Mindfulness and SEL improving student achievement

 

Many teachers in Coquitlam have had 'MindUp' training and having been a TTOC in classes that use this mindfulness in class, I can say that it can be very beneficial. A colleague shared this article and I wanted to share a piece of it and the link to the full article for further reading if you are interested.

Schools across the country are beginning to use mindfulness as part of an effort to address the social and emotional needs of children, improving student achievement in the process.

“Before we can teach a kid how to academically excel in school, we need to teach him how to have stillness, pay attention, stay on task, regulate, make good choices,” said Larochette. “We tell kids be quiet, calm yourself down, be still. We tell them all these things they need in the classroom, but we’re not teaching them how to do that.”

It makes sense doesn't it? Less time managing behaviour as students learn to self regulate and use skills to help them learn.

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Task Cards

I have seen task cards used in a variety of classes. A Montessori class I have taught in uses them for Math and the cards are broken into groups based on level and skill set then sorted into drawers. Another class I was in used them for group work so that each group member would complete a task then rotate the cards.

I found some information on task cards:

Task cards are pretty self-explanatory: they are cards which contain tasks, or activities for students to complete. Teachers usually create a deck of these task cards for students to practice skills. They are good worksheet alternatives, can be adapted in to games, easy to make and readily accessible since so many teachers make and share them.

Here are some resources about task cards, if you're thinking about utilizing them:

• Task-Cards.com, which gives a thorough explanation for various ways to use task cards, including for individual, small group and whole class activities. The site also provides details on several types of task cards and gives examples of each. There are also four sets of free task cards as a sample of the type of material sold on the site. Visit here for a one-stop shop for info on task cards!
• Talbott's Teaching Trove contains a few sets of free task cards, including working with antonyms and rounding numbers. My favorite are the "7-Up" cards, which encourage students to turn short, lifeless sentences into descriptive ones.
• The Third Wheel posted free math task cards to sharpen students' problem solving skills.
• Pro-Teacher.net forums have many awesome members who create and share task cards for all subjects and grade levels. Sign up and join to share and contribute.