THE MEMBER INSIDER

Calm in the Classroom: The Practice of Being Mindful
By Adam Doling, NYSUT Member Benefits

What does it mean to engage in mindfulness? Well, think about those times when you are feeling stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed. During moments of intense worry, our thoughts can race uncontrollably and our perception of the world can become very altered.

Engaging in mindfulness is a practice that can help us feel calmer, regulate our emotions, improve our focus, grow our resilience, and strengthen our relationships with others. During stressful situations that trigger a “fight or flight” response, it can also ground us and lower cortisol levels.

NYSUT Member Benefits understands the importance of concepts such as wellness, mindfulness, and managing emotions, which is why we provide NYSUT members with access to support, resources, and tools for all areas of their lives. All in-service and retiree members receive unlimited free access to the full Calm library of sleep, meditation, and relaxation content through NYSUT Member Benefits. The popular Calm app includes specialized playlists that can help with stress and focus, mindful movement video and audio, various webinars, nature scenes and sounds, specific children’s content, and more.

“We are truly seeing a mental health crisis in schools when it comes to both teachers and students. Having options available through NYSUT Member Benefits such as the Calm service are very important in terms of how we can help our members,” said Amber Chandler, a Trustee of the NYSUT Member Benefits Trust and President of the Frontier Central Teachers Association. “Teachers are often the worst at taking care of ourselves as we are so busy taking care of others. As an 8th grade ELA teacher (at Frontier Middle School in Hamburg, NY) and with a background in social and emotional learning, I can easily see a tool such as the Calm app being used in small group settings in schools… it would be great to have something like a seven-minute meditation during the day in the classroom.”

For those members who spend their days in the classroom, the Calm app includes helpful resources such as the Calm in the Classroom curriculum. This initiative was designed to be easily integrated into the classroom by offering resources for educators and other school professionals to assist students (and adults) with improving focus, managing stress, regulating emotions, and developing compassion. The Calm in the Classroom program aligns with social and emotional learning to be added into curriculums.

Taking into account the many social and emotional differences between younger children and their older peers, Calm offers two versions of its “30 Days of Mindfulness in the Classroom” program, with one geared towards elementary school students and the other for middle and high school students. Both the Kindergarten-Grade 5 and Grades 6-12 programs include 30 lessons (10 to 15 minutes each) that teach mindfulness practices for students of any age. Each curriculum has a variety of content that can be customized for a particular individual’s needs.

“As a school social worker, I have students that I see through mandated counseling and social skills groups through IEPs and 504s. I also see students who have been identified as in need of the service from their teachers or parents,” said Brittany Dein, LMSW, a social worker with Santapogue School in West Babylon, NY and member of the West Babylon Teachers Association. “There is a feature on the Calm app called Calm Kids that offers so many mindfulness audio programs that I have been using with my students. This has helped the students learn mindfulness through something they are familiar with and they absolutely love it. The audio aspect of the Calm app requires students to sit and relax their mind, which is a unique way to take a moment and calm down.”

Do you have a family member or loved one that could benefit from using the Calm app? In-service and retiree members can add up to five dependents (age 16 or older) to receive their own premium subscription. Note: You will need your NYSUT ID number (which can be found at nysut.org/memberid) to create your Calm account.

NYSUT Associate Members and NYSUT Student Members are not eligible to utilize this free benefit at this time.