Carol Moehrle
Here we go! Time for a new school year. Time for our anxieties, concerns, confusions, and frustrations to be put aside. Time to focus on our students and ourselves. Whether you are teaching face-to-face in a classroom or over a computer screen, whether you are wearing a face covering or a face shield, one powerful tool you can use to start each class and each lesson is taking a deep breath.
The simple habit of taking a deep breath can get your whole class ready to focus, listen, and learn. To get started, all you need to do is read this message to your students: “Let’s get ready to learn. Eyes on me. Now we are all going to take a deep breath. All together, inhale through your nose. Hold it: one, two, three. Exhale. Now we are ready to start.”
If you join your students in taking a deep breath at the start of each new learning or class, you will quickly see what a sense of calm this brings to your class as well as to yourself. By building deep breathing into your school day, your students will soon look to this routine as part of their learning.
Just taking a few deep breaths during the day increases the oxygen to the brain and prepares each student for learning.
Build in a deep breath with each new lesson, and help establish a calm readiness to learn. Take this moment to also replenish your own energy with that deep breath.
Breathe.
Be strong. Be resilient.
Carol Moehrle
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