mindfulness Archives - THOM GIBSON

23 May 2019

Day in the Life of a Teacher | LAST DAY VLOG

I haven't done a 'day in the life' video in some time! This was the last day of classes right before finals week (so not the true LAST day but no more actual teaching). https://youtu.be/qJPoZo5ymsU 🎥Videos/resources referenced: How To Create & Manage A Classroom Economy - https://thomgibson.com/classroomeconomy/ 2015 'Day in the Life' - https://youtu.be/RpUe7LsmqeQ "10k Calorie Cheat Day Challenge" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNYGlTXDClA Mandarin progress (after 1 year) - https://youtu.be/eLeqmBvQ2EY Reflections on teaching YouTube Video Production - https://youtu.be/OQOTGmYXWVA "Mindfulness in the Classroom" (podcast) - https://wp.me/p3LdGY-QV "How to Debrief A Class" - https://youtu.be/0Ax9aZCpHxs Our big esports project - https://youtu.be/uIDAVzgexAE Another robotics project from…

30 Jan 2019

Mindfulness in the Classroom

Mindfulness has started to become a bit of a buzzword in the education space. Today we talk with a district mindfulness specialist, a psychologist, and a classroom teacher to explore what mindfulness is, what it isn't, why it's worth doing, and how to get started in your own life and in your classroom. In this episode: I speak with mindfulness specialist James Butler to discuss best practices surrounding how to get started with mindfulness in the classroom. I interview psychologist Dr. Tori Olds about the deeper happenings in the mind when mindfulness is being practiced. I chat with educator Jaclyn Mann about her experience in…

07 Dec 2018

5 INNOVATIVE Ways to Create POSITIVE Classroom Culture

A few years ago I wrote THIS blog and it did well on Edutopia. I decided to make a video version of it. I share 5 innovative ways that I've found to help create and foster a positive classroom culture both when I taught elementary school as well as now in middle school. 1. Ask different questions 2. Do mindful breathing exercises 3. High-5 Friday! 4. Start a class Instagram 5. Weekly check-in Mindfulness apps: Headspace - https://www.headspace.com/ Calm - https://www.calm.com/ My class Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/headwatersstem https://youtu.be/2h5kHU1qd1o

02 Jun 2018

Learning From A Chess Prodigy & Exploring The Problem of Evil | Books & Beef Jerky

Welcome to the second official episode of Books & Beef Jerky, where I eat beef jerky and chat about the books I read this past month! The Hobbit The Art of Learning Grand Inquisitor NEXT MONTH'S BOOKS! Mere Christianity Fahrenheit 451 North Side Hustle https://youtu.be/hd8QoM-QDc4 __ I’m Thom Gibson. I’m a middle school teacher and filmmaker. My Amazon Shop (equipment I use, books I love, etc) - http://amazon.com/shop/thomgibson **contains affiliate links** Here’s what my channel’s about in 30 seconds - https://youtu.be/2Y2yzAPyfhk I’ve also got a short film on how I got into filmmaking - https://youtu.be/DOJxQFYx32g Find me on social media…

24 Sep 2017

Post 05 – What Does It Mean To Be Centered?

This week's reflection prompt: What do you do to center in your personal life? Did the summer reading have any influences or takeaways that have stuck with you? Well, to answer the second question first, I wrote about the summer reading, mostly reflecting on my takeaways on how I'd use it in the classroom. This reflection will be more of my own centering and mindfulness practices. What is mindfulness or centering? I see the terms synonymous with a practice of singular focus. This can look like a lot of things; in our classrooms at my school it's typically an exercise…

04 Sep 2017

Post 02 – My Teacher Hacks

There's a community of math teachers on Twitter who are participating in a weekly blogging challenge and this weeks prompt was to write about teacher hacks. Here's what I think I do that could be considered hacks; ways that I save time, energy, or resources as a teacher. 1. Optimizing my most productive time of the day I found that in my late 20's, I started to become much more of a morning person. I began waking up at 5am a couple years ago even though I didn't have to leave my house until 7:30. After breakfast, some time of…

20 Aug 2017

Teacher Goals – 2017/2018

We had a goal writing exercise during in-service this last week. We were to come up with at least one pedagogical goal, one professional goal (not necessarily related to content), and one wellness goal. Here's the gist of what I wrote in my journal: PEDAGOGY GOALS ROBOTICS I've been thinking through Robotics mostly lately. I'll be doing stuff with the drone for the first time. Still thinking through how to run the tests outside with one drone; what will others do while they wait their turn? Maybe someone else could bring a DJI if they have one. Perhaps my own…

14 Aug 2017

Reflections on ‘Teach, Breathe, Learn’

Happy start of the new year folks. Had a fantastic summer that concluded with an awesome trip to China. I plan on putting some summer reflections / videos up here soon. Part of our summer reading was to read a book on mindfulness in the classroom called 'Teach, Breathe, Learn' by Meena Srinivasan. For a little bit of context, our school already has a strong culture around mindfulness in that we start every class with a breathing exercise that we call centering; generally looks like a few quiet moments to focus on your breathing. I really love starting class on…