Spring Garden School
Weekly Reminder: Week of January 3
Happy New Year!
School resumes on Thursday, January 3
Fun Run is Coming!
Update on Health and Wellness Collaborative
On behalf of the SGS Wellness Collaborative, here is some feedback, both data and comments, collected after the Mindfulness trainings held this summer.
As a reminder, two types of training were offered:
• Online mindfulness course-the Nutley Educational Foundation provided funding for 9 spots in a six week online course run through mindfulschools.org
• In person Mindfulness course-the Nutley Department of Health provided funding for an in person, 6 hour training for up to 20 participants run by Angela Guerriero, PhD, MT-BC, RCYT®, E-RYT® 200, C-IAYT and Dana DiGiacomo, MA at Tempo Music Therapy (copied above).
We had 24 teachers participate overall, with representation from all five elementary schools. This initiative received excellent feedback both in person/email as well as via a survey, which we distributed.
The survey was sent to participants of both the online and in person trainings. We received responses from 13 unique participants, four of whom took the online course, eight of whom attended the in person training and one respondent who participated in both. This is an excellent response rate and the respondents were unanimous in their agreement on the effectiveness of the trainings, their interest in learning more about mindfulness and ways that it can be incorporated into their classrooms.
Here are some additional highlights from the survey responses:
• More than half of the respondents reported that they were “somewhat or not familiar at all with the concept of mindfulness”
• 100% of respondents
o found the training to be helpful and took away something concrete that they may be able to incorporate into their classroom
o plan on incorporating something they learned in their classroom this school year?
o would be interested in learning more about this topic
o would be interested in participating in additional trainings.
• Almost 70% of respondent feel that an in person training is the most effective way to learn about this
Here are the comments submitted with the survey:
1. “I loved both online and in person trainings. I liked the pacing of the online course-but missed the ability to connect with others during it. Maybe this would have been different if school were in session and connections could have been made at school. I felt it was so beneficial to focus on a topic per week over time. The in person program at Tempo was a great forum to learn from the instructors as well as share ideas and establish connections with others. I feel the benefits of the training have had a powerful effect on increasing awareness and reframing old patterns. It has also heightened awareness in recognizing patterns in others, facilitating more mindful responses. I have put into practice many of mindfulness techniques during these first few stressful weeks of school. I feel this training will have a ripple effect. The changes are subtle, but powerful and will impact relationships with co-workers as well as students. I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate. ”
2. “Great ideas to use with students for transition times and when they need to "regroup" their thoughts and behavior.”
3. “Thank you to everyone that made this training possible! It was wonderful. ”
4. “I have incorporated this into my class because I feel it is so important for children. I have been using various strategies to teach my students to self-regulate. I truly believe mindfulness practice should be taught to all students as part of the curriculum.”
5. “I loved it! I've been incorporating mindfulness through GoNoodle so far and I'm planning on incorporating other techniques we've learned at the training in the next few weeks. I am definitely interested in more mindfulness training in the future. Thank you!”
6. “In my class, every morning, we do yoga and the children love it!”
7. “Even though I was very familiar with mindfulness, I believe it's in the best interest of myself and my students to continue studying it. Most of what I know about mindfulness is self-taught, so it is helpful to have in person trainings. I took away many strategies from both the instructors and the other individuals in the classroom.”
8. “I feel an introduction to mindfulness would be useful to students and staff.”
The full survey results can be found here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-S9MLTXL8/
Additionally, feedback was shared that there has been benefit beyond the classroom as some of the trained staff has brought mindful activities to the district’s extended day program.