Attentive Teaching

Can history teach our students to empathize? Secondary educator Cindy Schwartz highlights specific activities that you can utilize to teach empathy in your classroom.

We hope you enjoy this narrated selection from the Attentive Teaching blog. You can read this blog post and more at the Attentive Teaching blog.

Subscribe for future "blogcasts" and visit AttentiveTeaching.com for more resources to help create a peaceful and safe classroom for your students and yourself.

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Music:

Acoustic Meditation 2 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Attentive Teaching's Lauren Navarra narrates a guided meditation for teachers focusing on safety, health, and peace.

Subscribe for future midweek meditations and visit AttentiveTeaching.com for more resources to help create a peaceful and safe classroom for your students and yourself. 

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to connect with us and learn more!

With Thanksgiving coming and looking very different this year, we thought we’d take some time to consider what gratitude is and how we can build a “thank you” mindset into our own lives and the lives of our students. 

How do we build gratitude into our classrooms and our lives? We can ask our students to keep gratitude journals, we can ask our students to write and acknowledge their strengths and how they can use their strengths to do something nice for someone. We could read stories about gratefulness like The Gift of the Magi or have a “Good Week Reflection” like the Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley suggests.

Ultimately, if we practice gratefulness, we will be physically, emotionally and mentally healthier. Well-known psychologist and researcher Dr. Robert Emmons says, “Grateful people…feel more hope, optimism, and a desire to get along with others.” Need we say more? Happy “Different” Thanksgiving. We wish you health, happiness and peace. We are grateful for you!

Visit AttentiveTeaching.com for more resources and to read the transcript of this episode on our blog. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to connect with us and learn more!

Music:

Soft Piano by Agnese Valmaggia

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6509-soft-piano

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

A New Beginning by Agnese Valmaggia

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6510-a-new-beginning

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Relaxing Piano Improvisation by Alexander Nakarada

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/5978-relaxing-piano-improvisation

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Relaxing Dreams by MusicLFiles

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6787-relaxing-dreams

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Piano Mood by Agnese Valmaggia

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6299-piano-mood

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Happy Farewell by MusicLFiles

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6466-happy-farewell

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In 2013, EdTech posed an interesting question – “If you were offered a job that paid an average annual salary of $49,000 and required you to work 12-16 hour days, would you take it?” This very same article from EdTech continued to remind us that although the average teacher workday is 6.7 hours, the average teacher gets to school one hour earlier in the morning and often stays an average of 3-5 hours beyond the traditional school day for meetings, grading and other administrative or volunteer activities. Business Insider reported in 2019 that on average, teachers take home 2-3 hours of work a day.

So, we wonder, how do teachers find time for self-care? How do teachers nourish their need to rest, re-charge and re-set for the next day at school if there isn’t any time both at school or at home to do that? And ultimately, will teachers be able to be their best in the classroom if they are unable to find time for self-care?

In today’s episode, we ask teachers to consider being selfish. We are offering a number of simple practices that could help teachers find ways to increase their self-care. Let us help you find some You Time so that you can feel nourished, rested and in love with teaching again. At Attentive Teaching we firmly believe that when teachers are nourished, rested and calm, their students will be too. It’s a win-win.

Visit AttentiveTeaching.com for more resources and to read the transcript of this episode on our blog. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to connect with us and learn more!

Music:

Continue Life by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3545-continue-life

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Touching Moments One - Pulse by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4537-touching-moments-one---pulse

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

White by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4626-white

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Midsummer Sky by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4049-midsummer-sky

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Almost Bliss by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5032-almost-bliss

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Edutopia, an educational foundation founded by award-winning filmmaker George Lucas in 1991, tells us that 16% of all children and 40% of students diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have oppositional defiant disorder also called ODD. These students exhibit behaviors that can include temper tantrums, a disregard for rules and authority and a propensity to annoy other students while claiming that they are victims not responsible for their misfortunes. These students can be vindictive as well. 

Education experts tell us that negative reinforcement or punishments often exacerbate these feelings in students who suffer from ODD. 19th century naturalist and writer, Henry David Thoreau once said that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Perhaps, our job as teachers is to unwrap what the kinds of desperation that our students are experiencing and tailor our approach to their oppositional behavior with compassion, positive reinforcement and strategies to help them self-soothe.

Today’s episode asks teachers to consider “bending with the wind” when approaching oppositional students in their classroom. Understanding and managing oppositional behavior within our classrooms with self-regulating activities that could include deep breathing exercises, meditation chimes, project-based assessments, coloring exercises and other forms of positive reinforcement might just help us enable the most oppositional of students to ‘bend with the wind” rather than break during the storm.

Visit AttentiveTeaching.com for more resources and to read the transcript of this episode on our blog. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to connect with us and learn more!

Music:

Windswept by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4629-windswept

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4710-midnight-tale

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Almost Bliss by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5032-almost-bliss

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Facile by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3733-facile

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Touching Moments One - Pulse by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4537-touching-moments-one---pulse

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Touching Moments Four - Melody by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4536-touching-moments-four---melody

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Winter Chimes by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4631-winter-chimes

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Crinoline Dreams by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3560-crinoline-dreams

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In our second episode, we focus on an ever present problem for teachers – quieting down a class. How can we, as educators, better help our students to ‘settle in’ for the day or for a particular lesson without being reactive or encouraging our students to be reactive? Psychology Today tells us that all individuals respond to respect. Additionally, students follow our lead and we need to model non-reactive behavior, compassion and calm if we expect them to.

Today’s episode offers practical, doable tips on how to calmly, mindfully and creatively quiet down students so that classes start on time, are productive and engaging. Ever try using a meditation bell to start your class? “Chime In” with us to see how it works!

Visit AttentiveTeaching.com for more resources and to read the transcript of this episode on our blog. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to connect with us and learn more!

Music:

Easy Lemon by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3697-easy-lemon

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Continue Life by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3545-continue-life

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Happy Bee by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3853-happy-bee

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Clear Waters by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3516-clear-waters

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Somewhere Sunny by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4390-somewhere-sunny

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Almost Bliss by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5032-almost-bliss

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Groundwork by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3832-groundwork

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In 2019, The Pacer Center, an organization dedicated to helping schools and families attend to the needs of students with disabilities, revealed that approximately 20% of students in our nation’s schools were bullied. That’s one out of five students. Psychologists tell us that when students do not feel safe in their classrooms and schools at large, genuine learning cannot take place. The brain is not hardwired to process information under that kind of physical and emotional stress.

In today’s episode we recognize the importance of October as National Bullying Prevention Month by offering strategies that help educators identify bullying behavior, address it and provide calmer and more peaceful classrooms where students can better control their behavior through self-regulating activities.

Visit AttentiveTeaching.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to connect with us and learn more!

Music:

Summer Day by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4433-summer-day

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

White by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4626-white

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Clear Waters by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3516-clear-waters

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Almost New by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3353-almost-new

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Windswept by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4629-windswept

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Attentive Teaching is an education nonprofit that aims to help teachers create peaceful and safe classrooms by recognizing and addressing trauma and stress-related issues through mindfulness and self-regulating techniques. The Attentive Teaching podcast is here to help listeners improve themselves, and their classroom.