Today, I had the pleasure of attending the Inclusion and Inspiration conference at Manchester University. The conference was attended by students from every ITT course at the University, and also by NQTs from the programme last year. Two groups of students from local schools provided powerful speeches about inclusion in action, whilst a signing choir from a local special school gave a moving performance.
One of the sessions I attended was on the use of Mindfulness in schools, and the effect that this can have on emotional wellbeing of both students and staff. Mindfulness emphases using attention and awareness to focus on the present, and draw the thoughts away from rumination on past events or worry about the future. The practice, often involving sitting and focusing on the breath, feeling of the body, noise of the environment or a repeated mantra, needs to be practiced and can help to train the brain away from stress. If repeated regularly, mindfulness can help children with stress, anxiety, focus, emotional literacy and management of behaviour (Hofmann et al, 2010; Williams and Penman, 2011). As an evidenced intervention, research has shown that it can sustain and retain mental wellbeing, and help with physical pain (Fontana and Slack, 1997; Burke, 2009).
The talk led me to think about Mindfulness apps, and the part that they could play as part of sessions. I know that these are popular amongst adults, and have seen them trending on social media in recent months. Calm and Stop, Breathe and Think use music, images and instructions on how to sit, breathe and concentrate. Apps such as these are meant to be used every day, and claim to achieve the same effect as traditional, offline mindfulness techniques. A new app, Headspace for Kids has been specifically designed for children. When released, the chief executive of the Mindfulness Foundation told the Huffington Post that 'given young children’s obsession with technology and Headspace’s first class reputation, we believe this meditation app for children could be the answer to parents’ prayers'.
It would be interesting to see how tech could be used to deliver mindfulness in the classroom via use of this app, and if it does really work as a substitute for a traditional, teacher led session. This is perhaps something that I could try on FPP.
Links
www.calm.com www.stopbreathethink.org www.headspace.com/kids/subscribe Huffington Post article on Headspace for Kids - www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/headspace-for-kids-meditation-app_uk_5797646ee4b06d7c426daf34 A summary of research into mindfulness in schools (published 2012) - www.mindfulnessinschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/MiSP-Research-Summary-2012.pdf Bibliography Burke, C. (2009) ‘Mindfulness-based Approaches with Children and Adolescents: A Preliminary Review of Current Research in an Emergent Field’, Journal of Child and Family Studies, Springer Netherlands. Fontana, D. and Slack, I. (1997) Teaching Meditation to Children, Dorset: Element Books Ltd. Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Witt, A. A., & Oh, D. (2010). The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 169-183. Williams, M. and Penman, D. (2011) Mindfulness: a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world, London: Piaktus.
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This stage in my GPP placement is proving to be incredibly hectic - I am currently juggling university tasks, school planning, marking and evaluation, day-to-day file admin, the school nativity play, ongoing CPD and preparation for a looming school inspection! However, it was great to see my Year 1 class use the app PicCollage the other day, as part of their work on Diwali. Children use this app throughout the school, from manipulating shapes in EYFS, to producing anti-bullying posters and science displays in KS2. I led the input of this Computing lesson, using the visualiser and an iPad to demonstrate how to open the app, choose a new page and get started. As before, my teacher and I deliberately let the class work it out for themselves, in pairs. This was an effective strategy, and children were helping each other across the classroom. They learned how to use stickers, add texts and images, take their own photos and change the background colour/pattern. Although we may not have learned too much about Diwali in that session, the children quickly became adept and were delighted with their own work. It is fantastic to see them becoming digitally literate, and their apprehension of technology is being increasingly replaced by excitement and curiosity. Images are included with kind permission of the headteacher.
I have picked up my Bee-Bot and started to explore how it works, so please look out for a forthcoming post on that! I had great fun this evening playing around with the Stop Motion app on my iPhone, after my audit revealed that I need to explore more educational apps.
The Stop Motion app has been designed to allow children to make fun videos. It is very intuitive, and connects to the camera and microphone on a mobile device. Users are required to take a series of photos in sequence (something which could be linked to sequencing in the Computing NC), and these are linked together at the chosen speed to create a basic video. The simple interface and controls means it could be seamlessly integrated into a lesson, as a hook or as the main focus. I hope to be testing this out at my GPP placement school! This app could easily be used across the curriculum - from projects for Art and D&T, to filming Drama performances and Maths problems. I will be posting about cross-curricular use of Computing at a later date.
Please note - I am not responsible for any content hosted on Youtube beyond my personal channel.
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