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“Make good grades the by-product of success in your class, not the central goal.” 
                                                                                       ― Eric Jensen,

Rubrics and Other Measures for Mindfulness in the Classroom

The assessing of mindfulness is weighted heavily on perception of the participants and observations of the instructor. It is difficult to point to specific outcomes and determine that mindfulness was the cause. We will have to be content with listing it as a factor. The research questions below served as  pretest and post-test assessments and self evaluations. The Casel website contains SEL competencies and I will add some anecdotal accounts of how I assessed mindfulness participation and outcomes in my kindergarten classroom.

This link will take you directly to the Casel website that details the Social and Emotional Learning Competencies. Navigate the site to learn about their programs and the grave need for them to be taught in order to meet the learning needs of our at risk students.

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LESSONS

HOW-TOs

REFERENCES

Research Questions; Language Arts Comprehension and Report Card Rubric

Language Arts; Comprehension, story retell, main ideas, details, and connections
Classroom teacher's aid reads Mole and Baby Bird
Teacher video records the student during the read aloud and the discussion activity.

After the story is read all students Think, Pair, Share the answers to these questions.
1. Did you like or dislike the story, why? 
2. Who was in the story?
3.Where does the story take place? 
4. Can you tell me what happens in the story?
5. Does this story make you think of other things, books or experiences?

Teacher observations during Read Aloud and Think, Pair, Share (Video recorded)
Teacher records observations in a Observed behaviors/Feelings/Inferences form
Questions for Think, Pair, Share and for one-on-one questioning with case study students. Answers will be recorded with video.

A teacher created 1-4 report card rubric will be used to score the comprehension answers.
Scroll down in the rubric to find the comprehension rubric 
1. Did you like or dislike the story, why? ____________
2. Who was in the story? ____________
3. Where does the story take place? ____________
4. Can you tell me what happens in the story? _____________________________________
5. Does this story make you think of other things, books or experiences? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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​Mindfulness Self Evaluation
Interview will be video recorded

Do you like doing the mindfulness activities?   Y___ N___
What face shows how you feel about it?
(Here will be drawn 5 faces with varying degrees of enthusiasm)

How do you feel about it? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do you feel different after you do mindfulness? Y____ N____
Can you describe how you feel after you do it? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How is your behavior after the mindfulness lesson?
(Here will be drawn 5 faces with varying degrees of enthusiasm)
How well do you learn after the mindfulness lessons?
(Here will be drawn 5 faces with varying degrees of enthusiasm)

​But if I were to give my own personal assessment of mindfulness in my classroom, I would say that it was a success. Here is what I observed:

• My most struggling student and one whom I had as a case study for my research began to independently ring the triangle when he felt that students were not listening or if he wanted to bring focus to the room. He was able to see that there was a problem and he took it upon himself to solve it. Other students did this from time to time, but I was most impressed with his 'buy in' to the practices. Deep breathing helped him immensely. 
• Students did not just quiet down when they heard the bell ring when I needed their attention during activities. They became accustomed to taking deep anchor/belly breaths when they heard the bell or the triangle so they did this and I found that this moment to breath and calm themselves meant better listening and direction following. It was something that the students began doing on their own that developed organically.
•  I am ashamed to admit that I can get a little emotional myself. When I would get frustrated I would say I am starting to feel strong feelings. Then the students would prompt me to do deep breathing and counting so that I would calm my body and mind. They would naturally join in with me. It always helped.
• I would often prompt my students to articulate why we were doing the practice so that they would remind themselves and others of its purpose and value. Whether we had rehearsed often enough to be repeated or not, it made my heart soar to hear a boy say, "We do this because recess is over and we need to leave it outside. We need to bring our minds to the group. We need to think about math."