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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Physical Education gets mindful

Physical Education gets mindful

While many students are hunched over desks or scribbling down notes, you can find Jeffrey Peters’s ninth grade physical education class meditating and relaxing as part of their Mindful Monday curriculum.

After many PHS teachers attended a social and emotional learning (SEL) workshop last year, many made an attempt to reduce student stress. Peters has facilitated open session with his Course 2 upper division class, but due to class size in his freshmen course, he found that open session would not be possible.

“We decided to try Mindful Mondays, where students can take a break from their normal academic life and try to clear or calm their minds through meditation or reflection,” Peters said.

The first Mindful Monday consisted of the students lying on mats and listening to calming sounds, freshman Maxine Miller said.

“I actually ended up falling asleep.” Miller said, “It still had a positive effect, I’ve never felt more relaxed in a school environment.”

imageThere is a connection between the mind and body, which is why physical exercises like these are so good for the mind, Peters said.

“Daily fitness can relieve student stress and improve a student’s academic life and daily life as well,” Peters said.

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) website, the short-term goals of SEL programs are to promote students’ self-awareness, self- management, social-awareness and responsible decision-making skills and improve student attitudes and beliefs about self, others and school.

A study conducted by CASEL suggested that mindfulness in schools resulted in better behavior and attitude, as well as an average of 11 percentile points higher on academic assignments.

SEL is centered around the social and emotional aspects of education. It is broken up into the five categories of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.

“After a hard day of classes, mindfulness is something new and different that gives us time for things like meditation and relaxation,” Miller said.

Peters said that he encourages students to use it as a time to open their minds and utilize the connection between mind and body for reflection and self-improvement.

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