A couple teachers at Belmont Secondary incorporate Mindfulness technology in their classes, specifically the Calm app. I have been observing in their classes on Wednesdays and was able to interview them and learn about why and how they bring Mindfulness into their classrooms.
Mr. Wilson was the first teacher I interviewed (and have been returning to his classes as much as possible) because he incorporates mindfulness directly into the classroom setting. I love going to Mr. Wilson’s classes; I find that he has a calm presence about him as a teacher, there’s an overall relaxing energy in the classroom, and I think part of that comes from his application of mindfulness to his classes. Mr. Wilson begins every block he teaches the same way: first with a territorial recognition, and then right into three minutes of mindfulness where he turns on the ‘Calm’ app, and it plays a guided meditation for the class. He gives students the option to participate or not, but either way they have to sit quietly at their desks (some work on assignments, some on their phones). While not everyone participates, I think overall it benefits the class by calming them down. When discussing mindfulness with Mr. Wilson, he explained that he determined three minutes to be the perfect amount of time for it, and always at the beginning of class. Any longer than three minutes, he said that he has had parents complain that too much of class time is wasted (five minutes in each class over the year had been added up for him to amount to 3 hours or so of “not English class”). He also explained that routine is key; although getting students to be engaged with it can be challenging, by at least maintaining consistency in the routine it does lessen negative attitudes and create an overall acceptance – this is what we do in English class. I also asked Mr. Wilson why he allows students the option to be on their phones during this time – doesn’t that defeat the purpose of the activity? His reasoning was again, coming from the roots of mindfulness in acceptance, you cannot force it on people, and if a student were to react negatively and bring that home to parents, it could create an issue. He said that this was the path of least resistance, and at least they are aware of mindfulness and he can only hope that they pay attention to it at some point. I found this very interesting. This applies directly to my inquiry because I want to look at how exactly to bring it into the classroom, along with the pros and cons of doing so. I have been interested to see what it looks like in practice, when is the best time to do it, what type of negative pushback has there been and if it is overall positive for students. Mr. Wilson also said that it benefits him as the teacher to have three minutes of calm before switching gears and getting into the next class.
