The Importance of Storytelling in the Classroom

Hi again! Since the fall semester is getting closer I thought I would write about the importance of building community in the classroom through digital storytelling.

When I walk into a classroom for the first time I always tell a quick story of how I got to where I am today. I want my students to emotionally engage with the classroom.

Let’s look at some research from Linnenbrink and Pintrich on Classroom Student Engagement.

(Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2003)

We can see that when a student is emotionally engaged they feel like they belong in the classroom because content connects to their personal lives or academic studies which results in pride displayed in work.

Adobe Spark has come out with a new tool that easily allows you to create a digital story. Next semester I am planning on asking all of my students to make a 1.5-3 minute digital story of their life to create that sense of belonging and community in the classroom.

Check out my digital story below.

https://spark.adobe.com/video/FNoHPvnmSbBqI/embed

 

How to Use Vizia

Today I am going to show you how to use a tool that I have found very helpful in my classroom. It is called Vizia. Vizia is a free tool for creating video-based quizzes. On Vizia you can import a video from YouTube and then add questions along the timeline of the video. You can ask multiple choice questions, short answer/ open-response questions and poll questions with Vizia. All of the responses to your questions are collected in a spreadsheet that you can download and/or open in Google Sheets.

Not only could you make video quizzes for your students but you could assign students to create video quizzes for each other.

Can you think of other ways you could use Vizia in your classroom? Tweet @chelseabigger with any new ideas! I look forward to hearing from you.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today! See Vizia in action below!

Incorporating Mindful Listening into Your Classroom

Check out the first episode of “When Mindfulness Meets the Classroom Podcast.” In this episode, I will discuss how to incorporate “Mindful Listening” in your classroom.

So what exactly is mindful listening?

Mindful listening means paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and being non-judgmental. The goal of mindful listening is to silence the internal noise of your own thoughts, so that you can hear the whole message, and so that the speaker feels understood.

There are three key elements of mindful listening that you can use to improve your listening skills to develop a better rapport with students and help them with what they need to succeed as learners.

1. Be Present
2. Give Yourself Time
3. Cultivate Empathy

Listen to the podcast to learn more!

Guidelines for  other Contemplative Activities

• Plan a structured exercise but be flexible.
• Allow students their own experience.
• Have a clear pedagogical purpose and communicate that so students understand how it fits into the course.
• Allow students to opt out during any exercise so they feel safe
• Consider allowing students time after an exercise to reflect/write.

What Does This Look Like in Class?

I have taught several workshops on “When Mindfulness Meets the Classroom” and I always start out with creating buy-in. As you have read in my previous posts there is a lot of research around people who practice mindful mediation scoring higher in tests around emotional regulation, attention, and creativity. I also show how companies like Google are investing in professional development around mindfulness for their employees, the military trains our soldiers through mindfulness, and even professional athletes practice mindfulness.

Try using the following steps to lead 5 minutes of mindful breathing at the beginning of your class.

Mindfulness Awareness Practice – Mindful Breathing for 5 Minutes

• Quiet and intentional (phones of silent/no-vibrate)
• Relaxed, good posture (“lifted from crown of the head”)
• Eyes closed to the extent that you are comfortable
• Focus on body relaxation, breath sensation (“count”)
• Acceptance of distraction as it occurs (“thinking”)
• Re-focus on relaxation, breath-sensation
• Re-focus on relaxation, breath-sensation (reps)

See it in action here.

Mindfulness & Attention

One major study found that those who reported a greater sense of mindfulness were more likely to experience a higher state of flow (the feeling of being totally in the moment which has been linked to enhanced performance). These individuals also scored better in terms of control of attention and emotion, goal-setting and positive self-talk.

Specifically, these individuals scored high on the Stroop Interference Test.

Try it out for yourself.

The words themselves have a strong influence over your ability to say the color. The interference between the different information (what the words say and the color of the words) your brain receives causes a problem. There are two theories that may explain the Stroop effect:

• Speed of Processing Theory: the interference occurs because words are read faster than colors are named.
• Selective Attention Theory: the interference occurs because naming colors requires more attention than reading words.

If you are thinking about introducing mindfulness to your students you can create buy-in by explaining the research around the practice and an increased attention span and have them complete the Stroop Test.

The Growing Popularity of Mindfulness

When you get stressed, whether it’s anxiety, depression, worry, one of the things you notice is that your attention begins to fade away, your attention gets hijacked by other things. You want to focus on one thing but your concentration goes.

We can see the trend of mindfulness in the tech industry, professional athletes, improving military resilience, as well as increasing attention and focus in schools.

So what is mindfulness? Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. 

Why do you think Google offers a mindfulness training for it’s employees? Why do you think it is important for our military to be well versed in mindfulness? How could mindfulness help professional athletes?