So in getting a GoPro for my video modeling study, I have also found a new benefit for the GoPro in my classroom – it helps my teaching! I have recorded a few lessons of myself and it really helps me get a better feel of what I need to work on during a lesson in order to be a better teacher. I become more aware of my language, my reactions, my body language, who I call on, who I need to include more in a lesson, and how my students react to me during a lesson.
This lesson was a wonderful success, and I loved it so much that I plan on doing it more in my classroom. The inspiration of this lesson came from a few things: 1. I had wanted to incorporate this book (I Create my World by Connie Bowen) into more of my lessons, because it is just a wonderful book that I know my students connect to. 2. In reflecting on my daily teachings, I have realized that I have been responding to more negative than positive in my classroom, and I wanted to reverse that. 3. I have been playing this game with my friends for a really long time, and I wanted to share this game with my students.
The name of the game is called “The Bubble Game” and it stemmed from my friends and I going through some hard times together. Whether it was a breakup, a death in the family or friend circle, or just feeling down, we would come to each other, talk about things, and then just want an outlet to get some more happy into our lives. And what better way to bring happy than with bubbles? I had started just regularly bringing bubbles wherever I went, and so we would blow some bubbles, and then blow at the bubbles. We would see if they could bounce, if we could blow the bubbles in a direction we wanted, or back and forth. No matter what, each bubble was a new discovery, and each breath we took was just one more way of letting go any sadness or frustration, and we would feel so much better after playing the Bubble Game.
So in order to bring some more happy into my classroom, and to provide my students with some breathing techniques, I introduced this Bubble Game to my kids recently, and I loved this lesson so much that I am going to start incorporating this story and this lesson into my routine, and expand on the lesson so my kids can have more of a connection to the positive affirmations and coping techniques that I will teach, as well as the academic content that will also be infused in each different lesson.
The video is a reflection, as well as parts of the lesson that I recorded, and below is my first of many Bubble Game lessons!
The Bubble Game
Read Aloud/Meditation
Objective: You will participate in and learn a game that will work on breathing techniques and calming strategies.
Materials:
- I Create My World book
- Bubbles
- meditation music (speaker)
Procedure: Students will sit in the meeting area and listen while the teacher reads “I Create My World”. She will explain the activity after the read aloud, and then turn meditation music on.
“So we have been discussing different techniques to help us keep ourselves calm and focused. We talked about blowing balloons, creating artwork, and today we are going to play a game with bubbles. But we aren’t going to pop them. I will blow a bubble, and I want us to just look at it. Look at the colors, look at the shape, look at your upside down reflection in the bubble. Just look at it, and if you want it to stay up, you can blow at it. Watch me first, and then we will sit in a circle and do it together. The goal is for you to stay in your seat and to blow the bubbles up to the sky.”
