My last batch of 6th graders completed their "Mindfulness Mind Maps" where they reflect on "WHAT" mindfulness is..."WHY" anyone would would want to be mindful and..."HOW" to be mindful. I love this assignment because I get to see their different perspectives and the Mind Map gives them an opportunity to tie everything together at the end of the unit. I found the reasons for being mindful very interesting, grounded and incredibly REAL for 6th graders :) Take a look! These kids ROCK!

My last official class in our mindfulness unit focuses on the mindful use of technology. Material for this lesson draws from a great book I read last summer, Wisdom 2.0: Ancient Secrets for the Creative and Constantly Connected by Soren Gordhamer. I also teach students "telephone meditation" which is something we do in the Thich Nhat Hanh community. My beloved teacher says, "And when you hear the telephone ringing you can consider it to be the sound of the mindfulness bell. You practice telephone meditation. Every time you hear the telephone ringing you stay exactly where you are. You breathe in and breathe out and enjoy your breathing. Listen, listen-this wonderful sound brings you back to your true home. Then when you hear the second ring you stand up and you go to the telephone with dignity. That means in the style of walking meditation. You know that you can afford to do that, because if the other person has something really important to tell you, she will not hang up before the third ring. That is what we call telephone meditation. We use the sound as the bell of mindfulness." Above you can hear one of my 6th graders speaking to the his guidance counselor about telephone meditation. I'm not a neo-Luddite but I do think it is very important for us to teach children how to use technology mindfully, especially since our lives are only going to become more connected. Power point and handouts below. If you'd like a lesson plan e-mail me at: mesrinivasan@aes.ac.in.

Today's class began with a game of telephone so we could all get a feel for how "gossip" sometimes works. I also introduced students to many scenarios involving ethical dillemmas they may face in Middle School (witnessing a friend cheating, posting something unkind and untruthful on facebook etc.) I find this class to be extremeley powerful for students and their homework involves practicing mindful speech. For homework I has students commit to periods of time where they would practice "mindful speech." Material for this lesson draws almost entirely from Diana Winston's Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens. I strongly suggest you read her book if you haven't already! I also incorporate some of the work I've done in Nonviolent Communication. If you would like a lesson plan e-mail me at: mesrinivasan@aes.ac.in. Power point, class handout and student responses below! I found the student responses very interesting!

I've modified the Plum Village pebble meditation and call it pebble reflection. I've found that after going through the guide in the class handout below it is more effective to then give them one pebble and have them choose a word they would like to focus on. Students also began calling this activity "Peace Rocks" instead of pebble meditation/reflection. With 11 year olds I've found 1 pebble is the best way to hold their attention span and having them color and decorate their pebble gives them some ownership and makes it "their own" similar to how I have students create their own gatha when we do walking meditation. If you'd like a lesson plan e-mail me at mesrinivasan@aes.ac.in. Power point, class handouts and student responses below! This time around we didn't have an opportunity to go over the peace treaty in class but some students in the past have created peace treaties with their parents using the Plum Village model provided below!

This class draws heavily from Diana Winston's book, Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens and Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings on wholesome and unwholesome seeds and selective watering of these seeds in our store consciousness. My dear friend and Dharma sister, Sr. Chau Nghiem's BCOOL strategy (Breathe, Calm, Observe, OK, Love) also feature in this lesson. Sr. Chau Nghiem is the Editor of the upcoming book, Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness With Children and the writing of my students in response to mindfulness activities grounded in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition are included in the book :) Sr. Chau Nghiem also has a great blog called Mindful Kids where I've gotten many activities to share with children during our Days of Mindfulness in Delhi! If you'd like a lesson plan e-mail me at mesrinivasan@aes.ac.in. Student responses, power point and class handouts below!

I love teaching this class because this is when we engage in mindful eating, gratitude cards, and a metta practice where we send kindness from our hearts to someone suffering. If you'd like a lesson plan e-mail me at: mesrinivasan@aes.ac.in. Class handouts, power point and student responses below. For me the most wonderful part of class was when one of my students wrote on her gratitude card: "I'm thankful for my life because I am really happy who I am." Wow! If I had that much wisdom when I was 11 :)

Today was our second class in our mindfulness unit in 6th grade health! Students were introduced to mindful walking and deep relaxation (body scans). If you'd like a lesson plan e-mail me at: mesrinivasan@aes.ac.in. Student responses, class handouts and power point below! I found the student responses for both the mindful walking and deep relaxation very interesting--usually both practices rank as the favorites among the more than 100 sixth graders I've been teaching mindfulness to this year!

I have my new batch of beautiful 6th graders for my Health Exploratory. Below are class handouts and students responses from our first class in our 7 class Mindfulness Unit. Unfortunately, the scans of the students responses didn't come through because students wrote in pencil but at least you have a taste of their reactions! If you'd like a lesson plan e-mail me at: mesrinivasan@aes.ac.in!

To culminate our mindfulness unit I had my students create "Mindfulness Mind Maps." It always amazes me how creative and interesting their maps are! Below are a few thoughts from one of my beautiful kids :)

Another batch of 6th graders have gone through my seven class mindfulness unit in our health exploratory and this is what "mindfulness means" to them! More than 50% of my kids are non-native English speakers (some have very weak English) so keep that in mind when you read their responses :) It still amazes me how students take away different things from the same curriculum!