The gift of mindfulness

This is a guest post from Vickie Woehrle

I know that there are many stressful professions in the world today, but I have to think that teaching ranks at least in the top 10.  I have been in teaching for 18 years and I realized a few years ago that if I was going to have longevity in this career, I needed to develop some strategies to manage the stress.  Thankfully my colleague introduced me to the concept of mindfulness.

For me it started as a kid-focused initiative. There is no doubt that this practice is beneficial for our students, and I encourage everyone to incorporate it into their classroom repertoire.  It has the ability to have a profound effect on classroom culture, with the hope that it will also work its magic in the lives of students outside of the school day.  

I would use mindfulness on a daily basis with my homeroom students.  I found my students bought into the guided imagery practice the most.  Mindfulness takes practice and patience, but it is well worth it.  Students are going to seven classes a day and really don’t have any scheduled “down time.”  Offering mindfulness is a gift that I believe every student should receive. Often times both students and staff need to be given permission to just stop and breathe.  

After seeing how mindfulness impacted my own classroom, it was clear that it was something that I personally needed to practice. I have found that it helps me both personally and professionally.  It definitely helps me to be a better teacher for my students. My only complaint is that I didn't learn about this earlier! 

Vickie Woehrle is the Library Media Specialist at Highview Middle School.  In 2012, she was awarded, "Top Teacher" by Fox 9 news.