#mindfulAISD (3/20)

Mindfulness in the Austin Independent School District

#mindfulAISD (3/20)Mindfulness in the Austin Independent School District

Week of March 20th, 2017

Welcome to the #mindfulAISD newsletter for the week of March 20th. This will serve as a way to highlight the awesome mindfulness work being done across the district as well as offer resources. Have suggestions for material you'd like to see on here? Please email the SEL Mindfulness Specialist: james.butler@austinisd.org

#mindfulAISD HAPPENINGS

Want to Showcase Your Mindfulness Work?

Send James Butler an email with a brief story and/or photo (if you have photo releases for your students). Or if you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #mindfulAISD and I'll post a link to your tweet on the newsletter.

NEW THIS WEEK

April Mindfulness Challenge

The Mindfulness Challenge is back! April can be a challenging time of the year for educators with testing and the end of the school year coming up, so we wanted to bring the Mindfulness Challenge back to encourage self-care. This time, SEL is collaborating with AISD's Employee Assistance & Wellness Department.


Here are the details...


  • Open to ALL AISD staff
  • Fill out the form below to set a personal mindfulness goal for yourself by April 1st.
  • You will receive a sheet to keep track of your mindfulness time (optional to fill it out).
  • You'll have the option to receive weekly suggestions, tips, friendly reminders.
  • At the end of the month, you'll receive an email with a form to submit your mindfulness numbers.
  • Those who meet their goal will be eligible for the drawing of 1 "Self-Care Package" with donations from local business & AISD's Employee Assistance & Wellness Department.

Free Mindfulness Training Course

Special shout out to Mary Alvirez, Executive Director of Elementary School Operations, for sharing this free online mindfulness training course that she found. See below for details and how to sign up.


"Cornerstone’s mindfulness training teaches you how to meditate, which decreases stress, using scientifically-based techniques that work. This program shows you how to use mindfulness in your everyday life to reduce stress and reach your highest potential. With deliberate training you can function at a higher level, improving your professional and personal life.


Mindfulness for Physical Health has been donated by Cornerstone Mindfulness (http://cornerstonemindfulness.com). This course explains the impact of stress on your body. By using the meditation techniques provided in this course, you will be able to minimize the impact and maximize your potential. This course consists of 14 short videos with opportunities throughout to share your experiences and ideas with other learners.


Go to MyCourseRoom.com, click on Course Catalog, and take our free, CPE and CEU credentialed course, Mindfulness for Physical Health."

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Mindful Classrooms--Week 27

If you're using Mindful Classrooms: The Educator Guide, I recommend using Week 27 this week. It's a very loose recommendation though. Please do what's best for you and your students. If you'd like the free electronic copy for AISD staff, please feel out the Google Form at the bottom of this page.


Photos/stories of Mindful Classrooms being used in class are always welcome and would be great for the newsletter! Email James Butler.

RESOURCES

Previous Newsletters

Links to all the previous newsletters with a highlight or two from each edition.


Week of March 6 (Free Mindfulness Program--Smiling Mind & Multilingual Mindfulness)

Week of February 27 (Teacher Testimonial & 7 Tips for those who say they can't meditate)

Week of February 20 (Multilingual Mindfulness & Zen Den YouTube Videos)

Week of February 13 (Mindful Brain Poster & CE credit video w/ Jon Kabat-Zinn)

Week of February 6 (GoNoodle Mindfulness Document & Mindfulness Research Newsletter)

Week of January 30 (Rodriguez ES Mindfulness Studio & Mindful Coloring pages)

Week of January 23 (3 Simple Remedies for Stressed-Out Mind & Kindfulness article)

Week of January 17 (Science of mindfulness & Breathing Sticks activity)

Week of January 9 (SEL in Austin Family Magazine & Link to De-Escalation Strategies Poster)

Week of January 3 (List of mindfulness sites & mindfulness is good for teachers article)

Week of December 12 (List of mindfulness apps & Mindfulness Challenge recap)

Week of December 5 (Scientifically proven song for relaxation & Mindfulness Tour recap)

Week of November 28 (#mindfulAISD YouTube Playlist link)

Week of November 14 (GIFs for deep breathing & Breathing script for HS--Palm the Present Moment by Donald Altman from "The Mindfulness Toolbox")

Week of November 7 (AISD e-Wellness spotlight)

Week of October 31 (Mindfulness Challenge update)

Week of October 24 (Progressive Muscle Relaxation script)

Week of October 17 ("Just Breathe" mindfulness video)

Week of October 10 (Stop Breathe Think App/Site & Curious Not Furious article)

Week of October 3 (Pokemon poses & Mindfulness and the Brain article)

Week of September 26 (Replacing Detention w/ Meditation article & Guided Breathing tracks in Spanish & English)

Week of September 19 (Teacher Self-Care & Connecting Mindfulness w/ SEL: Mind Yeti)

Week of September 12 (KEYE News feature & Helping Teens Destress)

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Mindful AISD YouTube Playlist

The official #mindfulAISD YouTube Playlist. If you/your students would like to make a video for this playlist, please contact James Butler.
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Zen Den YouTube Playlist

Click here for the "Zen Den" YouTube playlist, so I wanted to share it with y'all. There are 18 videos on the list, ranging from 4-8 minutes in length.
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Multi-lingual Mindfulness

Click here for mindfulness activities in Spanish, Arabic, Farsi/Dari, Burmese, Swahili & Kinyarwanda. Huge thank you to the amazing AISD Refugee Family Support Team for the translations.

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Calm

FREE Calm.com Lifetime Subscription for Teachers (PreK-12)


If you haven't done this yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. Click on the above link and fill out the quick form for a FREE lifetime subscription. It's a $300 value and they are giving it away for free to teachers!


Calm also has an app for phones.


**There are free sections on calm.com and the app, so feel free to share with your students' families.

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Mind Yeti

Connecting Mindfulness w/ Explicit SEL Lessons


Mindyeti.com is a great resource that connects mindfulness with Second Step lessons. Visit the site and sign up for a FREE account!


There is also an informational page that explains the connection between Mind Yeti and Second Step.


**Parents/guardians can also sign up for a free account. Share with your students' families!
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GoNoodle

GoNoodle For the Body and the Mind


Here is a link to a document that lists all the GoNoodle Mindfulness videos sorted by channel and with the length of each video.


**Share gonoodle.com with your students' families so they can sign up for a FREE account to use at home.

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De-Escalation Strategies Poster

This document consists of 10 de-escalation stretching poses and 6 de-escalation breathing exercises. They feature students from Becker Elementary. They are being used in their classrooms and in their Mindfulness Room. If you'd like to personalize this document and add photos of students from your class/school, please email me and I'll send you the Word document to edit.


This can be an addition to your classroom, Peace Area, hallways, Mindfulness Room, etc.

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Mindful Life Project

Guided Mindfulness Activities in English & Spanish--Great for Secondary


Mindful Life Project is an incredible organization based out of Richmond, CA. They teach mindfulness, yoga, expressive arts, and hip-hop/performing arts to elementary and middle school students in underserved communities.


They also have a free app titled "Mindful Life Project."

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Stop, Breathe & Think

Stop Breathe & Think is a website and app that provides guided meditations based on how you are feeling at that moment. There are a great number of FREE meditations starting at just a couple minutes long.

Sign Up for Mindfulness Support

If you haven't filled out the #mindfulAISD Google Form (below) and want to highlight your work and/or receive mindfulness support, please check it out. It only takes about 1 minute to complete. Know someone in AISD interested in mindfulness? Send them this newsletter for them to fill out the Google Form.
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Contact

James Butler

SEL Mindfulness Specialist


james.butler@austinisd.org