Moshi and Positive Teacher Outcomes
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic began, being in a service profession had already placed teachers at high risk of burnout (Oliveira et al., 2021). The good news is that research has shown that mindfulness and social-emotional learning is not only beneficial to students but can have a positive effect on teachers as well (Gouda et al., 2016). Research has also shown that mindfulness interventions specifically for teachers can lead to an increase in positive affect (i.e., positive feeling, mood, emotion) (Taylor et al., 2021), a decrease in perceived stress (Taylor et al., 2016), a decrease in anxiety (Gouda et al., 2016), and an increase in effectiveness (Abenavoli et al., 2014), all of which can lead to an overall decrease in burnout (Taylor et al., 2021). In addition, research conducted with preschool teachers showed that when teachers are trained specifically in mindfulness, their students also benefit (Singh et al., 2013).
Moshi and Positive Teacher Outcomes
Our research team at Moshi is currently working on gathering evidence to show how Moshi can address each of these factors to help aid in overall self-care and health for teachers when they use it in their classrooms. In recent interviews, Moshi users have commented on the ease of use of the teacher portal or app. Instead of a heavy mindfulness/SEL curriculum that adds to their workload, with Moshi, a teacher can simply push play. Moshi Moments are 4- to 8-minute SEL lessons that can be used any time of the day. Many teachers take the time right after lunch and recess to incorporate these important lessons. Meet Raphaele, a teacher in France who uses Moshi Breathing to help her class of first and second graders learn self-regulation strategies.
Teachers can also use this Moshi time for their own mindful or self-care moments to help them reset and recharge. Mrs. P, a second-grade teacher in Chicago, introduced Moshi to her students after she experienced its benefits while working toward her own well-being goals. Another key element of Moshi is that it can be used whenever the teacher feels the need, whether it be in transition time, at the start or end of the day, or on any day when the children need a little extra help calming down. Although Moshi is not a direct mindfulness intervention for teachers, our research team is excited to discover the positive indirect effect Moshi can have on teachers.
Teachers, we’ve created a Kids at Heart Moshi Music playlist for you—the perfect backdrop for planning lessons, grading papers, or just sitting back and enjoying the sights and sounds of the world around you.
References
Abenavoli, R. M., Harris, A. R., Katz, D. A., Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2014). Mindfulness promotes educators’ efficacy in the classroom. Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness.
Gouda, S., Luong, M. T., Schmidt, S., & Bauer, J. (2016). Students and teachers benefit from mindfulness-based stress reduction in a school-embedded pilot study. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 590.
Oliveira, S., Roberto, M. S., Pereira, N. S., Marques-Pinto, A., & Veiga-Simão, A. M. (2021). Impacts of social and emotional learning interventions for teachers on teachers’ outcomes: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 2543.
Singh, N. N., Lancioni, G. E., Winton, A. S., Karazsia, B. T., & Singh, J. (2013). Mindfulness training for teachers changes the behavior of their preschool students. Research in Human Development, 10(3), 211–233.
Taylor, C., Harrison, J., Haimovitz, K., Oberle, E., Thomson, K., Schonert-Reichl, K., & Roeser, R. (2016). Examining ways that a mindfulness-based intervention reduces stress in public school teachers: A mixed-methods study. Mindfulness 7, 115–129.
Taylor, S. G., Roberts, A. M., & Zarrett, N. (2021). A brief mindfulness-based intervention (bMBI) to reduce teacher stress and burnout. Teaching and Teacher Education, 100, 103284.
