Mindful Social Studies: Frameworks for Social Emotional Learning and Critically Engaged Citizens situates the field of social studies education as uniquely poised to integrate anti-racist, equity, and asset-based pedagogies with contemplative, mindfulness-based strategies to promote the knowledge, skills, and dispositions students need to be effective citizens. Students’ Social Emotional Learning (SEL) hinges upon their experience(s) engaging in authentic learning that strengthens cognitive skills, including critical thinking, self-awareness, reflection, compassion, empathy, and perspective taking. In this volume, the co-editors have curated reflective K-16 practitioner-style, research-focused, and theory-based chapters that explore social justice-orientated contemplative pedagogies, as well as mindfulness-related frameworks and strategies for teaching social studies and the social and behavioral sciences. In this book, chapter authors explore ways of cultivating specific mindfulness-related social studies dispositions and transformative rationales and approaches for critical mindfulness and SEL based on compelling arguments for meeting the needs of students, families, and educators in a dynamic and increasingly diverse society.
Where are we now? Where are we going? : preparing our students for an uncertain future / Patricia A. Jennings, Anthony A. DeMauro, and Polina P. Mischenko -- A selective review of mindfulness training programs for children and adolescents in school settings / Rebecca N. Baelen, Michael V. Esposito, and Brian M. Galla -- Turn and listen : strengthening compassion and leadership in the adult community in schools / Pamela Seigle, Chip Wood, and Lisa Sankowski -- Modeling mindfulness : principal leadership and development for personal and organizational growth / Eleanor Drago-Severson and Jessica Blum-DeStefano -- Embodied teacher mindfulness in the classroom : the calm, clear, kind framework / Cynthia Taylor, Patricia A. Jennings, Alexis Harris, Deborah L. Schussler, and Robert W. Roeser -- Cultivating passion for practicing and teaching mindfulness : a multiple-case study of compassionate school project teachers / Polina P. Mischenko and Patricia A. Jennings -- The school counselor : change agent and collaborator for holistic student well-being / Rebecca L. Tadlock-Marlo and Meghan Damler -- Creating mindful and compassionate schools : including parents as partners / J. Douglas Coatsworth, Melissa Ward George, and Aimee Kleisner Walker -- Finding peace in chaos : mindfully prepared public school teachers / Richard C. Brown and Elizabeth Grassi -- Being in school transformation : toward equity and social justice / Velma L. Cobb.
This innovative introduction to research in the social sciences guides students and new researchers through the maze of research traditions, cultures of inquiry and epistemological frameworks. It introduces the underlying logic of ten cultures of inquiry: ethnography; quantitative behavioral science; phenomenology; action research; hermeneutics; evaluation research; feminist research; critical social science; historical-comparative research; and theoretical research. It clarifies conceptual and intellectual traditions in research, and puts researchers firmly in the investigative saddle - able to choose, justify, and explain the intellectual framework and personal rationale of their research.
A new educational paradigm for youth mindfulness. “If you are a teacher, or an educator, or involved in school administration and curriculum development, the book you hold in your hands has the potential to transform your life, the lives of your students, and the life of the school itself, as well as education in America.”—Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, from the Foreword With attention spans waning and stress on the rise, many teachers are looking for new ways to help students concentrate, learn, and thrive. The Way of Mindful Education is a practical guide for cultivating attention, compassion, and well-being not only in these students, but also in teachers themselves. Packed with lesson plans, exercises, and considerations for specific age groups and students with special needs, this working manual demonstrates the real world application of mindfulness practices in K-12 classrooms. Part I, Why Mindful Education Matters, explains what mindfulness is, the science behind its benefits for students and educators, and the inspiring work that is already underway in the Mindful Education movement. In Part II, Begin with Yourself, we are reminded that in order to teach mindfully, we need to be mindful. Here teachers will learn the when, where, and how of mindfulness so they can effectively embody its practices with their students. Mindfulness practices offer teachers self-care and attention skills that prepare them to teach with greater energy and mastery. Discover how simple exercises can help manage stress, focus attention, develop compassion, and savor positive experiences in everyday life. Part III, Cultivating a Mindful Classroom, explores the qualities of a mindful teacher, the ingredients of a mindful learning environment, and helpful skills for appropriate, supportive work with cultural diversity, student stress and trauma, and varying age groups and developmental stages. Finally, in Part IV, Mindful Education Curriculum, we learn eighteen ready-to-use mindfulness lessons for use in schools. These practical exercises, designed to foster skills like embodiment, attention, heartfulness, and interconnectedness, can be readily adapted for any age group and population, and the author draws from his extensive personal experience to offer a wealth of tips for introducing them to students in real-time. Decades of research indicate the impressive benefits of mindfulness in social, emotional, and cognitive development, and as an antidote to emotional dysregulation, attention deficits, and social difficulties. This book invites teachers, administrators, and anyone else involved in education to take advantage of this vital tool and become purveyors of a mindful, compassionate, ethical, and effective way of teaching.
Mindfulness can be used in the classroom as a method to increase overall teacher effectiveness, raise student achievement, and reignite the joy of teaching and learning. Mindfulness in the Classroom introduces eight mindful principles that support social and emotional learning for teachers and students in today's schools, leading to increased empathy, kindness, self-awareness, integrity, self-control, and honesty. The book provides an introduction and theoretical overview of mindfulness, followed by a discussion of the eight mindful principles. Research-based evidence is presented alongside differentiated teaching activities and classroom examples, helping to bridge the gap from theory to practice. Larger implications for schools and society are also discussed, including a call to use these principles to teach the whole child. Mindfulness in the Classroom offers teachers and students a guide for the journey back to the heart of teaching and learning.
WINNER 2016 Grawemeyer Award in Education Helping students develop their ability to deliberate political questions is an essential component of democratic education, but introducing political issues into the classroom is pedagogically challenging and raises ethical dilemmas for teachers. Diana E. Hess and Paula McAvoy argue that teachers will make better professional judgments about these issues if they aim toward creating "political classrooms," which engage students in deliberations about questions that ask, "How should we live together?" Based on the findings from a large, mixed-method study about discussions of political issues within high school classrooms, The Political Classroom presents in-depth and engaging cases of teacher practice. Paying particular attention to how political polarization and social inequality affect classroom dynamics, Hess and McAvoy promote a coherent plan for providing students with a nonpartisan political education and for improving the quality of classroom deliberations.
Build a thriving school community that creates healthy, resilient, and successful students. A companion to Mindfulness Practices, this research-backed guide outlines how to teach self-regulation by fostering the five Cs of social-emotional learning and mindfulness: consciousness, compassion, confidence, courage, and community. The authors provide a wealth of practical exercises, strategies, and tools to bring this scientifically proven approach to life across grade levels and subject areas. Use this resource to foster the well-being of every learner: Benefit from exercises that infuse social-emotional concepts and 21st century skills into academic curriculum across subjects and grade levels. Discover ideas for incorporating historical examples of consciousness, compassion, confidence, courage, and community into classwork. Learn ways to assess the five Cs elements, including the research-based S-CCATE tool, to provide evidence for what might seem unquantifiable. Become familiar with different ways educators have implemented Heart Centered LearningTM in the real world. Work with numerous activities and mindsets that foster a mixture of vulnerability and strength and ameliorate trauma. Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: Heart Centered Learning Chapter 2: Heart Physiology and Heart-Mind Connections Chapter 3: Consciousness Chapter 4: Compassion Chapter 5: Confidence Chapter 6: Courage Chapter 7: Community Chapter 8: Conscious Leadership Epilogue: Taking Heart, Having Heart—Looking to Our Future Appendix: S-CCATE—A Visioning and Assessment Tool to Create Heart Centered Communities References and Resources Index
This practice-focused resource integrates broad therapeutic knowledge with current neuroscience to present vast possibilities for mindfulness in clinical social work. Seasoned practitioners posit mindfulness practice and process as a significant bridge between taking care of self and taking care of others, demonstrating its implications for physical and mental health in personal and professional contexts. Case studies show timeless concepts (e.g., acceptance) and new mindfulness-based ideas (e.g., learned helpfulness) in use in individual treatment as well as couples counseling and group interventions. Also attesting to the utility of mindfulness across problems, settings, and practitioner orientations, diverse applications are organized along ten robust lenses, among them: • Beginning with the context: the mind-body conundrum.• Beginning with the body: the neurobiology of mindfulness.• Beginning with the training: training clinicians in essential methods for integrating mindfulness in clinical practice.• Beginning with the clients: mindfully reconciling opposites with survivors of trauma/complex traumatic stress disorders.• Beginning with the symptom: incorporating mindfulness in the treatment of substance misuse. • Beginning with the larger social system: mindfulness and restorative justice. Clinicians and research professionals particularly interested in psychotherapy treatment and mindfulness practice will find Cultivating Mindfulness in Clinical Social Work not only stimulating and intriguing, but also a fresh source of real-world wisdom.
Why should mindfulness and meditation be taught at universities? What impact could the establishment of such programs have on students and on the education system itself? Andreas de Bruin showcases the remarkable results of the first ten years of the Munich Model »Mindfulness and Meditation in a University Context« - a program started in the year 2010 in which 2000 students have already participated. Through meditation-journal entries featured in the book, students describe the effects of mindfulness and meditation on their studies and in their daily lives. In addition to an overview of cutting-edge research into mindfulness and meditation, along with in-depth analyses and explanations of key terms, the book also contains numerous practical exercises with instructions.
Mindfulness has gone mainstream, and author Deborah Schoeberlein pioneers its practical application in education. By showing teachers how to tune into what's happening, inside and around them, she offers fresh, straightforward approaches to training attention and generating caring both in and outside of the classroom. Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness emphasizes how the teacher's personal familiarity with mindfulness plants the seed for an education infused with attention, awareness, kindness, empathy, compassion, and gratitude. The book follows a teacher from morning to night on a typical school day, at home, during the commute, and before, during, and after class. This book is perfect for teachers of all kinds: schoolteachers, religious educators, coaches, parents-anyone who teaches anything.
