"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten." I have this quote on my classroom wall, and my students recently used it to challenge me to add new things to our Health class.
"What should we do differently?" I say.
"OMG!!!!" I hear. "Can we do yoga?
My students amaze me on a daily basis.
They're smart, curious, hard working, and they're busy. I teach in a small 7-12 regional school in a rural New England community. Our school is made up of lots of active kids whose interests range from athletics to drama to dance to debate and well beyond.
I continue to be dazzled by the degree to which my students engage and push themselves in both academics and extracurricular activities. I can often see these busy schedules reflected in my students' tired expressions in class. When we complete a unit, I typically give them an online survey so that they can give feedback on what they liked, didn't like, and what they would like to see more (or less) of in Health class. Overwhelmingly, they report wanting to learn ways to manage their full, stressful lives. Specifically, they ask to learn meditation and yoga. Using some old Physical Education mats, we've done a few experimental yoga classes, which the kids loved! The mats, however? Not so much.
My Project
By having 11 new yoga mats, plus an adapter for projecting a great yoga app onto my classroom Smartboard, my students will witness the transformation of our Health classroom into a yoga studio! New and real yoga mats will prevent kids from slipping off those too old, too short Physical Education mats enabling them to focus more on the yoga and meditation instruction. The adapter will enlarge the yoga app so that all students will have clear visibility of the poses being instructed.
Over time, students will be able to develop proficiency in yoga and feel a sense of competence, along with a state of well-being. They will be able to transfer the skills they develop in new and innovative Health class routines to their own lives, both immediately and well into their futures.
I ask my students what's important to them and I listen to what they have to say.
They are not asking for the moon, they are asking for better ways to self-manage. When teachers are able to provide students with realistic and healthy options in innovative ways, we are preventing a wide range of unhealthy behaviors from potential development. Introducing these non-traditional methods and routines to the mainstream curriculum "sells" Health to kids. Isn't that what we want them to buy?
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Blair and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
