Drmiinnggg! That’s the sound that kids all over the country hate to hear—the alarm bell. The new school year has just started and children across the UK have to wake up early in the morning to go to school.

But students at one school in north-cast England are lucky. They can lie in bed for an extra（额外的）hour before they go to school. Monkseaton High School has been allowing its pupils to come into school an hour later than other schools.

The headmaster, Dr Paul Kelley, says that this new way helps students pay more attention to their lessons in class. He feels that young people are more energetic and can perform better for the rest of the day. And he adds that for their school students, a late start at school may be better than an early one.

Dr. Kelley tells the BBC that teenagers don't perform very well in the morning and their need to sleep is biological（生物的）.

It seems that this new approach to teaching shows positive（乐观的） results. The number of students who sleep in class drops quickly. Besides, the school has already seen a drop in the number of pupils who play truant（逃学）by 27%. More importantly, Dr. Kelley also says that exam results have improved by 20%—30% over the past year.

Classes at Monkseaton High School begin at 10 a.m. and finish at 3:40 p.m. However, the school opens from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The students can come early and leave late if they want.

In recent years, some schools have begun to introduce meditation, or mindfulness training, into their classrooms. During mindfulness training, students may be asked to sit quietly and observe their own thoughts and feelings to avoid being controlled by them. Mindfulness training can help students overcome anxiety (焦虑), control their behavior, and improve their ability to pay attention in class. Students are expected to learn how to meditate in order to reduce stress and do better in their schoolwork.

Among schools that already teach meditation, the results have been positive. In one study, teachers reported that after five weeks of mindfulness practice, their students were more focused. They also participated more fully in class. A middle school in San Francisco reported that a student meditation program led to higher attendance rates and better grades. Another study suggested that meditation helped students perform better on tests by improving their working memory and reducing their anxiety.

Many supporters believe that meditation training programs can also help students overcome stress. For example, Headstand is a mindfulness education program designed to help students overcome anxiety. A study concluded that ninety-eight percent of participating students felt less stressed after they completed the Headstand program. In another study, researchers in New Haven, Connecticut, followed students who participated in meditation and yoga classes three times a week. They found that after each class, participants had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone (激素), in their bodies.

Despite the positive results seen so far, critics also point out that much of the current research is not rigorous(严谨的) enough. Associate Professor Tamar Mendelson agrees that research on meditation in children is still in its early stages. However, even she insists that she has seen the positive impact of meditation on children. Others express worries that meditation is not a valuable use of class time. But many disagree. Denise Pope, a professor from the Stanford University, says, “This is something teachers can do immediately. You get a lot of bang for your buck and anyone who is against it isn’t thinking clearly.” Indeed, additional studies will surely strengthen our understanding of the benefits of mindfulness.

Although still in its early stages, research shows that meditation can help students learn to deal with anxiety and stress. As an added bonus, students of mindfulness training also report better concentration and gains in their academic performances. Therefore, meditation should be a part of every student’s school day. Participating in “stillness” can be just as productive as other school-related activities.

How a Teacher Can Change Your Life

Smiling with satisfaction, Karin Anderson continued to conduct while dozens of students were playing their instruments, and Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony® fills the hall. The emotional (感情的) drama of conducting an orchestra (乐团) of teenagers is part of a typical day’s teaching for Karin. “Teaching is like surfing,” she says. “You have no idea what’s going to happen and there’s no guarantee (保证) that things will go according to plan. You have to be on guard at all times.” But the unpredictability of her students doesn’t make her job hard, she says. In fact, working with sometimes difficult teenagers, which she says might exhaust other teachers, is what keeps her coming back day after day.

Karin believes music lessons may have unexpected benefits. Research has found that they improve a child’s language development, and the reasoning skills extremely important to maths and science. “We can’t be sure if music really makes kids perform better academically, or if smarter students just naturally become involved with music anyway, but there might be a connection. Certainly, schools need something for those brighter students. It’s not so much giving them a release from studying hard, but more that they need to be stretched, and pushed in a different direction.”

But the benefits of music education are for everyone, not just the clever kids. Karin points out that there are strong connections between music and the motivation to learn, the ability to focus, and even someone’s confidence and tolerance.

Music can also help to create a positive, supportive learning environment, which Karin always tries to create in her orchestra. Being grouped by age, not ability, makes everyone new feel welcome and part of a family. “In school you’re very aware of social classes — the rich kids and the poor kids — and all the little groups that gossip all the time,” says orchestra member Laura Greene. “But in the orchestra, everyone is part of the group, and equally important. We’re all trying to improve together. We’ve all got unique talents.”

In Karin’s classroom, there are no awards decorating the walls. She says this might put the orchestra under pressure or make them worry about competition, though in fact the school has won many prizes, which she is clearly proud of. “What’s most important to me is that everyone works as a team,” she says. “It’s a magic moment when there’s absolute unity.”

Karin wants the orchestra to widen the horizons of everyone who joins. When some parents weren’t able to afford certain trips of the orchestra, Karin surprised everyone by organizing what she called “scholarships”, with the school paying part of the money to students who had been positive and cooperative. They weren’t awarded on the basis of who had a special gift for music.

In her office, Karin proudly displays a picture of another student. Karin says, “Thomas was smart, but he hated school, and he seemed cut off from his peers, alone in a world of his own. The orchestra made him come out of his shell.” After graduating, Thomas wrote to Karin, “I’m so grateful to you for allowing me to play the most beautiful music in the world, even though I never took it up professionally. I understand now that music educates the mind and the heart, and helps you to connect with others.”

©The Fifth Symphony was composed by Gustav Mahler and is one of his well-known works. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was an Austrian composer and conductor.