My guest writer this week continues with her ideas for developing a mindfulness practice in schools as part of the IB PYP Self management Skills. Karen Myrick is a PYP Mentor at the International School of the Gothenburg Region in Sweden and holds a Head of Department position where she works with the development of the ATL Skills. In addition to her 20 years of experience teaching in the IB PYP, Karen is a certified Mindfulness Instructor, has a passion for student and teacher well-being, and has developed mindfulness courses for teachers, and mindfulness resources for the classroom, which help teachers bring this amazing, science-backed practice to their students. She has presented at the Toddle SEL Pop Up event in July 2021, the IB Virtual Conference in October 2021, and most recently at the Nordic Network of International Schools Conference in Copenhagen. You can link to Karen's website, themindfulteacher.co,  here. 

Targeting the skills within self management and...

[caption id="attachment_10297" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Meet Karen Myrick, certified mindfulness practitioner and IB PYP teacher.[/caption]

I am thrilled to have Karen Myrick, IB PYP teacher and certified mindfulness coach, as my guest writer for this article. I met Karen through Instagram @themindfulteacher.co, as she shared her strategies for introducing a mindfulness practice into her classroom.

Karen has since developed many resources for bringing this important self-management sub-skill into our daily classroom routines. As important, she has also developed mindfulness supports specifically for us as teachers.

Ask yourself, how much do you actually model a mindfulness practice as much as you model being a lifelong learner and inquirer?

As you read through Karen's story, I have no doubt you may be able to relate to some parts of her story. If youre looking for a mindfulness practice to help you on a personal level, as well as some simple and easy to implement...

What kind of a learner are you? Consider the question. Are you more of the lion type of learner or perhaps you're more of the hamster? This is a simple activity that I use at the beginning of the school year, as we are getting to know, not only our class community but also ourselves. As I am building this community of  learners, I want them to have a greater understanding of who they are as learners and to recognise and appreciate our diversity.   And that, as we know, all stems from the IB Learner Profile. Let's begin with an inquiry into who we are as learners.

  With a simple question and fun images, the children are asked to relate themselves to the pictures. You can choose to use words or simply begin with only the images. This adds to the thinking. I have done it both ways, depending on the students abilities with language, the vocabulary of the PYP and their thinking skills etc. Ask them: Are you more of a lion when it comes to learning, or are you more...

To get straight to the point: mindfulness belongs in the classroom. As an IB PYP teacher, I approach teaching through a philosophy that centres on the child and the development of the whole child. This philosophy resonates with my own beliefs for educating our children to become avid questioners with the skills and strategies and confidence to try to find out for themselves. I nurture a sense of wonder and a strong belief in self. With this sense of self, I have to understand how to develop this awareness of self within the children and how I can guide them towards understanding who they are as unique individuals and also as learners. Mindfulness has been added to the updated IB PYP Approaches to Learning Skills. Specifically, you can now find it under the skill of Self-Management.  In order to best serve the children, I first needed to understand exactly what this "mindfulness" thing was.

I'm lucky to be a part of our close-knit community of international inquiry teachers on...

Its that time of year again……reflection, fresh starts, new beginnings and goal setting.

A New Year or even a new school year, is an exciting time to gather as a class community and to think about all the dreams and goals that everyone wants to make come true. When we begin with this type of thing, it’s a great idea to just make a list of ALL those aspirations. Dream boards are fun ways to do this. I make one every single year! Dream BIG! Think beyond school! Just get them thinking forward.

Now, in order to make this list meaningful rather than a forgotten exercise within a few days, we need to encourage the children to turn those dreams into goals.

Dream boards or vision boards are simple and fun ways to just go ALL out and dream! Goals begin with dreams.

As adults, we know the importance of...

Mindfulness. It seems to be another of those words that is making the rounds lately. Mindfulness. To me there are so many takes on the word and I feel that it is one of those trends that we do within the IB PYP anyway. I was curious as to how the children perceived this word and so, I asked. 

The responses were eye-opening really. Thankfully, many of the kids referred to the IB Attitudes, since we are constantly using this language and philosophy in school. It surrounds them.

Practicing Mindfulness

An Attitude of Appreciation.

Quiet Time:...

It Takes Skills! 

The word is well and truly out. The newest hub bub in the IB world is the Approaches to Learning Skills. Formerly known by the International Baccalaureate Organisation as the Transdisciplinary Skills, these are, simply put, a set of skills that we use when we are involved in learning. They come grouped into five sets: Thinking, Social, Self Management, Research and Communication. They naturally have growth mindset occurring within them, since they cover many different behaviours, self control as well as thinking and communication strategies.

As part of your IB PYP  classroom, it is usual to see the skills listed somewhere within the room, as posters ( more posters can be found in my store here and also here) and as part of our daily learning objectives. We often refer to those throughout our week and I also like to list them on my daily Learning Objectives boards, tied in with the subject and goals for that day.

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