Empowerment Plan and Non-Judgement (3rd-5th Grades)

With my 4th and 5th grade students, I love talking to them at the beginning of class to find out how they are, what they're up to, and how they are feeling.  During the art portion of class, the students often share more about their lives and interests, both with me and with each other.  We've truly cultivated a positive community together!  At times these dynamic girls can still be challenging as many of them are high energy.  Some of them struggle with remaining silent during mindful breathing, but each is accepted for where she is in the practice.

During each class, all students write down three things they are grateful for in their sketchbooks.  One of these is also written on a small piece of paper, folded, and placed in the singing bowl.  During our last class we will read through many of these gratitude papers as a reminder of being thankful for things everyday.

After that, I read a story from the children's book Zen Shorts.  The story is a Chinese tale about a wise old farmer who seems to have a string of bad luck.  But with every seemingly bad thing that happens to him, something very good comes out of it.  The last "bad" thing that happens is that his son falls off a horse and breaks his arm.  The farmer's neighbors say, "Oh, how awful!".  The wise old farmer responds with a simple, "Maybe".  In the end, the son's broken arm saves him from being drafted into a violent war.

After reading the story, I asked the students to decipher its message.  They shared that you never know if something in life will be good or bad.  I brought in the idea of judgement to the conversation. Individuals in our culture are quick to judge if events in life are good or bad.  Mindfulness teaches the skill of non-judgement, something the wise old farmer had mastered.  We never know if something that seems like bad luck is really something positive in disguise, or if our attitude towards the event to transform it into a positive!

While the students ate their snacks, I showed them a video about Empowerment Plan, an amazing non-profit organization based out of Detroit.  Empowerment Plan is devoted to "educate, employ, and empower homeless individuals to create a better life for themselves and their families while producing humanitarian products for those in need".  They create an extremely warm winter coat that transforms into a sleeping bag.  All the individuals who fabricate the coat were formerly homeless.  Empowerment Plan has taught them sewing skills so that they can do the work required for the job.  Here is a video about Empowerment Plan if you'd like to learn more!

A photo of the coat that transforms into a sleeping bag, designed by Veronica Scott, founder of
Empowerment Plan!

Then it was time for the students to dive into their own creative adventures: designing a ZINE that shares a message of HOPE!  All of this goes with our Central Idea: Art has the potential to be a positive influence in the world.  This week I introduced students to the many different forms of media that they can incorporate into their zines.  My expectation is that they utilize at least three forms of media!  The girls were excited to begin incorporating color into their creations.  Here are the artists at work:

Street Books and Sidewalk Flowers (3rd-5th Grades)

Brainstorming for one student's zine!

Welcome to the first class of Session 3 for Mind Move Make's 4th and 5th graders!  During this session our Central Idea is Art has the potential to be a positive force in the world.  We'll be exploring ways in which art can impact the world in a beneficial way.  This can be done on a small scale by elevating one person's mood or making someone feel a sense of connection.  Or it can be done on a larger scale by trying to alter the viewpoint of an entire group of people.

We began this session with a short lesson in neuroscience.  Our brains are hardwired to remember and accentuate the negative things that happen to us.  This is a result of the way our ancient ancestors lived as hunter/gatherers.  Their lives were filled with danger around every corner, and it was necessary to remember where treacherous situations lurked in order to survive.  For most of us, there are no longer large animals with sharp teeth waiting to pounce around every corner, but that is how our brains process, record, and focus on the negative things that happen in our lives.

We talked about this, and I asked if any of them felt they had a hard time letting go of "bad" things that happen.  Many students raised their hands.  I also shared that there is HOPE!  Through neuroplasticity our brains can be rewired to alter this tendency.  And one of the best ways to accentuate the positive is to drink in all the good things happening around us each day.

A simple start is to keep a gratitude journal.  Writing down the positive things that happen in our lives helps us to focus on and remember the good things.  At the beginning of every class in Session 3, each student will write down three things for which she is grateful in a small journal that I created for everyone.  One of the three things will be written on a piece of paper and put into our "Gratitude Jar".  During our last class we will take the time to read several of these.  This will help stretch our minds (neuroplasticity!) in new ways and create neural pathways that lead us to the positive in life more often.

Movement-wise, we went through many different poses.  Several of the students in this class have been practicing with me for almost two years now and it is wonderful to see their familiarity with the poses.  I usually have them move through at least one Sun Salutation on their own, at their own pace.  It's great that they know this sequence well enough to go through it themselves.

After that, I introduce the students to artist and writer Laura Moulton and her organization, Street Books.   Street Books started as an art project and has transformed into a healthy non-profit organization.  It is a bicycle-powered mobile library serving "people who live outside" in Portland, Oregon.  Laura has chosen to replace the derogatory word "homeless" with "people who live outside" which is a more sensitive way of stating the unfortunate situation of many individuals in our city.  Laura's work with Street Books connects well with our central idea, art has the potential to be a positive force in the world.

Here is a picture of Laura Moulton riding her bicycle-powered library for "people who live outside"!

This is a picture of the library open for business.

After being inspired by Laura, we took a look at the absolutely stunning book Sidewalk Flowers by poet JonArno Lawson and illustrator Sydney Smith.  The book is described by Brainpickings as "a gentle wordless celebration of the true material of aliveness."  It is the story of a little girl who picks flowers that would be considered weeds throughout the urban city in which she lives.  The flowers grow in cement cracks, wall crevasses, and other unlikely places one wouldn't expect to find beauty.  Towards the middle of the book she begins to give away her prized flowers to unsuspecting animals and individuals.  As she gives her gifts, the world transforms from black-and-white into something more color-filled.  My young students were very attentive to the book and noticed many specific details.  Through our discussion I realize that they internalized the message of the book, and came away with many insightful ideas.

The front cover of Sidewalk Flowers.

Then I introduced them to our visual art project this session!  Each girl will create her own zine that communicates a message of hope.  A zine is a self-published work; the subject matter of zines varies tremendously.  It is usually made inexpensively by photocopying the contents.  Each girl began by brainstorming ideas for her zine.  I am excited by their ideas and can't wait to see them come to life!

Happiness (3rd-5th Grades)

During this class, the students and I talked about happiness.  We discussed the fact that scientists actually STUDY human happiness; I think many of them were surprised by this.  I asked them, "Why do you think scientists would be interested in studying happiness?"  They had many fascinating responses!

I told them about a study that was conducted by both Harvard Medical School and University of California.  The scientists involved found that happiness is contagious!  Here is a link to information about the study and a summery of the findings:

Happiness spreads through social networks like an emotional contagion, according to a study that looked at nearly 5,000 individuals over a period of 20 years. When an individual becomes happy, the network effect can be measured up to three degrees. One person’s happiness triggers a chain reaction that benefits not only his friends, but his friends’ friends, and his friends’ friends’ friends. The effect lasts for up to one year. Conversely, sadness does not spread through social networks as robustly as happiness.

We discussed the meaning of the word "contagious" and the things we usually associate with it, like sickness and the flu.  Who would've guessed that HAPPINESS is also contagious?  In order to spread a little happiness of our own, we focused on Heartfulness during the mindfulness practice.  Heartfulness involves purposefully having kind thoughts for ourselves or others.  With this action, we become "happiness generators". 

We began by thinking of someone we know and love, either a person or a pet.  I asked the students to get an image of this person in their heads and to think about different things that make him or her happy.  Then we sent kind wishes to this person or animal.  I asked the students to listen to the wishes as I said them, then to repeat them internally.  The wishes were:

May you be happy

May you be healthy

May you be peaceful

May you be loved

I asked the students to keep the person in their minds for a little longer, and to observe how they were feeling themselves at this time.  Then we took a few more mindful breaths, and listened to the sound of the singing bowl.

After engaging in some movement, we began the art part of class.  I reminded them of the artist Michael Grab, a sculptor who practices rock balancing.  I brought a collection of many different rocks so the students had a chance to try a little rock balancing of their own!  They worked in groups of three to construct the rock sculptures and discovered how difficult it is to tame gravity, though they had a blast trying!  Then they worked with value pencils to create a drawing of the rocks.  I photographed all of the sculptures so the students could finish the drawings during our next class.  Here are a few photos of the sculptures and the students working on their drawings!

  

Balance and Change (3rd-5th Grades)

 I'm excited to begin Session 2 of Mind Move Make with my smart, quirky, silly, fantastic 4th and 5th grade students!  During this session we'll be utilizing the mindfulness curriculum developed by the stellar organization Mindful Schools.  I've been participating in training with them, and I'm thrilled to put what I've learned into action with these lively young ladies (this group is all girls!).

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?  This is a question I posed to my students, though it is a difficult thing to put into words.  Mindfulness is noticing what is happening in the present moment.  If we are open to it and utilize it, mindfulness can help us in many ways.  It helps strengthen our minds, increase our ability to focus, manage our emotions, and make better decisions.  I described that this class will be an experiment, and the subject we are studying is our very own brains!  We'll be looking at how our minds work.

I gave the students lots of different scenarios to consider.  I asked, "Have you ever":

• Said something you wished you could take back?
• Done something you regretted later?
• Felt angry and out of control?
• Felt nervous about a test?
• Had trouble falling asleep?
• Accidentally spaced out when the teacher calls on you?   

Many of the students could relate to several or all of these situations.  I was impressed by how willing they were to share personal stories about specific events in which they experienced one or many of these things.  Everyone felt encouraged and relieved to know that they were not the "only ones" to feel these emotions or have these things happen.

After the discussion, I explained that mindfulness can help with this, but that they would have to truly try it!  We spent two minutes practicing mindful breathing using an anchor spot, a spot in the body where the breath is felt (usually the belly or chest).  I explained our anchor spot is like the anchor of a ship, connecting us to our breath and our body.  After spending two minutes practicing mindful breathing, several students said they wanted to spend more time doing this!  One student said she was so busy in her life that she didn't have time to think about her breath, or take time for herself in this way.  I am extremely happy to provide these amazing girls with the chance to slow down and just breath, even if it is just once a week!

After that, I introduced everyone to our central idea; the big, main concept we will focus on over the course Session 2.  Here it is!

We live in a world that is constantly changing

Over the next 11 classes, we will explore the idea of change in art, in our minds, and in our bodies through movement.  Exciting stuff!

Then I introduced them to the artist Michael Grab; he calls his work "Gravity Glue".  Michael travels to many different places and creates sculptures made of rocks!  He uses the power of gravity to balance these sculptures.  Here is a link to a video of him at work.  After watching part of the video, we talked about if his sculptures are permanent or impermanent.  We also discussed how balance plays a hand in his work.

Then we worked on using balance with our own bodies!  The girls worked in partners to balance in many different yoga poses.  Here are a few pictures of them in action!

Observing Trees (3rd-5th Grades)

We started out this class a little differently than usual!  We are currently exploring "earth" as our element, specifically focusing on trees.  We walked around the TIS campus and observed the different trees that are growing around the school.  Many of these beautiful old trees will be cut down when the new school facility is built, so it was also a time to appreciate and enjoy trees that won't be there much longer.  I asked the students to write five adjectives about the trees they observed and draw a picture of one of the trees.When we went back to the classroom we shared our adjectives and drawings.

I actually gave the students Mind Move Make homework from the last week!  The homework was to observe a tree in their yard or neighborhood.  We took the time to share about the trees that are important to us.  One girl said that she has two trees in her yard, and each one is dedicated to a pet dog that has passed away.  Another girl shared that her family stayed in the house they currently live in because of the beautiful trees in their yard.  It was fantastic to hear the students' connections to trees around them.

After that, I asked the students to become the trees that they observed for their homework through movement.  They could do this in any way they wanted.  First, I "planted" each student in a special place in the classroom.  They could move any part of their bodies, except their feet!  Once planted, each girl had to remain in place.  It was interesting to see how different each girl's tree became!  All students were working with the same general concept, but they moved and looked very different.

After that it was time to make art!  The girls began their earth-inspired masks last week, so this week they continued the creation.  Here are the artists in action!

Becoming the Ocean (3rd-5th Grades)

One student experiments with adding teardrops to
her water mask.

Our last class was the best one so far.  The first thing I had students do was reflect on WHY it was our best class.  When we shared our insights together, most of the students came to the conclusion that it was our best class because they were able to find the balance between being focused and playful.  It is fantastic to see that the girls in the class are really owning the concepts of focused and playful and recognizing that finding the middle ground between the two is essential for creative group work.

After playing with movement and experimenting with calm and un-calm bodies, the girls relaxed on their yoga mats.  I encouraged silence during this part of the class and played the sounds of the ocean for them which connected with our ongoing exploration of water.  While listening to the waves moving back and forth along the coastline, I asked the students to imagine that they were a tiny organism in the ocean.  Then they were to imagine they were a jellyfish, a fish, a dolphin, a whale, and then imagine they were the entire ocean itself!

After engaging in a game of group juggling, the girls worked together to create different forms of water using movement.  The challenge was that no one could talk during the exercise.  They had to figure out how to become various types of water silently.  I explained that they could choose to collaborate with other members of the group or work independently.  The results were very interesting!

We started by creating rain, then moved to an ocean, then a river.  Each one was unique and lovely.  The ocean was the form of water that everyone chose to collaborate in creating.  After this exercise I asked which form of water was most successful and many of the girls agreed that the ocean was the most successful.

After that, we worked on the masks once more.  Students cut, glued, painted, and glittered their creations.  Here are a few pictures of them in action!

  

Investigating Water (3rd-5th Grades)

In the beginning of this class we jumped right into relaxation time.  I asked each student to find a comfortable spot anywhere in the classroom and start paying attention to her breath.  I sounded the singing bowl and asked the students to tune into the sound while focusing on the breath.  This gave everyone a chance to unwind a little bit after a long day at school.

After that we reviewed the ideas of "playful" and "focused" from last class.  I asked each girl to reflect on whether she thought she was more playful or more focused in everyday life.  There were quite a range of answers!  Several students thought they were a good balance of both playful and focused.  Several other students said that they are definitely more playful.  No one wrote that she thought she was more focused than playful.

We also reviewed how we did with group juggling from last class.  Everyone agreed that the movement work was wonderful, but that the students' lack of focus caused the ball to be dropped during the game more often than it should.  We played again during this class to see if we could improve.  With less students than during the last class the game became even more challenging!  We will continue to work together to improve both our movement and focus.

Next I explained that we would be looking at the different elements of the earth during this session: water, fire, earth, and air.  We will work on moving like the elements along with creating masks to represent each element.  For this class we started with the element of water and the students wrote down as many different types of water as they could think of.

After discussing initial ideas of what water is, I asked the students to move into any part of the room and begin to move like one of the types of water they wrote on the paper.  To add another challenge, the students were to be present in their own movement but also paying attention to the other students around them.  At the end we guessed which types of water were being expressed through movement.  I was very impressed by many different ways movement was used to communicate the idea of water.

After that, each student began designing her mask that is trying to capture the essence of water.  Many beautiful shapes began to emerge, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this project leads.

Playful + Focused (3rd-5th Grades)

What an energetic group of students I have for Mind Move Make, Session 1, 3rd-5th grades at TIS!  We started our first class of the year discussing the importance of mutual respect for every individual in the class.  Then each child had the chance to introduce herself by telling everyone her name, grade, and one thing that she LOVES to do so that we can really get to know one another.

For this class we concentrated on the ideas of "focused" and "playful".  Throughout Mind Move Make, Session 1 we will try to find the intersection between being focused and playful.  In group creative work, if individuals are only focused then there is no life in the work.  If individuals are only playful, the work can dissolve into an uncontrolled fit of silliness.  Both of these beautiful, important ideas need to come together to make successful creative work!

In order to try finding the balance between being focused and playful, we engaged in a game called Group Juggling!  The students stood in a circle and everyone started with one hand in the air as if asking a question.  I had a ball, and I threw it to one person in the circle.  After receiving the ball, each student put her hand down.  Once each person had the ball passed to her, we were ready to start!  Going in the same order, we passed the ball together.  After that, another ball was added so that students must focus on two balls going around the circle.  Then we added movement to the mix, and students were encouraged to move as intuitively and playfully as they could WITHOUT dropping the balls or loosing focus!

Through playing this game we discovered that our group is MUCH more playful than focused!  I was impressed with the courageous, uninhibited, beautiful ways that the students moved intuitively through the room as we engaged in Group Juggling.  Unfortunately, our lack of focus led to the ball being dropped over and over again.  We'll work on bringing the ideas of focus and playful closer and closer together throughout Session 1.

For the art portion of the class I asked the students to create a piece of artwork illustrating FOCUSED and PLAYFUL while finding the place in the middle where they come together.  It was interesting to see their artistic interpretations of these two ideas.  Some students used shapes, all the students utilized color to explain the two concepts.  Here are the results of their endeavors!  See if you can recognize which part of the artwork is "focused" and which is "playful".