Many teachers around the Globe use a variety of methods to try to help their students maintain calm and focus. This article from the Washington Post reports on one of those methods - meditation.
What’s happening at George Washington, experts said, is taking place in classrooms nationwide: Over the past five years, “mindfulness” programs have exploded in popularity. In Grand Blanc, Mich., first-graders are breathing to the sound of Tibetan music before class. In Albuquerque, second-graders sniff and speak about raisins before eating them. In Yellow Springs, Ohio, students can choose yoga as an alternative to detention.
Educators hope that leading students in self-reflective exercises such as meditation will give them tools to handle stressful situations, said Amanda Moreno, an associate professor at Erikson Institute, a graduate school that trains professionals in child development. If children can expend less energy to stay calm, the theory holds, they’ll have more gusto for learning.
At George Washington Middle School in Alexandria — which enrolls roughly 1,400 students — the meditation sessions were introduced at the start of this school year, the brainchild of McNutt and Rodriguez. The two educators, who teach sixth-grade science to roughly 175 children in total, said results were swift.
“You can see the change in the kids: They cool down, they relax, and they’re just a little bit more open to learning,” Rodriguez said.
Some great ideas here. Maybe some of these methods can be incorporated into schools in Hong Kong.
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