Riverdale educator publishes mindfulness journal to help children build emotional resilience

After more than a decade teaching in New York City classrooms, educator Mariely Guzmán has learned that some of the most important moments of the school day happen before the first lesson begins. Some students arrive carrying worries about friendships and family or struggle to settle into the classroom after a difficult morning, she said.

Before students can focus on multiplication tables or reading comprehension, Guzmán believes many simply need time to regulate their emotions. That philosophy is one the Riverdale resident carried throughout her teaching career and ultimately inspired “Put it on Paper,” a guided mindfulness journal she self-published in April to encourage children to slow down through writing, drawing and guided reflection.

Developed over nearly three years, the journal is designed to help children process their thoughts, practice self-awareness and build healthy emotional habits outside the demands of schoolwork.

“I kept asking myself, ‘What is something that I would want my students to have and use that would actually be helpful to them?’” Guzmán said. “I wanted to create something that could actually help kids.”

For the 33-year-old, the project grew naturally from her own classroom philosophy.

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Harlem, Guzmán earned degrees in psychology, child and family studies, and inclusive special education before beginning her teaching career in 2015.

She recently spent several years teaching middle and elementary school mathematics before returning this fall to the KIPP charter school network, where she previously taught for five years. She moved to Riverdale in 2019 after searching for a neighborhood that offered easy access to nature while remaining close to Manhattan schools.

Throughout her career, Guzmán has taught in inclusive classrooms, where students with disabilities learn alongside their peers. She said the school day often begins not with academics, but with helping students settle in and checking in throughout the day.

For students who need to take a beat, she may guide them to a calm-down corner, offer sensory tools or hold a brief one-on-one “minute meeting” to ask how they’re doing outside of schoolwork. Guzmán said those conversations help students regulate their emotions before returning to instruction and have become just as important to learning as the lessons themselves.

Those daily interactions became the foundation for “Put it on Paper,” a book aimed at children of all ages and abilities.

“I feel like it is important for every child and not just students with disabilities, not just students with anxiety or dysregulation,” Guzmán said. “We all need a moment to pause.”

Rather than creating a traditional diary with dated entries, Guzmán organized the journal around the four seasons, encouraging children to pick it up whenever they need it instead of feeling obligated to write every day. The pages include inspirational quotes, reflection prompts, breathing exercises and blank spaces where children can write, sketch or doodle.

She said she intentionally left room for artwork because not every child processes emotions through words alone. Some children, she said, are more comfortable expressing themselves visually, while others may simply want a quiet place to collect their thoughts.

“I found myself telling my students, ‘Put it on paper,’” Guzmán said. “We have so much in our heads, and nowadays everything is ‘scroll, scroll, scroll.’ We don’t have a moment to just put it on paper.”

Although technology is not the journal’s central focus, Guzmán said growing up in an increasingly digital world has changed many children’s daily experiences, both inside and outside the classroom.

She has watched social media become increasingly intertwined with friendships and conflict, while the expectation of constant stimulation has made quiet moments less familiar for many students.

“I think what has changed is social media and the influence that it has on peer-to-peer relationships and bullying,” Guzmán said. “It’s just so active in our children’s lives.”

Since the journal’s publication, Guzmán has received photos and videos from parents, friends and fellow educators showing children filling its pages. One teacher shared a drawing from a student responding to a prompt about future dreams, while another family told her the journal had become part of their child’s regular routine.

For Guzmán, those responses have reinforced the purpose behind the project. She said the journal is not meant to replace conversations between children and trusted adults but to create another opportunity for those conversations to begin.

“I feel like parents can also connect with their kids about certain things that they don’t necessarily talk about,” Guzmán said. “It’s an opportunity for kids to think about themselves, go inward.”

As she prepares to return to the classroom this fall, Guzmán hopes “Put it on Paper” will become another resource teachers and families can use to support their children.