We can get better at anything-including regulating our thoughts and emotions-if we continue to challenge ourselves. It also encourages students to see their brains and academic skills through a growth mindset lens. It pushes kids to be metacognitive when they’re feeling distracted and identify the root causes. Mindfulness prepares the brain to think first-then plan a response.
#Maniac magee and aha moments how to
Together, we learn how our bodies react when stressed and how to deescalate internal and external conflict.įor the last five minutes, I guide my students through mindfulness exercises-controlled breathing activities, paying special attention to our senses, thoughts, and emotions. That’s why, for 15-20 minutes every day, my students get to know themselves, and their classmates, by deepening their understanding of their own mental processes. Deep breathing helps to slow the heart rate down, lower blood pressure, and improve our focus-releasing control back to our conscious thoughts. One tangible way to help students handle stress inside and out of the classroom is through conscious, controlled breathing. I can plan for engaging and culturally responsive content, but if my students don’t feel safe and connected at school, many are not going to be successful.
While this fight-or-flight response is necessary for survival, it is detrimental in the classroom. When stressed, information stays within the amygdala and is processed right on the spot, reacting without thinking. When calm, the amygdala allows information to flow into our prefrontal cortex where cognitive control and critical thinking take place. When students experience high levels of stress, the amygdala is the part of the brain that responds, serving as an information filter that is controlled by our emotions. You’re slowing down the amygdala, the brain’s security guard.
Sometimes learning can be the last thing on a student’s mind. They’re going to an attorney this afternoon to sign documents that transfer legal custody of Noemi and her little sister to a family friend if immigration officials detain her parents. She’s waiting for her mother to take her out of class. Today she’s different.Īs the class lines up for recess, I crouch next to Noemi’s desk. Typically, she’s the one I depend on to say, “But in the text it says,” introducing evidence to counter an argument. The students are immediately awash in debate about Maniac Magee, critically analyzing how the main character is blind to the realities of racism.Įxcept for Noemi. Hold it…and slowly let the breath out.ĭuring our afternoon read-aloud, my fourth graders’ conversation begins with a quick turn and chat to generate ideas with an elbow partner before the whole class discussion.
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