Building Resilient Learners Through Mindful Practice

Sally Zeiner, First Grade Teacher & Associate Head of School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, shares ways in which Willow teachers are fostering calm, confidence, and well-being in the classroom.

Willow faculty recently engaged in professional development regarding anxiety and mindfulness in response to the rising rates of anxiety amongst elementary and middle school children. Stress can help us push to achieve our goals, to stretch beyond our comfort zone. It is a short term physiological response to a challenging situation. A state of anxiety is similarly a physiological response, but a person’s system stays in that state of high alert without an appropriate challenge or situation. There has been a rise in anxiety in recent years, with 10% of children and adolescents struggling with anxiety (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, August 19).

As educators with a holistic approach to our role, student well-being is at the forefront of our minds. Students can’t learn when they’re in a high state of anxiety. Willow teachers strive to make sure that our students are in the “green zone,” the zone in which they feel safe, comfortable, and ready to learn. By teaching mindfulness in our classrooms, we create safe environments and teach ways to handle stress and anxiety. There’s an abundance of sound research supporting the benefits of mindfulness in supporting well-being and combating anxiety. Mindfulness is, simply put, when we bring our mind back to our body and get in touch with what is going on in the present moment.

Over the summer, our faculty read a book called Happy Teachers Change the World by Thich Nhat Hahn. This book is a collection of mindfulness activities for use by educators. At our professional development training, the Willow faculty enjoyed some mindfulness activities, including meditation, yoga, and mindful walking. We also shared other strategies that help support student emotional well-being in the classroom. Our faculty will be drawing on Happy Teachers Change the World, trying different mindfulness activities with their students throughout the year.

One example of students engaging with mindfulness in the classrooms is in fourth and fifth grades. Students practice mindful listening and mindful art, also known as neuroaesthetics, including reflective journaling and art, listening to calming sounds, and breathing exercises.

Another example of this practice in action takes place in our first grade classroom. Our first grade students begin every morning with a few mindful moments, listening to the sound of the bell and quietly observing their breath. To begin, they place one hand on their heart, to find their heartbeat, and one on their belly, to feel the rise and fall of their breath. Sometimes we use guided imagery to support their focus, with the image of the ocean tide running up the beach on the in breath, and the tide running out on the out breath. Another mindfulness tool that the class appreciates is the set of phrases as they breathe: “Breathing in, I feel joy. Breathing out, I feel peace.” Students really enjoy this quiet time in the morning, and often reflect on the experience. This morning, they shared their feelings: “I feel calm,” “It was peaceful,” “I felt relaxed,” “I felt happy,” and “I feel gratitude.” It is a wonderful way to start the day.
 

Mindfulness can look like centered breathing practice

Students show their mindful art journals.

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