Mindfulness in the Classroom : Middle School and Older

We talk quite a bit about ways to encourage the proper development of our young children. However, you don’t often see information for older children.

Once the optimal period of development begins to close, one may be forgiven for thinking the opportunity is lost. But, is it too late to intervene with occupational therapy and mindfulness in the classroom? Of course not!

It’s true that learning disabilities that are a side effect of sensory processing disorder and dyspraxia are often diagnosed earlier in a child’s life.  And autism is usually apparent by age 2.  

That’s why we tend to focus so strongly on offering developmental intervention in preschool years. But, there is some valuable information detailed in our article 7 Things a Parent Can Do if Their Child is Struggling in School.  And that is there is a second wave of children that face difficulty a little later in life. 

This can show as schoolwork starts requiring longer periods of focused attention, executive functioning and a well-developed ability to sit still. For example, many children don’t start struggling from side effects of ADHD until much later. In fact, the average age of ADHD diagnosis is 7 years old.

Mindfulness in the classroom is not just important for helping students with ADHD to be more successful, though. Anxiety is becoming more generalized in middle and high school students. 

Offering activities that strengthen mindfulness in the classroom might just be the key to preparing young students for a brighter future in high school and college.

How Does CoordiClass Work for Older Children?

However, as kids get older, through middle school and junior high, we can’t use the same approach for group activities. Follow-along exercises can easily tip toward patronizing or too immature for a middle schooler.

So, how can teachers be successful with introducing activities that promote mindfulness in the classroom for middle school?

First, teachers should really understand the importance, the benefits, and keys to introducing the right types of activities.

A Case for Mindfulness in the Classroom

Anxiety at School

Anxiety is one of the most common experiences of adults. But, a lot of us may not realize that it is also quite common in children. Short bouts of anxiety are a part of the human condition. It is the normal reaction to stressors, and it creates a level of alertness to danger.

Trying something new can give anyone a case of the butterflies. But for a child struggling in school, it may be more than that. As your child moves through higher levels of schooling, he or she will encounter new and foreign experiences every day. Some children have more difficulty than others adapting to stress. And developmental gaps will only make this more apparent.

While some children might worry and feel nervous for a short period leading up to a test or presentation, children with chronic anxiety will feel paralyzed by it. They may be physically ill for days before the event. Their worry interferes with their daily enjoyment and may even continue after the event is over.

Practicing mindfulness through targeted mid-brain stimulation and guided movement breaks allow students a chance to regulate or interrupt any anxiety or stress.

Hyperactivity

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that about 9.4 percent of children (6.1 million) in the U.S. are diagnosed with ADHD; 4.2% in Australia; and 5.4% in the UK. And these numbers have been steadily growing for the past several years.

Studies have shown for many years that mindfulness can improve the symptoms of ADHD in up to 78% of participants. However, because hyperactivity, by definition, makes it difficult for a child to sit still for meditative mindfulness activities, it’s important to start with movement-based mindfulness activities.

Exercises that encourage paying attention and using guided movement can help students to quiet their minds and create a stronger mind-body connection. That’s why we’ve combined our occupational therapy exercises into follow-along movement breaks for classrooms.

As we were developing our own CoordiKids Classroom course, we trialed some of the exercises with a local school in a class of students that ranged in age from 8 to 11 years.

The teachers, as a group, reported that after a 5-minute CoordiKids Classroom course they observed a 90% – 100% reduction in:

• the number of children fidgeting,
• children in need of repeated instructions,
• children in need of re-direction to sit still and to stop talking, and
• in children re-directed to stay on task.

Emotional Outbursts

Following directions, sitting still without blurting out or having an emotional outburst at every turn are all correlated with one’s ability to self-regulate. Exercise in general has a positive effect on emotional regulation of both children and adults.

Moreover, the specific exercises used in most class-wide occupational therapy movement breaks like ours target the brain-body connections that aid children in physically being able to regulate their emotions better.

Tips for Teaching Mindfulness to Older Children

As I said, it’s difficult to get full participating in a new activity from older children.

Older children want to know why they have to do anything. If they’re told to participate without understanding why it’s important, students will make excuses, complain, make jokes, or participate only half-heartedly.

So, we recommend that teachers really dig into the “why” with students.  We recommend they do this before introducing activities that promote mindfulness in the classroom.

One school counselor who introduced mindfulness in the classroom gives great advice on how she has been successful. Keri says:

“I show them the research. I show them studies about how mindfulness improves memory and attention, lowers stress levels, increases happiness, and promotes social connections and altruism. Then I give them the studies to review and then give them space to research it on their own for a few minutes.

When they are given the opportunity to review actual research and see facts and figures from studies, adolescents are much more like to buy in to the process because they can see the why behind it. When they can see studies that have been done with people their own ages who have benefitted from the practice, adolescents are more likely to be willing to give it a try themselves.”

Borrow these ideas:

We recommend spending time prior to starting the exercise series discussing some of the frustrations and stresses that students have in general. Offer a journalling session in which children can respond personally and privately in their journals to prompts like:

Some of the things that cause me stress at home are:

Examples of the things that cause me stress at school are:

Sometimes I feel like I don’t fit in when

Are there certain homework assignments that make you more frustrated than others?

Is there any situation with other students that you don’t like?

Then, follow Counselor Keri’s advice – teach students about the benefits of a mindfulness movement activity before asking them to start participating. 

Perhaps understanding their stress and being offered a way to feel better in their daily life will be the key to success practicing mindfulness in the classroom.

Using CoordiKids to Promote Mindfulness in the Classroom

In our occupational therapy practice at CoordiKids, we devised a great way for teachers to incorporate mindfulness and movement in the classroom every day.

We call them CoordiKids Classroom course. This programs provides short videos of follow-along physical exercises. Each exercise specifically targets movements that will enhance concentration.

For example:

• bilateral movements encourage both hemispheres to be active,
• balance and rhythm support concentration, and
• an auditory component encourages listening.

All in all, in the 5-minute movement break, the focus is on body movements, giving the cortex (thinking brain) a break to refresh and get ready to concentrate.

However, the exercises are fun for all participating children. The exercises get their muscles moving and oxygen flowing to the brain. Furthermore, they require no additional prep time from the teacher.

He or she simply starts one of the online videos, and the class can follow along. (The teacher or any adult can join in to experience the same benefits!)

 

We have been thrilled to discover together that students enjoy our fun exercises – and more importantly, that the goal of bringing mindfulness in the classroom was working.

 

One teacher said,

“Students were much more settled and attentive following CoordiClass.”

Although not all of the students took to the program right away – some of the 4^th graders weren’t keen in the beginning – by the end of a week, all of them were fully participating. What’s more – they were having fun with their peers.

Here’s what else teachers have had to say about using CoordiKids Classroom course for movement and mindfulness in the classroom:

 

“I found CoordiClass especially beneficial before reading groups for Year 4 students.”

“I use CoordiClass twice per day. It helps students to re-focus during a 2-hour learning block. The 6^th graders enjoyed the exercises!”

“I use CoordiClass twice per day if possible. I definitely observe my class working a lot more quiet and settled for the duration of the morning.” (Teacher of 6^th grade)