This week I decided to look at ways to integrate meditation and mindfulness into the classroom because I have felt a positive impact on my own mental well being. Bringing this strategy into the classroom is just another way I can help my students. I found an article that talked about the benefits of mindfulness and how to introduce it. One piece of evidence that I found super interesting and compelling was that the class that was “trained in mindfulness excelled above the other group in the areas of attention, memory, emotional regulation, optimism, stress levels, mindfulness, and empathy.” and they had better academic scores as a result. I think that being able to give students a new tool to have in their toolkit is so important and rewarding. Teaching can be stressful and overwhelming so being able to calm yourself down as well as the class would be so helpful. The article has an example where a student would lead a meditation exercise after lunch and recess. The class sat down and had their palms facing up, rested on each knee. Then they would tap their thumbs onto each of their fingers, simultaneously repeating the words “I-am-calm-now” with each tap. This simple exercise would be easy to teach to any age and could be used at any time! I will continue to research new ways to introduce mindfulness to students in a long lasting way.