By Patricia Jennings
This essay is based on Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom (WW Norton, 2015).
Over the course of my over forty years as an educator and researcher, I’ve learned that teachers are often incredibly altruistic and devoted to making a positive difference in children’s lives. But too many of them are not well prepared for the social and emotional demands of today’s classroom. Stressful conditions—like high-stakes testing or students with severe psychological problems—can lead us to feel discouraged, burnt-out, and ready to quit. Most teacher training focuses primarily on content and pedagogy, overlooking the very real social, emotional, and cognitive demands of teaching itself. Luckily, learning and cultivating skills of mindfulness—the ability to stay focused on one’s present experience with nonjudgmental awareness—can help us to promote the calm, relaxed, Seven Ways Mindfulness Can Help Teachers Patricia A. Jennings explains why teachers should cultivate moment-to-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.
Mindfulness can also help us to be more effective at reducing conflict and developing more positive ways of relating in the classroom, which can help us feel more job satisfaction. How does mindfulness do this? By training our minds consciously to become more aware of our inner and outer experience, and learning how to manage our emotions. In my new book, Mindfulness for Teachers, I outline several mindfulness practices— including focused breathing, open awareness, loving-kindness, and others—that teachers can use in the classroom, whether they want to invoke a sense of mindfulness in the classroom or to become a more mindful person, in general.
These practices can help a teacher to slip into a mindful presence when it’s most needed, allowing us to pay better attention to the learning environment and our students’ needs within the classroom.
Here are some of the many ways that developing mindfulness can help us be better teachers.
Mindfulness helps teachers understand our own emotions better When I teach, I sometimes notice that my mind is so focused on thinking about what I need to do and how to do it that I’m not paying attention to the present moment. I have expectations about how things ought to be and I become attached to them, rather than noticing and accepting how things actually are. This causes distress, making me emotionally volatile, which in turn affects my perceptions and makes me more sensitive to threat. I may imagine a student’s disruptive behavior is intentionally designed to interfere with my teaching when in fact it is the normal behavior of a child who needs help with his. Spend a few minutes focusing on this point and feeling gravity connecting your body to the Earth. self-regulation. If I take his behavior personally, I may lose my temper and say something that makes matters worse. Practicing mindfulness can help teachers to recognize our emotional patterns and proactively regulate how we behave, responding in the way we want to rather than reacting automatically. It can also help us to savor the positive moments in our job— when we feel the joy of true connection with our students or resonate with the joy and excitement our students feel when learning clicks for them.
Mindfulness helps us communicate more effectively with students. Our Mindful Mondays series provides ongoing coverage of the exploding field of mindfulness research. During my first year of teaching I had no idea how to get my students to pay attention to my lessons, respond to directions, or behave appropriately. I thought that if I was nice to my students, they would like me, want to please me, and do what I wanted them to do. However, I was wrong. My students didn’t respond or behave that way at all, and, day by day, my frustration grew to the point where I was impatient and snapping at them. One day a supervisor came to observe my teaching and gave me some important feedback: She told me that I was saying “okay?” at the end of many of my instructions to students, giving them the message that whatever I asked of them was optional. No wonder they were so unresponsive! After that feedback, I began to monitor myself to break this bad habit, and this helped me see how mindful self-awareness could help me succeed as a teacher.
Mindfulness helps us manage students we find difficult. All teachers have problems with particular students who misbehave in the classroom. Mindful awareness helps us attend to what’s happening with a child to cause them to misbehave. Sometimes students misbehave because the environment is inappropriate for their developmental stage—for example, we can’t expect kindergarteners to sit quietly listening to an adult talk for long periods of time. Children exposed to trauma in their lives tend to be hyper vigilant—which consumes a lot of cognitive resources, and can lead them to learn more slowly than other students or to be overly sensitive to changes in environment. Nonjudgmental awareness is an important aspect of mindfulness, too—one that involves accepting things as they are in the present moment. When we first practice mindful awareness, we often notice how hard it is not to judge. This practice is helpful because it will enable you to learn how your emotions function. This will help you to respond consciously, rather than unconsciously, to misbehavior. It may help you to record these reactions in a journal. When we are more aware of our own judgement in the moment, our mind begins to settle, and eventually our tendency to judge subsides. Judgment often induces feelings of guilt and shame. Sometimes teachers judge their students harshly and unconsciously use guilt and shame as management techniques with their students—probably because they’ve learned these techniques as a child from their own parents. But there’s plenty of evidence that this approach doesn’t work. Rather than encouraging children to behave, it promotes resentment, distrust, and retaliation. Mindfully recognizing our emotional responses toward students may help us understand why they are behaving the way they are. If we feel annoyed, the behavior is likely attention seeking. If we feel threatened, the behavior is likely a bid for power. If we feel hurt, the behavior is likely an attempt at revenge, and if we feel discouraged, the student is likely giving up. These feelings can help us respond more appropriately to the underlying issues of our students, and help us shift from a negative appraisal to a state of compassion.
Mindfulness helps us set up a positive learning environment. There is a mistaken belief among many teachers that we can and must control our students’ behavior. This sets us up for power struggles, where our attempts to control are likely to backfire. It’s far better to create and maintain an effective learning environment by learning to control ourselves. We can control how we communicate, how we behave and where we position our bodies in space. We can set and reinforce expectations and limits. And, we can control the classroom physical space so that it supports learning. A kindergarten teacher I know couldn’t get his students to stop running in the classroom, even after repeated reminders, and he was getting very frustrated. But, once he became mindful of the fact that his classroom furniture was arranged to create distinct “runways” in the class space and remembered that children have a natural inclination to run in open spaces, he could see what needed to be done: he moved the furniture to block the runways, and the children stopped running. Knowing what’s going on in your classroom and with your students is critical to your ability to orchestrate the social-emotional dynamics and the physical spaces that are conducive to learning. Practicing mindful awareness helps you develop the skill of paying attention in the present moment and learning to see what’s truly happening in your classroom, allowing you to come up with better solutions to problems you see.
Mindfulness helps strengthen our relationship with students. Research on effective classroom management points to the importance of teacher-student relationships. We can set up great management systems involving guidelines and limits, but if our students don’t trust and respect us or think we don’t respect them, we’re in for some challenges. Giving each student our full mindful attention for even a short period of class time gives him or her the message “I see you.” By making a connection with our students, we let them know we value them as individuals.
Mindfulness helps us slow down when we need to. Sometimes as new teachers we can be overly concerned about getting through our lesson plans and can unconsciously start to rush. Slowing down and deliberately pausing for a moment of mindfulness can give us time to ask ourselves how we are feeling, what’s happening in the classroom, and what our students need at that particular moment. It also models mindfulness for our students. The speed at which students process information varies. Some students process auditory information very quickly, while others tend to have more visual or sensory-motor strengths. Younger children require more time to process than older children, though adults often forget this. No matter their ages, students process information better when there are given a little extra time, and consciously creating pauses throughout a lesson helps support learning. Too often teachers forget to pause after asking a question or interacting with a student. If we rush because we are anxious, we may miss these opportunities to deepen learning or make a meaningful connection with the student. Mindfulness can teach us to wait and be patient and to time our pauses appropriately.
Mindfulness helps us build community. Students have a basic need to belong to and contribute to a community. We can foster a sense of community by modeling caring and other prosocial behaviors, instituting caring routines, and mindfully listening to our students. To cultivate a community of learners, we can provide students with opportunities to collaborate with and help one another—for example by having students work together in groups where each student has a specific task that contributes toward the outcome. Collaborative learning gives students the opportunity to help others and to reflect on the experiences and needs of others, which promotes empathy and perspective taking. Another way to build community among students is through joint service learning projects, where students work together on giving back in some way to their community. Mindfully taking note of different student strengths and challenges can help teachers make these shared work opportunities enrich student learning and can help build a positive classroom climate. In all of these ways, mindfulness can help teachers to be the best they can be and bring out the best in their students. Being able to approach a classroom with a sense of calm understanding and the skills to intervene appropriately can make learning a pleasure for everyone.
"Kutoka kwa Patricia Jennings, ""Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom"" (Makubaliano ya Mindfulness kwa Walimu: Ujuzi rahisi kwa Amani na Uzalishaji katika Darasa) " Katika miaka yangu 40 kama mwalimu na mtafiti, nimejifunza kwamba walimu mara nyingi ni wa kujitolea sana na wamejitolea kufanya tofauti nzuri katika maisha ya watoto. Lakini wengi wao hawajajitayarisha vizuri kwa mahitaji ya kijamii na ya kihisia ya darasa la leo. Hali zenye mkazo - kama vile mitihani yenye hatari kubwa au wanafunzi walio na matatizo makubwa ya kisaikolojia - zaweza kutufanya tujihisi tumevunjika moyo, tumeharibika, na tayari kuacha. Mafunzo mengi ya walimu yanazingatia hasa maudhui na ufundishaji, yakipuuza mahitaji halisi ya kijamii, kihisia, na utambuzi wa kufundisha yenyewe. Kwa bahati nzuri, kujifunza na kukuza ujuzi wa ufahamu - uwezo wa kukaa umakini juu ya uzoefu wa sasa na ufahamu usio na hukumu - unaweza kutusaidia kukuza utulivu, kupumzika, Njia Saba Fahamu Inaweza Kuwasaidia Walimu Patricia A. Jennings anaelezea kwa nini walimu wanapaswa kukuza ufahamu wa wakati kwa wakati wa mawazo, hisia, na mazingira. Uwezo wa kutafakari pia unaweza kutusaidia kuwa na ufanisi zaidi katika kupunguza migogoro na kuendeleza njia nzuri zaidi za kuwasiliana darasani, ambayo inaweza kutusaidia kuhisi kuridhika zaidi na kazi. Utafiti wa akili hufanyaje hili? Kwa kufundisha akili zetu kwa ufahamu kuwa na ufahamu zaidi wa uzoefu wetu wa ndani na wa nje, na kujifunza jinsi ya kusimamia hisia zetu. Katika kitabu changu cha Mindfulness for Teachers, ninaelezea mazoea kadhaa ya ufahamu - ikiwa ni pamoja na kupumua kwa umakini, ufahamu wa wazi, fadhili ya upendo, na wengine - ambayo walimu wanaweza kutumia darasani, iwe wanataka kuamsha hisia ya ufahamu darasani au kuwa mtu mwenye ufahamu zaidi, kwa ujumla. Mazoea haya yanaweza kumsaidia mwalimu kuingia katika uwepo wa akili wakati inahitajika zaidi, ikituwezesha kuzingatia vizuri mazingira ya kujifunza na mahitaji ya wanafunzi wetu ndani ya darasa. Hapa ni baadhi ya njia ambazo kukuza ufahamu wa akili kunaweza kutusaidia kuwa walimu bora. Uwezo wa akili husaidia walimu kuelewa hisia zetu vizuri zaidi Wakati wa kufundisha, wakati mwingine mimi huona kwamba akili yangu ni hivyo umakini juu ya kufikiri kuhusu nini mimi haja ya kufanya na jinsi ya kufanya hivyo kwamba mimi si kulipa tahadhari kwa wakati wa sasa. Nina matarajio juu ya jinsi mambo yanapaswa kuwa na mimi huwa na uhusiano nao, badala ya kugundua na kukubali jinsi mambo yalivyo. Hii husababisha shida, na kunifanya niwe na hisia zisizo na uthabiti, ambazo kwa upande wake zinaathiri maoni yangu na kunifanya niwe nyeti zaidi kwa tishio. "Ninaweza kuwazia tabia ya mwanafunzi ya kuvuruga ni makusudi iliyoundwa kuingilia mafundisho yangu wakati kwa kweli ni tabia ya kawaida ya mtoto ambaye anahitaji msaada na yake. """ Tumia dakika chache kuzingatia hatua hii na kuhisi mvuto kuunganisha mwili wako na Dunia. Usimamizi wa kibinafsi. Ikiwa nitachukua tabia yake kibinafsi, huenda nikashindwa kujizuia na kusema jambo linalofanya mambo yawe mabaya zaidi. Kufanya mazoezi ya akili inaweza kusaidia walimu kutambua mifumo yetu ya hisia na kuongoza jinsi tunavyojiendesha, kukabiliana na jinsi tunataka badala ya kujibu moja kwa moja. Pia inaweza kutusaidia kufurahia wakati mzuri katika kazi yetu wakati tunahisi furaha ya uhusiano wa kweli na wanafunzi wetu au kufanana na furaha na msisimko wanafunzi wetu wanahisi wakati wa kujifunza kubofya kwao. Ukiwa makini husaidia kuwasiliana kwa ufanisi zaidi na wanafunzi. Mfululizo wetu wa Jumatatu ya Ukiwa na Uwezo wa Kufikiria hutoa chanjo inayoendelea ya uwanja unaoongezeka wa utafiti wa ufahamu. Katika mwaka wangu wa kwanza wa kufundisha, sikuwa na wazo la jinsi ya kuwafanya wanafunzi wangu waangalie masomo yangu, waitikie maagizo, au wajiendeshe ifaavyo. Nilidhani kwamba ikiwa ningekuwa mwenye fadhili kwa wanafunzi wangu, wangenipenda, wangetaka kunipendeza, na kufanya kile nilichotaka wafanye. Hata hivyo, nilikuwa nimekosea. Wanafunzi wangu hawakujibu au kujiendesha kwa njia hiyo hata kidogo, na, siku kwa siku, kukata tamaa kwangu kulikua hadi nilipokuwa mwenye kukosa subira na kuwapiga. Siku moja msimamizi alikuja kuchunguza mafundisho yangu na akanipa maoni muhimu: Aliniambia kwamba nilikuwa nikisema "sasa?" mwishoni mwa maagizo yangu mengi kwa wanafunzi, kuwapa ujumbe kwamba chochote nilichowauliza kilikuwa cha hiari. Haishangazi kwamba hawakuitikia! Baada ya maoni hayo, nilianza kujidhibiti ili kuondoa tabia hii mbaya, na hii ilinisaidia kuona jinsi ufahamu wa kibinafsi wa akili unaweza kunisaidia kufanikiwa kama mwalimu. Uwezo wa kuzingatia husaidia kuongoza wanafunzi ambao tunapata ugumu. Walimu wote wana matatizo na wanafunzi fulani ambao hujiendesha vibaya darasani. Ujuzi wa akili hutusaidia kuzingatia kile kinachotokea kwa mtoto ili kumfanya aende vibaya. Wakati mwingine wanafunzi hujiendesha vibaya kwa sababu mazingira si sahihi kwa hatua yao ya maendeleo - kwa mfano, hatuwezi kutarajia watoto wa shule ya chekechea kukaa kimya wakisikiliza mazungumzo ya watu wazima kwa muda mrefu. Watoto walioathiriwa na majeraha katika maisha yao huwa na tahadhari sana - ambayo hutumia rasilimali nyingi za utambuzi, na inaweza kuwafanya wajifunze polepole kuliko wanafunzi wengine au kuwa nyeti sana kwa mabadiliko ya mazingira. Uhamasishaji usio na hukumu ni kipengele muhimu cha ufahamu, pia - moja ambayo inahusisha kukubali mambo kama ilivyo katika wakati wa sasa. Wakati wa kwanza tunapoanza kufanya mazoezi ya ufahamu wa akili, mara nyingi tunagundua ni vigumu sana kutohukumu. Mazoezi haya ni muhimu kwa sababu yatakusaidia kujifunza jinsi hisia zako zinavyofanya kazi. Hilo litakusaidia kukabiliana na tabia mbaya kwa njia inayofaa badala ya kwa njia isiyofaa. Huenda ikawa rahisi kurekodi majibu hayo katika jarida. Tunapokuwa na ufahamu zaidi wa hukumu zetu za wakati huu, akili zetu huanza kutulia, na hatimaye mwelekeo wetu wa kuhukumu hupungua. Mara nyingi hukumu husababisha hisia za hatia na aibu. Wakati mwingine walimu huwahukumu wanafunzi wao kwa ukali na bila kujua hutumia hatia na aibu kama mbinu za usimamizi na wanafunzi wao - labda kwa sababu wamejifunza mbinu hizi kama mtoto kutoka kwa wazazi wao wenyewe. Lakini kuna uthibitisho mwingi kwamba mbinu hii haifanyi kazi. Badala ya kuwatia moyo watoto wajiendeshe vizuri, huchochea chuki, kutokuwa na imani, na kulipiza kisasi. Kutambua kwa makini jinsi tunavyohisi kuhusu wanafunzi wetu kunaweza kutusaidia kuelewa kwa nini wao hujiendesha kwa njia fulani. Ikiwa tunaona kuwa tumekasirika, huenda tabia hiyo inamaanisha kwamba tunataka kuvutia wengine. Ikiwa tunahisi tuko hatarini, huenda tabia hiyo ikawa ni kujaribu kupata mamlaka. Ikiwa tunajisikia kuwa tumekosewa, huenda mwenendo huo ni jaribio la kulipiza kisasi, na ikiwa tunajisikia tumevunjika moyo, huenda mwanafunzi huyo akaacha. Hisia hizi zinaweza kutusaidia kujibu kwa usahihi zaidi kwa masuala ya msingi ya wanafunzi wetu, na kutusaidia kuhamia kutoka kwa tathmini hasi hadi hali ya huruma. Ukiwa makini unatuwezesha kuunda mazingira mazuri ya kujifunza. Kuna imani isiyo sahihi miongoni mwa walimu wengi kwamba tunaweza na lazima tuangalie tabia ya wanafunzi wetu. Hii hutufanya tuwe tayari kwa mapambano ya nguvu, ambapo majaribio yetu ya kudhibiti yanaweza kuanguka. Ni bora zaidi kuunda na kudumisha mazingira ya kujifunza yenye ufanisi kwa kujifunza kujidhibiti. Tunaweza kudhibiti jinsi tunavyowasiliana, jinsi tunavyojiendesha na mahali tunapoweka miili yetu katika nafasi. Tunaweza kuweka na kuimarisha matarajio na mipaka. Na, tunaweza kudhibiti nafasi ya kimwili ya darasa ili kuunga mkono kujifunza. Mwalimu mmoja wa shule ya chekechea ninayemjua hakuweza kuwafanya wanafunzi wake waache kukimbia darasani, hata baada ya kuwakumbusha mara kwa mara, na alikuwa akivunjika moyo sana. Lakini alipotambua kwamba fanicha za darasa lake zilikuwa zimepangwa kwa njia ya kutengeneza njia tofauti za kukimbia katika nafasi ya darasa, na kukumbuka kwamba watoto wana mwelekeo wa asili wa kukimbia katika nafasi za wazi, aliweza kuona kile kilichohitaji kufanywa: aliihamisha fanicha ili kuzuia njia za kukimbia, na watoto wakaacha kukimbia. Kujua nini kinaendelea katika darasa lako na na wanafunzi wako ni muhimu kwa uwezo wako wa orchestrate kijamii-hisia dynamics na nafasi za kimwili ambayo ni kuwezesha kujifunza. Kufanya mazoezi ya ufahamu wa akili hukusaidia kukuza ustadi wa kuzingatia wakati wa sasa na kujifunza kuona kile kinachotokea kweli darasani, ikikuruhusu kupata suluhisho bora kwa matatizo unayoona. Ukiwa makini unasaidia kuimarisha uhusiano wetu na wanafunzi. Utafiti kuhusu usimamizi mzuri wa darasa unaonyesha umuhimu wa mahusiano kati ya mwalimu na mwanafunzi. Tunaweza kuanzisha mifumo mikubwa ya usimamizi inayohusisha miongozo na mipaka, lakini ikiwa wanafunzi wetu hawatutumaini na kutuheshimu au wanafikiri hatuwaheshimu, tuko katika changamoto fulani. "Kutoa kila mwanafunzi uangalifu wetu kamili, hata kwa kipindi kifupi cha wakati wa darasa, humpa ujumbe ""Ninaona wewe"" kwa kufanya uhusiano na wanafunzi wetu, tunawafanya wajue kuwa tunawaona kama watu binafsi." Ukiwa makini unatuwezesha kupunguza mwendo wakati tunahitaji kufanya hivyo. Wakati mwingine kama walimu wapya tunaweza kuwa na wasiwasi kupita kiasi juu ya kupata kupitia mipango yetu ya somo na inaweza bila kujua kuanza kukimbilia. Kupunguza kasi na kusimamisha kwa makusudi kwa muda wa ufahamu waweza kutupa muda wa kujiuliza jinsi tunavyohisi, nini kinachotokea darasani, na wanafunzi wetu wanahitaji nini wakati huo. Pia ni mfano wa ufahamu kwa wanafunzi wetu. Kiwango cha haraka ambacho wanafunzi hutumia kuchanganua habari hutofautiana. Wanafunzi fulani hushughulikia habari zinazosikika upesi sana, ilhali wengine huwa na uwezo zaidi wa kuona au wa kuhisi-kuendesha. Watoto wadogo huhitaji wakati zaidi wa kuchanganua mambo kuliko watoto wakubwa, ingawa mara nyingi watu wazima husahau jambo hilo. Bila kujali umri wao, wanafunzi huchanganua habari vizuri zaidi wakati wanapewa muda wa ziada, na kuunda mapumziko kwa ufahamu wakati wa somo husaidia kuunga mkono kujifunza. Mara nyingi walimu husahau kusubiri baada ya kuuliza swali au kuwasiliana na mwanafunzi. Kama tukikimbilia kwa sababu ya wasiwasi, tunaweza kukosa fursa hizi za kuimarisha kujifunza au kufanya uhusiano wenye maana na mwanafunzi. Ukiwa na akili timamu unaweza kutufundisha kungoja na kuwa na subira na kupanga wakati wa mapumziko yetu ifaavyo. Ukiwa makini unasaidia kujenga jamii. Wanafunzi wana uhitaji wa msingi wa kuwa sehemu ya jumuiya na kuchangia jumuiya. Tunaweza kukuza hisia ya jamii kwa kuiga tabia za kujali na nyingine za kijamii, kuanzisha utaratibu wa kujali, na kusikiliza kwa makini wanafunzi wetu. Ili kukuza jamii ya wanafunzi, tunaweza kuwapa wanafunzi fursa za kushirikiana na kusaidiana - kwa mfano kwa kuwa na wanafunzi kufanya kazi pamoja katika vikundi ambapo kila mwanafunzi ana kazi maalum ambayo inachangia matokeo. Kujifunza kwa ushirikiano huwapa wanafunzi fursa ya kuwasaidia wengine na kutafakari juu ya uzoefu na mahitaji ya wengine, ambayo huendeleza hisia-mwenzi na mtazamo wa kuchukua. Njia nyingine ya kujenga jamii kati ya wanafunzi ni kupitia miradi ya pamoja ya kujifunza huduma, ambapo wanafunzi hufanya kazi pamoja juu ya kutoa nyuma kwa njia fulani kwa jamii yao. Kuchukua kwa makini nguvu tofauti za wanafunzi na changamoto zinaweza kusaidia walimu kufanya fursa hizi za kazi za pamoja kutajirisha kujifunza kwa wanafunzi na inaweza kusaidia kujenga hali nzuri ya darasa. Kwa njia zote hizi, ufahamu unaweza kuwasaidia walimu kuwa bora zaidi wanaoweza kuwa na kuleta bora zaidi katika wanafunzi wao. Kuweza kukaribia darasa na hisia ya utulivu na uelewa na ujuzi wa kuingilia kati kwa usahihi inaweza kufanya kujifunza furaha kwa kila mtu.