The Why.
We are in the midst of an educational crisis in America. Every day, schools and teachers manage many needs with few resources. Children in all communities are facing adversity, which disrupts their experiences in the classroom. In fact, nationwide more than 46% of youth (34 million children under age 18) have had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). More than 20% have had at least two (1). When students exhibit non-learning behaviors, they are telling us they are ill-equipped to handle their current situation. We must take these opportunities to teach students self-regulation tools so that they can persevere and prosper in all situations they encounter throughout their lives.
What we do.
We meet students where they are. When students are not ready to be in the classroom during learning, we offer them the space and strategies to de-escalate while also providing them with tools to work through similar challenges in the future. We use intentional spaces to proactively teach and practice movement, breath work and mindfulness strategies that help students navigate stressful situations.
We've partnered with Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School in East Nashville, Tennessee for our Pilot Program. Starting in the 2019-2020 school year, we'll spend five years gathering data and refining our curriculum as we follow this year's kindergarten class through to their promotion to fifth grade. We will be leading Professional Developments with teachers and school staff to help promote better self-care strategies while shifting the school culture towards one that values and supports the whole person.
Numbers Talk.
Research indicates that mindfulness improves children's resilience, optimism, self-esteem, social competence and academic achievement while also reducing stress, anxiety and emotional instability. Specifically, an 8-week Mindful-Based Social Emotional Learning program at an elementary school in Chicago, decreased incidents of disruptive behavior among third grade students by more than 50 percent (2). Another important study conducted by Harvard Medical School's Mind/Body Institute found that middle school students attending four or more sessions of a relaxation curriculum earned significantly higher GPAs than their peers who never participated (3). A pattern of higher GPAs, associated with more sessions attended, continued for the next two years of the study.
Who we are.
Riki Rattner, M.Ed., 200 RYT, believes that the breath, and one's connection to it, is transformative. Riki started practicing yoga while attending Vanderbilt University where she studied Human and Organizational Development. Following college, Riki stayed in Nashville to serve as a Teach for America Corps Member and earn her Master's in Education from Lipscomb University. During this time, Riki taught fourth grade at Robert Churchwell Elementary in North Nashville, and found herself intuitively using the breath to help her students overcome challenges. The positive effects of yoga in Riki's classroom led her to create and implement a yoga program for the entire fourth grade cohort, as well as start a yoga club for students of all grades. After just a couple sessions, the positive effects were clear--students were sharing yoga with family members, using strategies in and out of the classroom, and recognizing the calming benefits. Riki is determined to share these tangible mindfulness and movement-based stress reduction strategies with students, schools and communities.
AJ Ecton, M.Ed., Crisis Certified, & Trauma Informed. AJ received her undergraduate degree at Western Kentucky in Psychology and Criminology. She started her post graduate career as a school social worker in Metro Nashville Public Schools. After seeing the high needs of students within MNPS, AJ stayed in Nashville to serve as a Teach for America Corps Member and earned her Master's in Education of Instructional Practice from Lipscomb University. AJ taught at Napier Elementary School serving students who have been exposed to high levels of trauma in their lives and AJ quickly realized mindfulness in the classroom was essential for student academic achievement. AJ has a passion for helping students see that any obstacle can be overcome with the right strategies and tools in place to set them up for success. AJ is an advocate for social emotional learning competencies being taught in the classroom in order to ensure learning happens, and this can be done through mindfulness and movement-based stress reduction approaches.
In an effort to affect and continue in their fight for educational equity, Riki and AJ founded BeWell in School in 2019 to support their mission to shake up the American education system that has been broken for far too long.
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How you can help.
We are so excited to bring mindfulness and movement-based stress reduction to Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School in order to transform non-learning behaviors into emotional self-regulation. Donate to our crowdfunding campaign by selecting a reward from the list on the right. We are grateful for your support in making schools a better place for students and teachers!
LITERATURE.
(1) Traumatic Experiences Widespread Among U.S. Youth, New Data Shows. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/articles-and-news/2017/10/traumatic-experiences-widespread-among-u-s--youth--new-data-show.html
(2) Bakosh, L. S., Snow, R. M., Tobias, J. M., Houlihan, J. L., & Barbosa-Leiker, C. (2016). Maximizing mindful learning: An innovative mindful awareness intervention improves elementary school students’ quarterly grades. Mindfulness, 7 (1), 1-21.
(3) Benson, H., Wilcher, M., Greenberg, B., Huggins, E., Ennis, M., Zuttermeister, P. C., Myers, P., & Friedman, R. (2000). Academic performance among middle school students after exposure to a relaxation response curriculum. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 33 (3), 156-165.
