The Mindful Ed: Our Story
Greetings from two elementary teachers turned mindful educators from Sioux Falls, SD. Our teaching and mindfulness journeys started separately, but the two have become intertwined while teaching at diverse public schools.
Introduction
Aaron’s mindfulness journey began with the martial arts—Judo, Jujitsu, and Karate. He is a leader in the dojo and his leadership has translated well into his life as a public school teacher. In addition to the martial arts, Aaron also practices meditation and yoga. The combination of these mindful practices has allowed him to infuse many practices into his daily life. Throughout the cultivation of these practices, Aaron has received a bachelors degree in elementary education and a masters degree in educational psychology with an emphasis in teaching applications. Currently, Aaron is an Ed. D. student in Educational Studies at the University of Northern Colorado, and works as a visiting faculty member at Augustana University teaching several education courses. Mindfulness with his students is a portion of each class.
Kathy began her mindfulness practice in the yoga studio and has been developing mindful practices through meditation, art making and now teaching yoga to kids and adults. As an elementary art teacher, she is able to infuse artful living with mindful living; it is her intention to share these practices with all of her students. She received a bachelors degree in K-12 art education, and a masters degree in education with a focus on special populations of students. Currently, Kathy works as an elementary art teacher and a K-12 visual arts instructional coach.
Mission
As public school teachers, we were well aware of the challenges ahead of us in the classroom. Every year, our students come to school with more baggage. Trauma from their daily lives negatively impacts their ability to be learners in the classroom. From personal experience, we noticed that working closely with students who are impacted by trauma can make you feel more and more drained after each day is done. Upon this realization, we naturally turned towards a deeper meditation practice and learned the ways of MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion), through the guidance of an experienced teacher. This class changed our perspective on how we, as people and as public school teachers, can more effectively care for ourselves, and thus be able to serve our students and the everyday challenges in the classroom. We knew that mindfulness in the classroom could be a powerful tool for us because, let's be real, our job is tough. Day in and day out, we are meeting the needs of others, and that often leaves little time to care for ourselves. After we developed our self practice, we were able to bring these developmentally appropriate ways to care for the body, mind, and spirit to our students.
Aaron started incorporating mindfulness into his 5th grade classroom by establishing mindful moments throughout the day. Additionally, he began developing mindfulness lessons that correlated directly with the curriculum, and more importantly, the needs of his students. Kathy, has been using mindfulness within her K-5 elementary art classroom by teaching breathing and mindfulness strategies at the beginning and end of each art class with all students. As a specials teacher, she intentionally taught strategies which provided every student in the school with a "go to" emotional regulation tool. Although the mindfulness techniques may seem simple, they became powerful emotional regulation tools in their classrooms.
When we paired mindfulness with social skills and the curriculum, we started to notice a change within ourselves and our students. Not only have we learned how to live a more content life through mindfulness, we have also noticed a significant difference in classroom environment, teacher and student relationships and the ability of students to self-regulate, if being explicitly taught a strategy.
The purpose of us advocating for mindfulness in the classroom is because we know that we're all in this together. Mindfulness teaches to live in the moment, without judgement. Not only that, but living mindfully requires an open and curious attitude that our world deserves. Perfectly and imperfectly together, we can encourage mindful living for our students, and thus, our communities.
Greetings from two elementary teachers turned mindful educators from Sioux Falls, SD. Our teaching and mindfulness journeys started separately, but the two have become intertwined while teaching at diverse public schools.
Introduction
Aaron’s mindfulness journey began with the martial arts—Judo, Jujitsu, and Karate. He is a leader in the dojo and his leadership has translated well into his life as a public school teacher. In addition to the martial arts, Aaron also practices meditation and yoga. The combination of these mindful practices has allowed him to infuse many practices into his daily life. Throughout the cultivation of these practices, Aaron has received a bachelors degree in elementary education and a masters degree in educational psychology with an emphasis in teaching applications. Currently, Aaron is an Ed. D. student in Educational Studies at the University of Northern Colorado, and works as a visiting faculty member at Augustana University teaching several education courses. Mindfulness with his students is a portion of each class.
Kathy began her mindfulness practice in the yoga studio and has been developing mindful practices through meditation, art making and now teaching yoga to kids and adults. As an elementary art teacher, she is able to infuse artful living with mindful living; it is her intention to share these practices with all of her students. She received a bachelors degree in K-12 art education, and a masters degree in education with a focus on special populations of students. Currently, Kathy works as an elementary art teacher and a K-12 visual arts instructional coach.
Mission
As public school teachers, we were well aware of the challenges ahead of us in the classroom. Every year, our students come to school with more baggage. Trauma from their daily lives negatively impacts their ability to be learners in the classroom. From personal experience, we noticed that working closely with students who are impacted by trauma can make you feel more and more drained after each day is done. Upon this realization, we naturally turned towards a deeper meditation practice and learned the ways of MSC (Mindful Self-Compassion), through the guidance of an experienced teacher. This class changed our perspective on how we, as people and as public school teachers, can more effectively care for ourselves, and thus be able to serve our students and the everyday challenges in the classroom. We knew that mindfulness in the classroom could be a powerful tool for us because, let's be real, our job is tough. Day in and day out, we are meeting the needs of others, and that often leaves little time to care for ourselves. After we developed our self practice, we were able to bring these developmentally appropriate ways to care for the body, mind, and spirit to our students.
Aaron started incorporating mindfulness into his 5th grade classroom by establishing mindful moments throughout the day. Additionally, he began developing mindfulness lessons that correlated directly with the curriculum, and more importantly, the needs of his students. Kathy, has been using mindfulness within her K-5 elementary art classroom by teaching breathing and mindfulness strategies at the beginning and end of each art class with all students. As a specials teacher, she intentionally taught strategies which provided every student in the school with a "go to" emotional regulation tool. Although the mindfulness techniques may seem simple, they became powerful emotional regulation tools in their classrooms.
When we paired mindfulness with social skills and the curriculum, we started to notice a change within ourselves and our students. Not only have we learned how to live a more content life through mindfulness, we have also noticed a significant difference in classroom environment, teacher and student relationships and the ability of students to self-regulate, if being explicitly taught a strategy.
The purpose of us advocating for mindfulness in the classroom is because we know that we're all in this together. Mindfulness teaches to live in the moment, without judgement. Not only that, but living mindfully requires an open and curious attitude that our world deserves. Perfectly and imperfectly together, we can encourage mindful living for our students, and thus, our communities.
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