The Mind Up Curriculum

I have the pleasure of knowing two fantastic teachers in the Vancouver School Board who are responsible for developing, promoting, teaching, and living the MIND UP curriculum, which started in our city!!!!!!

This curriculum is important for all children, and very important for gifted students who are often intense, "in their head" learners, who often have a million things on the go.....extra-curricular activities, clubs, sports, music lessons, after school enrichment or training.......you name it; they do it!!!

If you are a teacher, this is a valuable resource and a means to get your students focused, mindful, and resilient.  As the introduction states, "MindUp is a comprehensive, classroom-tested, evidence-based curriculum framed around 15 easily implemented lessons that foster social and emotional awareness, enhance psychological well-being, and promote academic success."

I love this program, and I have used strategies from it in the challenge centre, although it is best used in a full time classroom environment, or if you work with students on a regular basis over the course of a school year (I see students for 2-4 days, so it is more challenging for me to use it regularly).

The program teaches us how the brain works, mindful awareness, goes into sharpening our senses, moves onto perspective taking, being optimistic, and finally, brings us to finding gratitude in our lives, and taking mindful action into the world.  It is beautifully pulled together, and is backed by brain research.

For teachers and parents, this is a valuable tool to use with gifted students and many ideas can be used at home as well. For example,  I teach my own children about mindful breathing and we have also used the strategies for perspective taking.

In Canada, you can order the resource from Scholastic Canada, and it is available in three levels:  Grades Pre K-2; Grades 3-5; and Grades 6-8.  There is also training for teachers (offered through the VSB), and hopefully, there will be parent workshops in the future.