Student Well-Being

Students Doodle. How Teachers Can Use That Habit to Teach Mindfulness

By Arianna Prothero — June 28, 2023 2 min read
Illustration of a group of individual students in an abstract textural background
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Students often doodle—sometimes to fidget, to focus, or just to stay awake in class. The habit can frustrate teachers.

But doodling can also promote mindfulness, said Tim Needles, an art and emerging media teacher at Smithtown High School East in St. James, N.Y., during a presentation at the International Society for Technology in Education’s annual conference here.

Mindfulness is about focusing the mind on the present and tuning in to what you’re feeling in the moment without dwelling on the past or future. The practice helps kids calm themselves, reduce stress, regulate their emotions and focus—key skills for students to be able to learn.

But too often when people hear the word mindfulness they immediately think of meditation, said Needles, and that can limit how people practice it.

“It’s a really good tool but it doesn’t work for me,” he said. “So, I needed to find different ways to be mindful that did.”

Here are 5 simple doodling exercises to practice mindfulness:

1. Doodle before and after breathing exercises

Have students doodle whatever they want before and after a breathing or meditation exercise, and then examine the differences between the two drawings. Needles said his students often draw with hard and sharp lines before the mindfulness exercise and then with soft, flowing lines afterward.

2. Tap into the senses

To encourage his students to be present in the moment, which is at the heart of the idea of mindfulness, Needles said he will have his students draw the sensations they are feeling—such as what they are hearing, touching, or smelling.

3. Draw emojis

Have students draw emojis expressing their current emotions. This check-in exercise gives teachers vital data about what kind of headspace their students are in at the beginning of the lesson. Needles said he uses Jamboard, a Google app that’s basically a digital whiteboard, that his students draw on simultaneously.

4. Sketch deeper thoughts

To dive deeper into the emotions they’re feeling, students can draw their emotions in more depth than a simple emoji. They can use the following prompts to explore how they’re feeling and how to take positive steps to improve their state of mind: What am I feeling? Where do I feel it in my body? If it could talk, what would it say? What might this be teaching me? What do I need right now? What tiny step can I take to meet my need?

5. Connect the dots, literally

Another simple exercise that helps students relax and de-stress is to put a vertical line of five dots on either side of a piece of paper and have students connect the dots in an expressive way. Students can also do this collaboratively using a program like Jamboard.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
Pave the Path to Excellence in Math
Empower your students' math journey with Sue O'Connell, author of “Math in Practice” and “Navigating Numeracy.”
Content provided by hand2mind
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Combatting Teacher Shortages: Strategies for Classroom Balance and Learning Success
Learn from leaders in education as they share insights and strategies to support teachers and students.
Content provided by DreamBox Learning
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Reading Instruction and AI: New Strategies for the Big Education Challenges of Our Time
Join the conversation as experts in the field explore these instructional pain points and offer game-changing guidance for K-12 leaders and educators.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being Opinion What Data-Driven SEL Has Done for My District
Here’s how data can transform social-emotional learning, writes an SEL district coordinator.
Michael Mallery Jr.
4 min read
Multi colored vector illustration of group of stylized people
Digital Vision Vectors/Getty
Student Well-Being Busting Myths and Misconceptions About Motivating Students
Three experts in motivation weigh in on how to help students stay engaged and focused in school.
4 min read
Students with raised hands.
E+ / Getty
Student Well-Being Free Meals for All Students Is Best Way to Combat Hunger, Report Concludes
Some students say the quality of free meals has declined over the past few years.
3 min read
Students eat lunch at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in New York on Dec. 10, 2019.
Students eat lunch at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School in New York City on Dec. 10, 2019.
Seth Wenig/AP
Student Well-Being Opinion Are Your Students Frustrated? That’s Not Always Bad
Before you talk a student out of doing a difficult project, consider the potential upside.
Amy Edmondson
1 min read
Images shows a stylized artistic landscape with soothing colors.
Getty