Learning Opportunities

Stress Management and Building Resiliency through Mindfulness (Gr 7-12)

Presented By

Mina Khan-Lee M.A.

Series Sessions

Date Time
Thursday, May 09, 2019 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Location

In Person FFCA - Learning Centre 110 - 7000 Railway St. SE, Calgary, AB

TARGET AUIDENCE: ALL GRADE 7-12 TEACHERS ARE ENCOURAGED AT ATTEND

Between Stimulus and Response there is a space.

In that space, is your power to choose a response.

In your response, is your growth, freedom, and possibility.

 

~Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

This session will provide educators with the background information around self-regulation and how mindfulness strategies can help bring students into a state where they are ready to learn.  It is important to form a shared language to emotional regulation within your classroom; thus empowering students to express their emotions and assist them to recognize their unique signs of stress and anxiety. Using strategies from Dr. Dan Siegal, Dr. Stuart Shanker and Jon Kabat Zinn, teachers will understand the essentials of stress, the physiological reactions of the brain and the nervous system, and how to create a pause in which mindfulness strategies can be used to more consciously respond to a situation rather than react.

Why Mindfulness?

  • Improves academic achievement by improving focus, concentration and perseverance.
  • Enhances executive function and self-regulation. Managing personal and community behaviours.
  • Encourages Social Emotional Learning (SEL), inter/intra personal intelligence, and emotional health.
  • Strengthens understanding of self and wellness.
  • Creates an optimistic classroom and a sense of community.

Participants will be guided through a variety of breathing exercises that may be used to bring students to a regulated state where they are ready to learn.  Participants will leave with a practical handbook of mindfulness tools to self-regulate. These tools should be practiced with students on a regular basis until they become second nature to the students.

This session will connect to the personal growth and well-being competencies in order to assist students in managing their own emotions as a way to meet their wellness goals through resilience and optimism. Resiliency can be taught. Stress management works best when used regularly (not just under pressure)…. Knowing how to “de-stress” and practicing it when things are calm (i.e. mindful breathing exercises) can help children and adults get through challenging times in the classroom and in everyday life.

This learning opportunity is being offered through curriculum implementation funding from Alberta Education.

 

Subscribe to our Newsletter