The Conscious Classroom

Send us Fan Mail Back to school this year is new territory. How can we manage our own sense of uncertainty? How can we build a welcoming class environment for students who have experienced so many challenges over the past year, challenges which haven't ended.  In this Back to School session, you'll learn:  5 Anchor Tools to manage stress in the moment, in the classroom 3 Anchor Tools to...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Amy Edelstein talks about why pursuing happiness is not selfish. She looks at what happiness is, why caring about our own happiness and the happiness of others is foundational to creating a positive learning environment, and how to shift students' orientation so they care about the well being of the classroom community. In this session, Amy leads a long guide...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Amy Edelstein explores what we learned about students, teaching online, and essentials during this past year. What supports students' well-being? How do we create relationship even when we are not in the classroom? When we are forced to simplify, what rises to the top as the most important learning tools? The pandemic brought out the importance of well-being,...

Send us Fan Mail In this, our third and final episode of this mini-series The Post Pandemic Classroom, we are going to look at how to support students who are returning to school having lost someone during the pandemic. Students often try to hide their grief or don't know how to process emotions, and the school day marches on with little room for the holistic learning and care. Grieving is a...

Send us Fan Mail The second episode in this series looks at the phenomenon of teens who are reluctant to go back to the classroom, who are afraid, ashamed, or anxious about their peers' response to them. These students need support to break the ice. They will need to be able to trust the boundaries set up in the class. In this episode, Amy Edelstein will share some tools for the classroom and...

Send us Fan Mail We are coming towards the end of the year, Districts are sending out plans, metrics, and expectations for the coming year. Oftentimes, without enough discussion and recognition that this Fall will be one unlike previous years . . . and we don't really know what to expect. Teachers are tired. It's been a trying year. There's hope on the horizon with the coronavirus v...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Conscious Classroom, we explore the art of contemplative writing, mindful journaling. It is a practice that can help us as teachers access our deeper purpose which sometimes gets buried beneath submitting grades and filling out forms for the District. Mindful journaling helps us untie knots, allow different perspectives, and take risks in our thinking. It cr...

Send us Fan Mail Wow, many schools are going back to full-time in person classrooms. There are many emotions to navigate! Relief and worry. Now is the time to work with all the mindfulness momentum to dial back self-defeating worry, frustration, and concerns. In this episode, we're going to work with the:  Three Keys of Positive Habit Building: 1. Noticing or being mindful and attentive to go...

Send us Fan Mail Highlighted in this podcast are the real concerns teachers are facing right now, named, so that you can externalize them and then create space and care for your own wellbeing. We work on three primary steps for stress reduction and self care.  For more on free Self Care MasterClass for Educators visit www. TheConsciousClassroom.com Support the show If you enjoyed this episode plea...

Send us Fan Mail Giving students choice over many small activities and decisions in the classroom sets a tone of respect, appreciation, value, and collaboration. Any classroom has an inherent power dynamic. Teachers with good classroom presence command authority and provide wholesome structure. And, they also are able to facilitate an environment of choice and buy in that feels safe to students. W...

Send us Fan Mail Does work ever stop these days? It's not just negotiating with all the demands, it's setting boundaries. Here are some ways to set limits and allow yourself to keep your sense of energy, agency, and positive parameters. Mindfulness tools really do help stretch time and enforce boundaries. In this era of ongoing demands, there's no better time to work with them to su...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Amy outlines the seven different learning styles. During the pandemic, while most students are learning online, we need to make special effort to reach different types of learners. Learn the 7 different styles and how to give mindfulness cues and classroom cues that appeal to different learners.  Support the show If you enjoyed this episode please leave a review !...

Send us Fan Mail The New Year is a time when all of us make resolutions to improve, accomplish, and achieve. In this episode of The Conscious Classroom, Amy Edelstein will talk about how to use the tools of mindful awareness and contextual thinking to tap into a student’s passion to learn. When we feed their inspiration and show them how to recognize their own desire to grow, we set the stage for...

Send us Fan Mail Joy to the World starts with sending joy to ourselves. Most of us probably believe that but how many of us practice that? Here are some special tips for deepening your experience of joy and restoration during this holiday season. Included is a long guided meditation for better sleep. You can use this year-round and start to make your nights something to look forward to! Support th...

Send us Fan Mail Holidays are a time of giving and family. For students who are resource-challenged, this time of year can be challenging. In this Conscious Classroom episode, Amy Edelstein shares mindfulness tools and perspectives to bring the spirit of the holidays into your classroom. You will learn how to emphasize human connection, care, and appreciation and transform worry and concern into p...

Send us Fan Mail Teaching in an online environment due to coronavirus restrictions has required us to deal with new and challenging questions. How can we teach if we can't see our students faces? How do we know if they are comprehending or struggling? Do we demand that they "camera up" or do we allow them to find their way? In this episode, Amy Edelstein talks about online teaching...

Send us Fan Mail When there's distraction in the classroom and students are disengaged or wound up, our inclination as teachers is often to clamp down, to try to control. We do that with greater or lesser degrees of success. But after that, how do we feel? Those are the days that usually leave us more spent, drained, and wound up.  In this episode, Amy talks about establishing our own anchor...

Send us Fan Mail Thanksgiving is a time for conscious appreciation, recognizing the gifts in our lives, even during hard times like these days during the pandemic. How to we build gratitude and what is the relationship between gratitude, awareness, and ease?  In this episode, Amy Edelstein will share some insights about the deeper dimensions of gratitude, how our culture and self-sense can serve t...

Send us Fan Mail In this Conscious Classroom episode, Amy Edelstein will explore different ways to think about gratitude as well as several different mindfulness practices that you can share with your students to cultivate a deeper sense of care in your classroom. Support the show If you enjoyed this episode please leave a review ! Your review supports our podcast to reach more educators and share...

Send us Fan Mail Gratitude feels good. In this episode of The Conscious Classroom, Amy Edelstein will talk about building a culture of thanks. As we lean into the Thanksgiving season, it’s a time where we can begin to bring in awareness of the things that we’re grateful for and start helping our students appreciate so much around them. Specific gratitude practices, questions, and meditations will...

Send us Fan Mail COVID-19 has changed all our lives. Students, Teachers, Parents . . . . But regardless of the medium you are going back to school - online or in person or blended, it really is great to be back in class. Learning, teaching, connecting is perhaps more important than ever. When you don't take school for granted, which we can't in these times, the school connections become...

Send us Fan Mail Awareness is the foundation of stability, good relationships, and creative learning. Mindfulness techniques help teens cultivate self-knowledge – the awareness of their habits of thought and behavior, their likes and dislikes, and the way they feel happiness and sadness. In this Conscious Classroom episode, Amy Edelstein will shed light on how we cultivate awareness and lead you t...

Send us Fan Mail In this Conscious Classroom episode, Amy Edelstein will share mindfulness tools and tips to raise the level of enthusiasm for learning. She’ll illuminate why mindful perspective taking can shift students from blasé to interested in simple but profound ways. You’ll learn how to inspire your students to seek that experience of “being in the zone.” Support the show If you enjoyed thi...

Send us Fan Mail It’s the start of the school year. Hey, no smell of new textbooks, no bulletin boards to decorate, no lockers to assign, no bells and the patter of hundreds of pairs of shoes clattering down the hallways. This year is quiet. Buildings at rest. Teachers and students at home, each in our own little spaces, connecting via . . . what seems like magic . . .  our bodies and voices broad...

Send us Fan Mail Love of learning is essential for youth to truly internalize information. Contemplative exercises, contextual seeing, and the practice of re-framing our worldview cultivate a student’s curiosity. In this episode of The Conscious Classroom, Amy Edelstein will talk about how to shift a student’s experience from overwhelm to interest, and how to work with the art and science of obser...