2019 KEEN Conference

This session will explore practical ways that mindfulness can be utilized in the elementary classroom to provide students with tools that reduce anxiety and promote attention and self-regulation.  Brain research behind these principles will be explored.  Participants will participate in hands-on examples that can be immediately transferred to the classroom.  Examples from an elementary in Kansas where mindfulness has been implemented will be shared. In children, mindfulness has been found to mitigate the effects of bullying, enhance focus in children with ADHD, reduce attention problems, improve mental health and wellbeing, and improve social skills when well taught and practiced in children and adolescents (Zhou, Liu, Niu, Sun, & Fan, 2016; Zhang, 2016; Crescentini, Capurso, Furlan, & Fabbro, 2016). All of these areas will be explored.

It's a project-based world, and we need to create it! We are going to flip the script with Bloom's Taxonomy utilizing a Project-Based Learning (PBL) platform that establishes a more engaging classroom environment. Teachers will leave with a toolbox of tips and tricks of how to implement PBL in their classroom and brainstorm with KEEN attendees to take back to their classroom for the next day!

Students thrive in classrooms in which their social-emotional needs are met in multiple ways. We are excited to share several strategies that have worked well in our classrooms to build community, strengthen peer-to-peer connections, and create a sense of family within our classrooms. All ideas can easily be implemented in any elementary or middle school classroom.