Mindfulness in the Classroom: 5 Ways to Reduce Student Anxiety
Mindfulness is a practical solution that
offers several potential benefits when you have anxious kids in the classroom.
When you can incorporate moments for slowing down, managing frustration, and
learning new coping mechanisms, what gets built is a foundation for future
resiliency.
How to Help
Anxious Kids in the Classroom
1. Encourage
deep breathing.
Slow, deep breaths can help the mind start
releasing some of its anxiety. If one student is having trouble with their
focus, a couple of minutes of belly breathing can often help. What makes this
option for mindfulness in the classroom helpful is that you can lead everyone
in the same activity if multiple kids are a bit squirrely.
2. Take a
break and get outside.
Anxious brains benefit from being outside
in the sunshine. When students have overactive thoughts or spiraling worries, a
little cool air or time listening to Mother Nature can turn off the racing
mechanism. You can even ask targeted questions, such as the number of trees
they can see from where they are.
3. Talk about
feelings openly and honestly.
Anxiety often sets kids up to be fearful
and stressed about classroom activities or homework expectations. When students
can see and understand that these emotions are typical components of everyday
life, they’ll use your choices as their foundation for coping with difficult
circumstances.
4. Implement a
gratitude journal.
Do you have 5-10 minutes to carve out of
your daily teaching routine? If so, try implementing a gratitude journal for
each student. When kids start thinking about the positive things that happened
to them throughout the day, it is more challenging for those anxious ideas to
dominate their thinking patterns. When a child starts feeling negative or
overwhelmed by anxiety, re-reading their previous entries can quickly stop the
cycle.
5. Create safe
spaces in the classroom.
Classroom safe spaces are an excellent
addition for any teacher who has students that cope with anxiety, stress, and
fears regularly. You can even offer fidget devices to help kids focus and stay
on task. When children have outlets for their emotions and energy, it’s much
easier for them to maintain their attention on the lessons to learn from the
day.
One More
Option for Incorporating Mindfulness in the Classroom
Another way to introduce mindfulness
concepts to reduce student anxiety is to teach these ideas through your
curriculum.
Our math worksheets often talk about
counting apples or how fast trains and cars can go, but what would happen if
you could use these lessons to teach mindfulness while students work on
multiplication principles or dividing fractions?
When you can offer consistent mindfulness
and coping mechanisms in the classroom, you’re helping to create moments where
anxiety lessens and learning happens.