum enabled a more meaningful start to her school year. I’m hoping to put together a twitter list of schools and educators that are using the MindUp curriculum so that we can share ideas and strategies.
a learning journey 