Schools across the country are looking at a new method to help students with behavioral problems. In the past schools would offer things like detention and in school suspension as punishments for misbehavior, but now some schools are trying their hand at offering things like yoga and meditation instead.
One example of this is Robert Coleman Elementary in Baltimore, Maryland. The schools principal, Carillian Thompson, feels that based on the results from their school, yoga and mindfulness meditation are much more effective than suspension and detention have been in the past. Her school began a program in 2016 called Mindful Moments, led by Ali and Atman Smith of the Holistic Life Foundation. Thompson says of them, “They actually taught the students how to redirect their negative energy into something positive.”
Since using things program, according to Thompson, her school has been able to completely do away with an in-school suspension. At the school, every single child practices stretches and mindful breathing twice a day, every day.
The Success Achievement Academy in Arkansas is now using this same model, and following the example of Robert Coleman Elementary, to implement the same practice for its kindergarten through eighth-grade students. Todd Rhoades, the director of the school, says of the program, “We did a lot of research on their school and not only how they handled discipline, but they’ve actually put it in their curriculum, and that’s what we’ve done here. What really got our attention in Baltimore, they went to zero suspensions for an entire year. Suspension does not work for our students.” Rhoades continued, “They are getting help with learning how to breathe and meditate and to relieve stress, and then part of that not only is there deep breathing there’s also a restorative piece to it, they take responsibility for what they did.”
For schools in low-income neighborhoods, or neighborhoods that could have things such as gang activity, using mindfulness meditation and yoga, instead of strict disciplinary action, can make a huge difference in the kid’s lives. The idea, according to Ali Smith, who works with Robert Coleman Elementary, is to instead of punishing the kids for an action, give them skills and assets to cope with life in a healthy way. In an interview, Ali stated, “There’s violence going on the in the neighborhood. There’s drug abuse in the neighborhoods. So it’s just there’s all these things just getting dumped on these kids. And they need a way to kinda deal with it.”
The results of this switch in disciplinary tactics have truly been extraordinary for students and teachers alike.
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Source: Waking Times
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