What Mindfulness Brings to a Middle School Classroom

In her role as Mindfulness Director at a US middle school, Erica Marcus is helping students and teachers honor the difficulties of learning in the era of COVID, while also savoring the joys.

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While hybrid learning comes with a slew of challenges, Erica Marcus is using these difficulties to teach mindfulness to the students of Maine’s Cape Elizabeth School. In her role as a mindfulness director, Marcus provides mindfulness instruction to students in grades five through eight, offers mindfulness practice support and mentorship for school staff, and ongoing courses for parents. “I have been thinking more about how I support students in practicing mindfulness exercises when we are not together,” she says. “For kids, it can actually be a better time to practice at home than when they feel self-conscious around their peers.”

Marcus is part of the WholeSchool Mindfulness network, a non-profit which aims to make mindfulness an integral part of the curriculum in all schools. The group partners with schools to hire mindfulness directors and then helps facilitate and support the integration of mindfulness into the school community.  

“For kids, it can actually be a better time to practice at home than when they feel self-conscious around their peers.”

Erica Marcus

Much of Marcus’ work this year has centered around students’ self-reflection. Through Google Classroom, Erica gives students mindfulness…