Instructor: Carolyn Mosiman
Community: Grade 4, Full Class
Plan Creation Date: April 9, 2009
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Listening
Lesson Plan:
Topic: Teacher requested that I come in and talk with her class about working hard and not giving up. She reports that she has several students who put no effort into work and/or never raise their hand or take risks in class discussions. They tend to get very upset with themselves when they make mistakes.
Calm
- Belly breathing: first with me leading then with a student leading.
- Read Mindful Moment-type scenario (eyes closed, heads down, continue to breathe slowly): Imagine yourself lying back on your bed at the end of a long school day. You may have faced a challenge. You may have experienced fear or worry, joy, excitement. Today you did your personal best. You turned in all of your homework, you finished the math test, you struggled with a writing assignment but asked for help from the teacher and got back on track. You remember the sound of your teacher’s voice saying “nice job!” You’re feeling proud of yourself. As you’re lying back on your bed you think of people who would be proud of you if you shared the events of your day and a big smile spreads across your face. Who are those people who would be proud to hear you did your personal best? Continue to relax and breathe as you think of the people in your world who would be proud to hear how you did your personal best at school.
- Introduce and read the story Winners Never Quit! by Mia Hamm; Read through page 8.
- Discussion Questions (conflicting feelings):
- What were some of Mia’s feelings when she played soccer and was winning? (happy, excited, proud, thrilled)
- What were some of Mia’s feelings when she was losing? (angry, frustrated, embarrassed, disappointed)
- What did Mia do whenever she played poorly? (felt angry and quit, gave up)
- Conflicting Feelings: Mia LOVED to play soccer. Playing soccer made her happy. But it also made her angry and frustrated … so much so that she constantly quit the game. She gave up and ran away! Mia’s feelings were conflicted. She feels at least two very different emotions about playing soccer.
- Introduce conflicting feelings lesson
- Focus on Listening principle in that we must listen to our bodies, our emotions
Active
- Follow Conflicting Feelings lesson (page 13). Work through jumping scenario in front of class with volunteers.
- Break up into groups of five. Assign roles (conflicted, two voices and two observers/helpers). Give second scenario (uncertain of the right answer but teacher expects you to raise your hand and participate in the discussion). Role play in groups; the two observers can choose a side and help if/when conversation gets stuck. Move around and observe role plays. Select one group to perform in front of class. Everyone else returns to their seat. Discuss the one performed in front of the class and ask for comments/experiences/connections from individual groups.
- Ask for compliments for the group. Follow up with compliments for individuals in other groups.
- Allow students to share connections or personal experience with conflicting feelings at school.
Calm
- Breathing with the Hoberman Sphere: choose another student to lead
- One minute of stillness: reflect on a time in school that we experience conflicting feelings.
- End with an assignment: think about ideas or strategies that you could use to manage powerful feelings like the ones we just talked about. How can you get yourself to move beyond fear or apprehension, beyond self-doubt? We’re going to talk about strategies next time we get together. I’m going to start by asking for your ideas!
Next lesson incorporates Amen’s work on Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTS)