PIP Final Draft

Fall 2017

Sydney Peters

Question:

Can offering a yoga class in high school help students deal with any stress and/or

anxiety they have been having in regard to school work, after-school athletics, and/or

home situations?

Rationale

My goal for my yoga class is to give students the opportunity to meditate and relax through the

practice of yoga. My hope is that those who attend yoga will understand the benefits of yoga and

meditation and the impact it has on their physical and mental well- being. I also hope that my

yoga class is known as a safe and quiet place that students can come to escape the everyday

business of school.

Description of activities involved in the PD project

I will hold my yoga class every Monday and Wednesday during flex period. I have a grading sheet

where students will sign in. Beside the sign in there are two boxes, in the first box students will

give me a number between 1 and 10 which represents their mood/ how they are feeling when

they enter class and the second box is a number representation of how they are feeling at the

end of class. I include myself in this practice because teaching the yoga class does not only benefit

the students, but also myself. Having a quiet mindful class helps me as a teacher relax and feel

more grounded.
I will also have personal conversations with the students as they come in and leave the room.

These conversations help me understand what certain students may be going through and how

yoga can help them deal with day-to-day stresses.

I am also arranging to teach yoga in a Grade 9 girls physical education class during my prep period

on an irregular basis. I have talked to the teacher of this class and she believes that offering yoga

in this class every once in a while, will be a nice break from the regular physical education

curriculum for these students. I will use my number grading sheet for these classes as well. I am

interested to see how the data collected may differ from my flex time yoga class since this class

is first period in the morning. Unlike my flex time yoga class which is at the end of the day.

I will use the following formative assessments throughout the semester:

Use a grading sheet that gives a numerical value to how students are feeling when they

walk into class and when they leave

Talking to my students when they come in and when they leave

Creating a survey monkey for those students who regularly attend with some more in-

depth question about their yoga experience

Asking the whole school to complete a survey monkey about yoga and reasons they have

or have not tried yoga during flex. In this survey, I hope to understand why some students

may shy away from yoga and any misconceptions some students may have about yoga

Timeline of events

The timeline will be every Monday and Wednesday during flex time, and when it is convenient

for the physical education teacher to have me in her class. I will use my grading sheet and talking

to my students every yoga class. I will give my survey monkey to those who attend regularly
nearing the end of the semester in December. I will do the whole-wide survey monkey nearing

the end of November.

Research

Gillis, K. (2012). Yoga in schools: A non-traditional form of program support. Physical & Health
Education Journal, 78 (1), 12-13, 36-37. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.uleth.ca/docview/1022633998?accountid=12063
S, Khalsa, Sat Bir (2016). Yoga in school settings: a research review. Annals of the New York
Academy of Sciences. 1373 (1), 45-55. Retrieved from:
http://fg2fy8yh7d.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-
2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-
8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ff
mt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Yoga+in+school+settings
%3A+a+research+review&rft.jtitle=Annals+of+the+New+York+Academy+of+Sciences
&rft.au=Khalsa%2C+Sat+Bir+S&rft.au=Butzer%2C+Bethany&r ft.date=2016-06-
01&rft.issn=0077-8923&rft.eissn=1749-
6632&rft.volume=1373&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=45&rft.epage=55&rft_id=info:doi/10.
1111%2Fnyas.13025&rft.externalDBID=n%2Fa&rft.externalDocID=10_1111_nyas_13
025&paramdict=en-UK
Nao, NarenP. (2013). Yoga school of thought and psychiatry: Therapeutic potential. Indian journal of
psychiatry. 55 (6). 145.

Description of End product

I will use my records that I have compiled throughout the semester to create a document about

students attitude towards yoga and their mood/ mind set before and after yoga class. I am

hoping this document will be useful to school administration whom which are looking to add a

yoga class option to their schools. I will compare my data that I have collected with data I have

researched about other schools who have implemented a yoga program to their school(s).