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HOW CAN YOU USE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND MINDFULNESS TO CREATE A POSITIVE CLASSROOM CLIMATE?

Scroll down to see how to implement mindfulness in your classroom!

Historical perspectives is a method of teaching the social studies curriculum in a way that encourages students to build empathy for peoples lives during different eras. The goal of this method is to create comparisons between the past and present to appreciate how events of the past have affected the present, the normalcies of the time compared to now, and the reasons people acted the way they did. The practice of mindfulness is an awareness that emerges by paying attention to the present moment in a nonjudgmental manner, and in time aims to not only appreciate oneself, but to appreciate the differences of others. In combining the two into ones' teaching, it lays a framework to build a community of respect and loving kindness in between members of the classroom and school community. 

 

The new BC Curriculum in Social Studies contains Big Ideas, content, and curricular competencies that are linked with teaching historical perspectives. I've included the curricular connections by grade below for easy reference.

Teaching Using Historical Perspectives

Using historical perspectives in teaching social studies is a strategy that fosters acceptance and appreciation of others' differences and viewpoints. In learning to take this perspectives of various people in history, students can learn to extend their views of others within the classroom and community to consider that other people have their own unique lives that involve challenges and different strengths.

It is not always automatic for people to know how to empathize with others, this is a skill that teachers are beginning to recognize needs to be focused on more within the classroom, and has been enhanced through programs such as Roots of Empathy. In a study done by Dixon, et al. (2013), when given a scenario where a student was showing symptoms of anxiety or depression, the grade four students did not recognize that this is a mental illness that is beyond the control of students. Instead they explained the causes as being external to the characters, and often related them to what they had seen on television. They explained that the children were likely to be sad or withdrawn because they were ugly or because they were being unkind to friends, instead of recognizing that they are not in charge of these feelings of depression or anxiety. By teaching students how to recognize others' perceptions and experiences through history, students can recognize that the people in their own environment also have their own set of experiences and thoughts, and that this will increase students' appreciation of these differences (Brooks, 2011).

Maximizing the ability to recognize historical perspectives should involve:
 

  • sense of otherness: recognizing that others' values, attitudes, beliefs, and intentions may be different from one's own 

  • shared normalcy: willingness to entertain the possibility that others' perspectives make sense, and aren't the result of ignorance, stupidity, or delusion

  • historical contextualization: the ability to explain past actions and events in terms of historical values, attitudes, and beliefs

  • multiplicity of historical perspectives: understanding that individuals and groups held a variety of values, attitudes, and beliefs at any given time in history

  • contextualization of the present: recognition that one's own perspectives depend on historical context

Teachers can focus lessons and activities on developing students care about people and events of the past, care that something happened, desire to put learning into place, or to help someone in the present who was part of the past. The information and methods teachers use to present history will effect the way students receive and perceive it. The teacher who explicitly discusses what was typical for then compared to now creates a shared sense of normalcy about the time. Using primary sources, encouraging questions from the students, and allowing interaction with a variety of resources beyond the textbook will both motivate students to investigate into the past, and to consider the perspectives and empathize with these historical events and figures. This word cloud offers a variety of techniques for teachers to implement.

 

Teaching Mindfulness in the Classroom

 

The research behind mindfulness and meditation has been growing in the past decade. Though most research has been conducted with adults, the research with children is

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growing and teachers see visible improvements in their students when using these practices in class. Though mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism and other Eastern religions, these beliefs are not taught in the classroom. Meditation does not need to be done to connect with a higher power or state of being. Instead, the practice of focusing on the breath, on the present moment, and letting go of negative energy are what is practiced, and have been shown to have physical and mental benefits.

Some ways to implement mindfulness in the classroom:
 

  • Mindful awareness through meditation allows students to relate to their internal and external experiences. Teachers can guide students to focus on their breath and how it moves in and out of their body, or they can guide them through attending to their senses. This teaches them how to objectively focus on the present moment.

  • body scan exercises, movement, and sitting meditations

  • mindful eating and connecting with Thai Chi

  • managing negative emotions and thinking

  • acknowledgement of self and others

  • kindness practices

  • games, activities, and instruction that develop awareness of self, other people, places, and things

  • connecting with our responsibility for the environment

  • getting outdoors and practicing meditative activities


Some programs that can be used to implement these practices include:
 

  • MindUp - a research-based curriculum that improves the self-regulation and academic progress of students. The curriculum can be found on Scholastic.

  • Friends Programs - resiliency building program that informs teachers about anxiety and depression and how to use mindfulness techniques to build strength and health in students.

  • CARE - Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education focuses on creating positive learning environments to increase student success

  • SMART - Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques is a program for teachers to progress into a better mindset for teaching


By implementing practices to bring learners to a good emotional state through mindfulness and by building their appreciation for others in the social studies curriculum through historical perspectives, students will be happier and more confident in themselves, and also learn empathy for others to create feelings of safety, community, and success within the classroom.

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Works Cited

 

Brooks, S. (2011). Historical empathy as perspective recognition and care in one secondary social studies classroom. Theory & Research in Social Education, 39(2), 166. doi:10.1080/00933104.2011.10473452

Dixon, C., Murray, C., & Daiches, A. (2013). A qualitative exploration into young children's perspectives and understandings of emotional difficulties in other children. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 18(1), 72-90. doi:10.1177/1359104511433194

Embracing a strength-based perspective and practice in education. (2011). Resiliency Initiatives. http://www.mentalhealth4kids.ca/healthlibrary_docs/Strengths-BasedSchoolCultureAndPractice.pdf 

Ergas, O. (2015). The deeper teachings of Mindfulness‐Based ‘Interventions’ as a reconstruction of ‘Education’. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 49(2), 203-220. doi:10.1111/1467-9752.12137

Harnett, P. H., & Dawe, S. (2012). The contribution of mindfulness‐based therapies for children and families and proposed conceptual integration. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 17(4), 195-208. doi:10.1111/j.1475-3588.2011.00643.x

Meiklejohn, J., Phillips, C., Freedman, M. L., Griffin, M. L., Biegel, G., Roach, A., . . . Saltzman, A. (2012). Integrating mindfulness training into K-12 education: Fostering the resilience of teachers and students. Mindfulness, 3(4), 291-307. doi:10.1007/s12671-012-0094-5

Schure, M. B., Christopher, J., & Christopher, S. (2008). Mind–Body medicine and the art of Self‐Care: Teaching mindfulness to counseling students through yoga, meditation, and qigong. Journal of Counseling & Development, 86(1), 47-56. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6678.2008.tb00625.x

Wisner, B. L. (2014). An exploratory study of mindfulness meditation for alternative school students: Perceived benefits for improving school climate and student functioning. Mindfulness, 5(6), 626-638. doi:10.1007/s12671-013-0215-9

Wojcik, T. G., Heitzmann, R., Kilbride, C., & Hartwell, D. (2013). Instructional strategies recommended in social studies methods textbooks: A historical perspective. The Social Studies, 104(6), 241. Retrieved from http://viu.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMw1V3PT9swFLaAE5eJdTDKOsmnaagKSmInjpE4VGiwaUJCNIjeKtuxpaI2PbSbVP56nmM3P9jgzjVWrMTvy_P7Xvy-hxCJz8LghU9QkqawdwB7IBBikIIWLBamEIRpxUMZdxvR1ecz_9fu6P0a_lejCSuqv85eC8JGiMvFokp52yyHL8z1BwmHN1Ur6dUwB29tI--Vq1lvyYjcdusytyGtBVp3rjoboIHLi-H18GH5qGZ1SdCd2Fh5rfXTQpQ1NC9teQ34mN-zua0hq-HmSuBtrdHaphnbSYqI-Gq9Lazyf_qFdI95WhWcgHHuRbGra7bhLrDbZNLx1a5XsQdlx_M6_awX4tlAiKzGXQY7jZVSX8CbrC90GdyPd4GnZxVzH09afCl2st3-cV7bp6u9ND9AHzxrwCNn7Y9oR5c9dOhss8HfsNUPFlWP5k0P9Z01sHfbK_zda4uffkKygw7coAO30IFnJd7O4SyKPTpwjY5zPMINNnALG4cov_qRX_4MfJuNQAPXDYiG-ERqkhZRJk1IRREqw02WaJmmJs2oZrqgJlVCci1pHAtpFBOMF9JEKpHkCO2Vy1IfI6wSAVxNxNIkghrGRZjBfSzSQkpqpOmjz3Y5p_YTgvdTU0JTGrGQUxjZrvC0mM-njd36aFCP-K9sBXw15pQxnqUnbw9_QfsNHAdoD1ZYf0W7f2d_ngG2Fn6r

© 2016 by Brittany Leonard

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