Set aside times during the day when no one in the family touches technology. Turn off all cell phones, televisions, computers, etc. Youth who are always engaged in technology are more impulsive and rarely have time for self-reflection, which is at the core of mindfulness. If your family is technology dependent, intentionally create more quiet …
Show youth a variety of pictures of celebrations involving young people from around the world. Place cut-outs of known children/students into the celebration picture (make sure to rotate the pictures). Have the youth guess where the celebration is and what the kids are celebrating. What is the significance of the celebration? Do we have a …
An opportunity to explore controversial issues and divergent positions and work to reach consensus on what may have happened– highlighting the complexities of particular perspectives, opinions and events. Have youth argue one side of an argument and then have them switch sides before negotiating an agreement between the two sides. The controversial issues can be …
To help young people deal with feelings of anger and frustration, try using the visual of a stoplight: green is calm, yellow is frustrated, and red is angry. Ask them to recognize and briefly describe their color. Are they moving up or down to a different color? What can they do to get to green? …
A person who recognizes when something is wrong and then acts to make it right; doing one’s best to help support and protect someone who is being mistreated; being socially responsible. There are many online campaigns and curricula that teach youth to be upstanders and how to take on bullying and negative peer behaviors. Most …
Titled after the Greek philosopher, Socratic dialogue transforms a student’s learning experience by allowing youth to generate and express their own ideas via the teacher asking questions as their primary method of instruction. It is collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions about a topic, text, or issue. When done purposefully, the outcome is improved …
Opportunities to share healthy snacks together builds community. Everyone begins eating together, often marking the time with a simple shared message. Parents or teachers can assist our youth in appreciating where our food comes from, asking what part of the snack took the longest time to grow, how the snack is helping our bodies, what …
Youth sit in a circle, often at a transition point in the day. Holding a ball of yarn, they share one thing (something they like to do, someplace they have been, something they learned recently) . Then they throw the ball to someone else while they hold on to their bit of yarn. The next …
A simple, effective parallel thinking technique developed by E. de Bono that helps people be more productive, focused, and mindfully involved. It forces people to move outside of their habitual thinking styles and get a more rounded view of a situation. Team members learn how to separate thinking into six clear functions and roles. Each …
The Silk Road carried trade from cultures embracing numerous religions and worldviews. Stretching from Italy to Japan, the Silk Road runs through Buddhist, Confucian, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Shinto, and Taoist cultures. Youth reflect on similarities and differences between belief systems. Using quotations from philosophical and religious texts, they are asked to organize quotations into …
