By Paul Mulvihill
I spent most of Sunday night thinking about the ‘return to school’ and although I felt excited, my mind was certainly racing at a hundred miles per hour thinking about the term ahead. So using mindfulness was certainly something I needed to focus on to be fully present and absorb all the useful information that an Inset day offers. I have included mindfulness in a few of my training sessions and I often refer to the video here, I find that the more I use mindfulness the more effective it becomes.
The article here from the charity Mind calls mindfulness a ‘skill’ and talks about needing to practice mindfulness regularly for it to be impactful. You can practice mindfulness in a number of different ways and you can incorporate these into your daily routine relatively easily. There are a whole host of activities/practices in the article here but the one that stands out to me the most is the ‘5 Senses exercise’, which simply put is noticing things you can see, hear, feel, smell and taste.
In my last post I shared the resources here, which again can be utilised in PD or even during lessons. With longer lesson times I will often get my students to stand up and stretch half way through the lesson to help energise them and refocus their attention. I have found that it gives students a short respite and also helps them become more productive directly after.
Some key thoughts to take away:
How can I, as a teacher, become more mindful?
How can I incorporate mindfulness into my daily routine?
How can I support my students with practising mindfulness?
If anyone wants to talk about mindfulness or tell me about good resources or activities you are doing with students I would love to hear from you.
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