This past Friday, I along with Superintendent Holbrough joined some of our Principals at the Faculty of Education as Dr. Claire Crooks, Dr. Karen Bax, Sandra Savage and Terry Spencer shared Our MindUP Research Journey. We are very grateful to be working with Western University Centre for School Mental Health and we thank them along with our students, teachers and principals for embracing the MindUP journey.
So what is MindUP? MindUp is an evidence-based mindfulness-informed social and emotional learning program. It provides students an opportunity to develop social, emotional and cognitive skills. The MindUP for Young Children program is taking place this year in 9 of our schools and 32 classrooms. Through 15 teacher-led lessons that integrate neuroscience, mindful awareness, and positive psychology, MindUP targets core social and emotional learning competencies. The program aligns well with our Board Improvement Plan, our Mental Health Strategy, Ministry curriculum expectations for primary grades, and our Multi-year strategic plan priorities.
Now, I could attempt to describe the success of MindUP, but I am best to leave that to our teachers and students:
“One particular student . . If he is having a tough time, if he is frustrated, he can actually verbalize. ‘My amygdala is firing’ . . . He’s able to deal with frustration a little bit better than he was initially.”
“It’s really cool to see them actually helping each other. Sometimes out on the playground, I’ll be watching them play and then they’ll go, ’I’m going to go tell on you.’ And they are like, ‘Is it a big problem or a little problem, can we deal with it together, do we have to tell a teacher.’ It really helped them . . . handle situations and deal with things without necessarily needing to go to an adult or needing to gather other kids to come and help you deal with your problems. It’s really cool to watch them and see how they’ve grown . . . They are learning life skills.”
Thank you to our teachers, principals, Dr. Claire Crooks, Andrea Lapp and Sue Kim from Western Centre for School Mental Health, Sandra Savage our Mental Health Lead and Terry Spencer, our Research and Evaluation Officer for your work implementing and supporting the MindUP For Young Children Research Project in our Board.
By the time you are reading this, summer will have turned to fall. The fall equinox which occurs when the sun is directly in line with the equator happened this morning at 3:50 a.m. Wishing everyone a Happy Fall Equinox and a great first week of fall!!!
“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” – Lauren DeStefano
“I love autumn, the season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.” - Lee Maynard
So what is MindUP? MindUp is an evidence-based mindfulness-informed social and emotional learning program. It provides students an opportunity to develop social, emotional and cognitive skills. The MindUP for Young Children program is taking place this year in 9 of our schools and 32 classrooms. Through 15 teacher-led lessons that integrate neuroscience, mindful awareness, and positive psychology, MindUP targets core social and emotional learning competencies. The program aligns well with our Board Improvement Plan, our Mental Health Strategy, Ministry curriculum expectations for primary grades, and our Multi-year strategic plan priorities.
Now, I could attempt to describe the success of MindUP, but I am best to leave that to our teachers and students:
“One particular student . . If he is having a tough time, if he is frustrated, he can actually verbalize. ‘My amygdala is firing’ . . . He’s able to deal with frustration a little bit better than he was initially.”
“It’s really cool to see them actually helping each other. Sometimes out on the playground, I’ll be watching them play and then they’ll go, ’I’m going to go tell on you.’ And they are like, ‘Is it a big problem or a little problem, can we deal with it together, do we have to tell a teacher.’ It really helped them . . . handle situations and deal with things without necessarily needing to go to an adult or needing to gather other kids to come and help you deal with your problems. It’s really cool to watch them and see how they’ve grown . . . They are learning life skills.”
Thank you to our teachers, principals, Dr. Claire Crooks, Andrea Lapp and Sue Kim from Western Centre for School Mental Health, Sandra Savage our Mental Health Lead and Terry Spencer, our Research and Evaluation Officer for your work implementing and supporting the MindUP For Young Children Research Project in our Board.
By the time you are reading this, summer will have turned to fall. The fall equinox which occurs when the sun is directly in line with the equator happened this morning at 3:50 a.m. Wishing everyone a Happy Fall Equinox and a great first week of fall!!!
“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” – Lauren DeStefano
“I love autumn, the season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.” - Lee Maynard