Breathe. Click. Breathe.

In 2010 I got my first #edtech job like many do - there’s a need, a teacher jumps in and helps. The job meant teaching tech classes and managing the site’s tech needs. An outside company came in to do the things I couldn’t do (which at first was pretty much everything) while I learned the ropes.?

It was a steep learning curve - I can’t recall what we were doing when someone asked me, “Hey - what’s the IP address?” but I do remember the look on their face when I said, “What’s an IP address?”?

That’s how (un)qualified I was for the role.?

Now, I’d like to say that wouldn’t happen in schools today, but it does. But that’s a topic for another day. (And one to which we will return.)

This conversation is going somewhere completely different - to when I realized how important it is to breathe (besides for the obvious reasons of staying alive).

Yep - sit still long enough and someone will remind you to breathe. Or at least your watch will. And, if you have a #breathfrog, they’ll remind you. (If you don’t have one, DM me and I’ll let you know where I’ll be next and can get you one.)

So back to teaching tech at a small school.?

The kids LOVED tech class! They came in super excited (which was great) and wiggling with excitement (which wasn’t so great). I quickly learned the unintended damage 25 elementary students with 50 feet, 50 hands, and 250 fingers could do. That doesn’t even count elbows and knees. Classroom management - bodies in seats - was Job #1.

I began inviting students to find their seats and “go to the beach.” I showed a beachy scene on the board, had them clasp their hands behind their heads, gaze at the scene, and breathe in and out loud enough that we could “hear the waves.”?

They loved it. And, they settled. Every - single - time.?

I knew it was solid classroom management. What I didn’t know was I was teaching a valuable self-regulation tool.?

A few years later I made the connection when (during yoga) I learned about the physiological benefits of intentional breath. That intentional breath can trigger the body’s relaxation response, increase information retention, enhance data recall, reduce anxiety, and even help settle an upset stomach. What? This would have been good to know as a teacher (and human being).?

Later I took? this into coaching work. I taught elementary students to “Go to the Beach.” I suggested teachers ring a bell throughout the day as a classroom wide signal to stop-inhale-exhale-restart. I offered the idea of a deep breath in and out when lining a class up to go to lunch. I suggested that a high teaching team use the first 30 seconds of class to have students take a deep breath in, and out, and then begin the learning.

It didn’t always go well.

I remember being a guest speaker at a staff meeting and, as I was talking up breathwork, a teacher stopped me - mid-word - saying, “My watch tells me when I need to breathe. I don’t need to set an alarm or ring a bell. That’s a waste of time.”

Later, I took this idea to a room full of IT leaders. I was terrified! I mean, if a teacher had called me out like that in a meeting, imagine what a room full of CTOs and IT Directors would do if they decided I was wasting their time! What was I thinking? As I started speaking in front of the room, a bolt of pain shot through my head - that’s how terrified I was. I felt even more ridiculous as I passed out the little goodie bags I’d prepared that included sticky notes reminding people to breathe…?

Fortunately it went off a treat. Everyone participated and I’ve even had people tell me - a few years later - that they remember that day.?

It mattered. And it still does. It is an important enough message to keep pushing through the nerves I still have when I get up in front of grown adults and advise them to breathe. Today, I’ve just added plastic frogs to the gig.?

It’s important.

So here’s the call to action I’m linking to these memories.?

For the rest of 2024, Structured Shifts will be offering a monthly UPTalk Challenge - a simple, free, low-time investment in bringing a bit of wellness into your life and a little bit of breath to students in classrooms.

How does taking a deep breath once a day help kids in classrooms?

Like this. For each UPTalk Challenge registration (one per person, please), we will add 5 minutes of time to The UPTalk Breath Bank - a bank of professional development time dedicated to bringing lessons in breath-based self-regulation to K12 schools.?

How do you register? By clicking on the picture above (or the link below). That’s all there is to it…

Breathe. Click. Breathe.

#leadbyexample #educationleaders #liveleadamplify #theuptalkproject #theuptalkchallenge

The UPTalk Project mission is to help 1,000,000 people live better, lead stronger, and amplify their impact by 2035.