I'm always stressing how important it is for adults to practice mindfulness if we're going to use it with students. This is a regular section that highlights opportunities to build your personal practice.
Meditation Bar is now offering 50% off all classes for AISD staff as an ongoing discount! Big time gratitude to Meditation Bar for their dedication to providing opportunities for self-care for Austin ISD.
UPDATE: We're wrapping up our fall semester courses. See below for remaining courses. Add yourself to the waitlist if it's full and we'll try to fit you in. Spring semester courses will be finalized and shared soon.
“Mindfulness in Schools” HCP course (feel free to print & post this flyer on campus).
All will be held at the Blanton Museum of Art in classrooms above the cafeteria. These classes are open to ALL AISD staff. Thanks to a generous donation from a community member, teacher & librarian subs will be paid for by the SEL Department. That generous donation ensures that 17 subs can be covered for each session, so sign up soon to reserve your spot. More classes will be offered in the Spring too!
Mindfulness Series
Section #: 88384--November 29th, 8-11am, Mindfulness 301 (advanced)
**There are NO prerequisites for 201 & 301. Choose which level you think you should attend based on your knowledge and expertise with mindfulness. For 301, it's preferred that you have at least one full year of practicing mindfulness in your classroom.
Integrating Mindfulness
Section #: 88385--November 29th, 1-4pm, Mindfulness & The Arts
Mindfulness for Librarians
Section #: 88381--November 14th, 1-4pm, Mindfulness for Secondary Librarians
Mindfulness for Counselors
Section #: 88382--December 6th, 8-11am, Mindfulness for Elementary Counselors
Section #: 88383--December 6th, 1-4pm, Mindfulness for Secondary Counselors
Calm has a 30 Days of Gratitude calendar on their blog. This could be used to share with families, or to even just pick a few to share with families. Unfortunately, it's only available in English, but please feel free to copy and translate on your own to share with families.
As a reminder, you can always find family resources on bit.ly/mindfulfams.
An article which highlights that culturally responsive teaching is really about building relationships and validating students. Having a mindfulness practice of our own helps with this concept. When we care for ourselves, it opens up more space to care for others.
Grow Grateful
"Kiko goes on a camping trip with her class and learns about gratitude! Throughout the trip, Kiko discovers different things she appreciates about her family, friends, and opportunities. This story is based on the “theory of mind,” which is the ability to take perspective of others and recognize that each person has their own thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Growing gratitude leads to greater happiness and interpersonal relationships. A 'Note to Parents and Caregivers' provides information on teaching children how to be grateful."
I Can Do Hard Things
"What we tell ourselves matters! This is just as true for kids as it is for adults. Help your child tap into their inner strength and find the encouragement they need to navigate their daily environments. Mindful affirmations can help your child tune out the streams of messages they get about how they should be in the world. I Can Do Hard Things is a perfect addition to your home or school library. Parents and educators can find free resources to accompany this book at http://bit.ly/gabigarciabooks. (Available in Spanish as Yo Puedo Hacer Cosas Dificiles: Afirmaciones Concientes Para Niños)."
A Still Quiet Place
"One of the easiest ways to find the still quiet place within is to practice mindfulness—paying attention to your life experience here and now with kindness and curiosity. The easy-to-implement mindfulness practices in this guide are designed to help increase children and adolescents’ attention, learning, resiliency, and compassion by showing them how to experience the natural quietness that can be found within.
The still quiet place is a place of peace and happiness that is alive inside all of us, and you can find it just by closing your eyes and breathing. For more information, visit www.stillquietplace.com."
Mindful Classrooms: The Educator Guide
Those of you who are using Mindful Classrooms: The Educator Guide, I recommend Weeks 12-14 for November. As a friendly reminder, the book will be published by Free Spirit Publishing soon and I won't be able to give away free copies once that happens. AISD staff, sign up for a free electronic copy of the book while you can in the support form at the bottom of this newsletter.
Inner Explorer
So much gratitude to LG for the $20,000 grant to provide Inner Explorer community licenses to 20 AISD campuses through the 2018-2019 school year!! Inner Explorer is a web-based mindfulness program that's very easy to use for all ages. Elementary content is in Spanish as well. They even have a community component where families can have an account along with the school. For more info and sample practices, click here.
Stop Breathe Think--Free Lifetime Subscription
Calm--Free Lifetime Subscription
FREE Calm.com Lifetime Subscription for Teachers (PreK-12). Fill out the form at the link above for a FREE subscription to their site & app.
#mindfulAISD YouTube Playlist
Letter to Families
Here's a letter about mindfulness you can share with families. It provides a brief description of mindfulness and a message from Dr. Cruz supporting mindfulness in schools.
The letter is available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi/Dari & Burmese.
Multilingual Mindfulness
Want mindfulness activities in Spanish, Arabic, Farsi/Dari, Burmese, Swahili & Kinyarwanda? We've got them for you!
Zen Den YouTube Playlist
The "Zen Den" YouTube playlist offers 18 videos, ranging from 4-8 minutes in length.
Mind Yeti: Connecting Mindfulness w/ Explicit SEL Lessons
Mindyeti.com is a great resource that connects mindfulness with Second Step lessons, and it's FREE!
GoNoodle
GoNoodle is for the body and the mind.
Here is a link to a document that lists all the GoNoodle Mindfulness videos sorted by channel and with the length of each video.
De-Escalation Strategies Poster
This poster can be an addition to your classroom, Peace Area, hallways, Mindfulness Room, etc.
Mindful Life Project
Guided Mindfulness Activities in English & Spanish--Great for Secondary.
They also have a free app titled "Mindful Life Project."
Videos Explaining Mindfulness
Contact
SEL Mindfulness Specialist
2014 Austin ISD Teacher of the Year
Twitter: @mrbutler629