Mindfulness in the Inclusive Classroom

Mindfulness in the Inclusive Classroom
Author: Toby Karten
Publisher: National Professional Resources, Inc.
Total Pages: 6
Release: 2019-04-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1949961044

Emotions and cognition are connected (CASEL, 2012), with social and emotional learning integral to students’ academic and personal growth. Mindfulness--being aware of the now in our thoughts and actions-- allows students and their educators to have their hearts, bodies, and minds focused on the present moment. People who practice mindfulness are better able to recognize and attend to their surroundings, feelings, and thoughts with increased awareness, non-judgment, and empowerment. In the classroom, mindfulness decreases anxiety, which interferes with learning, and makes students better able to participate, collaborate, and learn. Mindfulness allows school staff to acknowledge, validate, and increase students’ competencies and capacities to learn. This reference guide, for teachers of grades K-12, presents strategies and tools to help students and the staff who instruct them in inclusive classrooms develop and advance mindful practices. It includes activities which can be used with the whole class that will benefit all learners, as well as recommendations for exercises to address challenges specific to certain learners, including those with specific learning disabilities (SDL), intellectual differences, executive function difficulties, emotional differences, autism, and physical disabilities.

Safeguarding Mindfulness in Schools and Higher Education

Safeguarding Mindfulness in Schools and Higher Education
Author: Leigh Burrows
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2017-08-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1351737201

Although mindfulness can be located in a number of different traditions and disciplines, it was originally an esoteric and powerful practice based on developing a capacity attainable only by certain people. After previously publishing on the positive outcomes, in this book the author identifies a range of adverse effects of mindfulness meditation for some individuals that, from the point of view of mindfulness in schools and higher education, represents uncharted territory. The author demonstrates through research, personal experience and case studies how mindfulness activities can be safe for all students in education settings including the most vulnerable. This book assists teachers in school and higher education settings to make informed decisions about whether to include mindfulness in their teaching, depending on their own capacity, student cohorts and activities to make sure it is safe for more vulnerable students. This guidance is based on a combination of existing pedagogical and clinical knowledge about meeting the needs of vulnerable students, clients and patients and the specialized expertise of trained mindfulness clinicians and teachers. This book puts school and university teachers in the driver’s seat as regards mindfulness teaching in education settings. It argues that the only way forward for mindfulness in education is to adopt an individualized approach which builds on what effective teachers already do in their work with vulnerable students through extending their knowledge about mindfulness and its possible effects. In this way teachers’ existing skills are celebrated and extended, and mindfulness pedagogy develops organically with teachers, becoming a genuine and felt experience both for themselves and their students rather than an ‘add-on’ intervention.

Revolutionizing Inclusive Education

Revolutionizing Inclusive Education
Author: Efthymia Efthymiou
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-08-21
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The push for inclusivity has revolutionized educational practices, policies, and frameworks. Schools are no longer merely institutions that impart knowledge; they are shaping societal values, promoting social justice, and preparing students to progress. This evolution is driven by the understanding that inclusive education benefits all students, not just those with disabilities or special needs. It promotes empathy, reduces prejudice, and equips students with the skills to contribute to a complex, interconnected world. Revolutionizing Inclusive Education: Mindfulness, Neurodiversity, and Executive Functioning Skills explores the life-changing potential of inclusive education. With a strong emphasis on the word "revolutionizing," the book challenges traditional practices and conventional thinking in the field of inclusive education. By integrating mindfulness practices, understanding neurodiversity, and developing executive functioning skills, the book offers a fresh and innovative approach to inclusive classrooms. Covering topics such as assistive technology, neurodivergent learners, and student well-being, this book is an essential resource for academicians, researchers, school administrators, educators, preservice teachers, and more.

Revolutionizing Inclusive Education: Mindfulness, Neurodiversity, and Executive Functioning Skills

Revolutionizing Inclusive Education: Mindfulness, Neurodiversity, and Executive Functioning Skills
Author: Efthymiou, Efthymia
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 435
Release: 2024-08-21
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The push for inclusivity has revolutionized educational practices, policies, and frameworks. Schools are no longer merely institutions that impart knowledge; they are shaping societal values, promoting social justice, and preparing students to progress. This evolution is driven by the understanding that inclusive education benefits all students, not just those with disabilities or special needs. It promotes empathy, reduces prejudice, and equips students with the skills to contribute to a complex, interconnected world. Revolutionizing Inclusive Education: Mindfulness, Neurodiversity, and Executive Functioning Skills explores the life-changing potential of inclusive education. With a strong emphasis on the word “revolutionizing,” the book challenges traditional practices and conventional thinking in the field of inclusive education. By integrating mindfulness practices, understanding neurodiversity, and developing executive functioning skills, the book offers a fresh and innovative approach to inclusive classrooms. Covering topics such as assistive technology, neurodivergent learners, and student well-being, this book is an essential resource for academicians, researchers, school administrators, educators, preservice teachers, and more.

The Power of Presence

The Power of Presence
Author: Elizabeth Erwin
Publisher: Gryphon House Incorporated
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2020-10
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780876598313

Preschool is a time of wonder when curiosity, development, and learning intersect. While the new sights, routines, and experiences can make preschool exhilarating, what about children who struggle? Perhaps they exhibit odd behaviors: chewing on clothing, covering their ears, avoiding certain textures, refusing to sit with peers, screaming when frustrated, hitting, kicking, or biting. Wired Differently will help you to decode what may seem like everyday challenging behaviors. It's possible that these children are struggling with sensory processing disorder (SPD). - Differentiate between everyday challenging behaviors, and those that could signify something much more - Understand what sensory processing disorder (SPD) is and how it can interfere with a child's learning - Learn how to include sensory processing strategies as part of a typical classroom routine, and why they're important for all children - Effectively communicate with families about SPD behaviors and helpful learning techniques Keriann Wilmot, OTR/L, is a pediatric occupational therapist with 18 years of experience in helping teachers and parents to connect and improve the lives of children. She is a blogger on her site ToyQueen.com, covering toy recommendations and play tips.

Everybody Present

Everybody Present
Author: Nikolaj Rotne
Publisher: Parallax Press
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2009-06-25
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1937006476

Everybody Present illustrates the transformative effects of mindfulness on educators, students, and their classrooms. Using concrete examples, Didde and Nikolaj Flor Rotne present a mode of classroom engagement that reduces stress to make room for thoughtful learning. A working manual addressed to everyone in the educational universe, Everybody Present presents real-world applications grounded in solid research. Stories, exercises, and case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of mindful practices across all areas of education. By exploring the challenges of teaching, Everybody Present will help all educators transform feelings of inadequacy into experiences of abundance. Everybody Present seeks to create a new kind of culture in our schools: one that counters stress and facilitates learning. It reframes the student-teacher relationship, showing teachers how to supplant antagonism and foster strong relationships by planting seeds of mindfulness in their students and encouraging them to embark on a mindfulness practice of their own. Everybody Present is intended to contribute to the creation of a culture throughout the educational system writ large, working against stress and victim mentality to set in motion a revolution of silence, allowing each individual the experience of inter-being, inner calm, and joy.

Managing with Mindfulness

Managing with Mindfulness
Author: Tony Yeigh
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2020-09-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1108624243

Teacher and student interaction occur in a complex and dynamic environment. Managing with Mindfulness: Connecting with Students in the 21st Century draws on educational psychology, duty-of-care principles and mindfulness practices to introduce the Control/Connect continuum as a model designed to foster inclusive classroom practices for the contemporary classroom. Addressing topics such as communication, positive relationships, emotional literacy, motivation and classroom behaviours, the work is written to support Initial Teacher Education students in their transition to practice. Framed by the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Graduate level, this new textbook integrates the theoretical contexts of classroom management with the needs of contemporary teachers, as situated within the historical context of 21st century teaching and learning. The text is supported throughout with engaging and thought-provoking case studies and activities, thinking points and end-of-chapter review questions that encourage reflection on key concepts and practices.

Mindfulness in the Classroom

Mindfulness in the Classroom
Author: Thomas Armstrong
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2019-07-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416627960

In today's schools, students and teachers feel unprecedented—even alarming—levels of stress. How can we create calmer classrooms in which students concentrate better and feel more positive about themselves and others? Author Thomas Armstrong offers a compelling answer in the form of mindfulness, a secular practice he defines as the intentional focus of one's attention on the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. In Mindfulness in the Classroom, Armstrong - Explains how mindfulness affects the structure and function of the brain. - Provides an overview of mindfulness as both a personal practice and a classroom methodology that aligns with such educational models as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). - Shares and explains the extensive research that shows the positive effects of mindfulness practices in the classroom. - Describes how to adapt mindfulness for different grade levels, integrate it into regular school subjects, and implement it schoolwide. - Offers guidelines for teaching mindfulness responsibly, without religious overtones. Dozens of observations from teachers, students, researchers, and practitioners provide striking evidence of the power of mindfulness and offer hope to anyone who wants to make classrooms more productive places of learning.

Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools

Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools
Author: Candy Gunther Brown
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2019-03-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1469648490

Yoga and mindfulness activities, with roots in Asian traditions such as Hinduism or Buddhism, have been brought into growing numbers of public schools since the 1970s. While they are commonly assumed to be secular educational tools, Candy Gunther Brown asks whether religion is truly left out of the equation in the context of public-school curricula. An expert witness in four legal challenges, Brown scrutinized unpublished trial records, informant interviews, and legal precedents, as well as insider documents, some revealing promoters of "Vedic victory" or "stealth Buddhism" for public-school children. The legal challenges are fruitful cases for Brown's analysis of the concepts of religious and secular. While notions of what makes something religious or secular are crucial to those who study religion, they have special significance in the realm of public and legal norms. They affect how people experience their lives, raise their children, and navigate educational systems. The question of religion in public education, Brown shows, is no longer a matter of jurisprudence focused largely on the establishment of a Protestant Bible or nonsectarian prayer. Instead, it now reflects an increasingly diverse American religious landscape. Reconceptualizing secularization as transparency and religious voluntarism, Brown argues for an opt-in model for public-school programs.

One Without the Other

One Without the Other
Author: Shelley Moore
Publisher: Portage & Main Press
Total Pages: 90
Release: 2017-02-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1553796993

In this bestseller, Shelley Moore explores the changing landscape of inclusive education. Presented through real stories from her own classroom experience, this passionate and creative educator tackles such things as inclusion as a philosophy and practice, the difference between integration and inclusion, and how inclusion can work with a variety of students and abilities. Explorations of differentiation, the role of special education teachers and others, and universal design for learning all illustrate the evolving discussion on special education and teaching to all learners. This book will be of interest to all educators, from special ed teachers, educational assistants and resource teachers, to classroom teachers, administrators, and superintendents.