This week, our lesson at the middle school has been around impulses and impulsivity, based in the “Mindful Schools Curriculum for Adolescents.” I love putting students in the driver’s seat of this one, observing their own impulses and whether or not they respond impulsively to them while engaged in class discussion and doing mindfulness practice.

As teachers, we are so often helping our students manage their impulses. Without thinking, kids are often blurting out, fidgeting, or being disruptive without even realizing they are doing it, let alone choosing to do it. We can ask them to be mindful—nonjudgemental but curious— about when these impulses arise, and then slow down rather than automatically react.

In this exercise, we defined “impulse” and what it means to be impulsive. Then, I gave students sticky notes to tally when they notice impulses arise when we were in discussion or mindfulness practice. After simply observing, we tried adding a, “pause, breathe, relax” and then “choose,” to slow ourselves down.

When I used to teach middle school, I would do this exercise as a behavior awareness strategy with individuals in my class as a way of helping them recognize impulses and start cultivating some self regulation on their own. We would work together to see if they could reduce the number of tally marks from class to class. I remember the satisfaction of watching one of these students open his mouth, close it, and record the tally on his page with pride.

The more we can empower students to self regulate rather than taking that on our own shoulders, the simpler our jobs become, and the more effective