Nurturing Teacher Mindfulness to Create a Caring Classroom

Elaine Berrena & Mark GreenbergManchester June 2011

The Pennsylvania State University

Good Morning!

Setting Intention

Mindfulness Projects

•Mindfulness and Teaching – CARE

•Mindfulness and Parenting

•Mindfulness Programs for Children and Youth

PEACE Promoting Empathy Awareness and Compassion in Education

Mindfulness and Teaching - CARE

Mindfulness Programs for Children and Youth

Mindfulness and Parenting

Focus – What is the IT?(for now lets call it Mindfulness - apologies to all!)

• Qualities to Nurture in Children and Adults!• Calmness• Kindness/Compassion (Concept of Interdependence of

all things)• Clarity/Insight (Awareness/Reflectivity)

• What is an “Educated” Person (Thupten Jimpa)• be learned (sharpness of mind)• disciplined and posses the highest integrity• Is kind and compassionate

Concept of Ubuntu

This is the highest praise, to say you have ubuntu. “This is a person who recognizes that he exists only because others exist; a person is a person through other persons. When we say you have ubuntu, we mean that you are gentle, you are compassionate, you are hospitable, you want to share, and you care about the welfare of others. This is because my humanity is caught up with your humanity.

Bishop TutuFrom Educating the Heart (Vancouver 2006)

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Definitions of Mindfulness

• Mindfulness is: paying attention, in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment,

non-judgmentally. --Kabat-Zinn,1990

• Open-hearted, moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness --Kabat-Zinn, 2005

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The Concept of Mindfulness• Awareness of Internal Experiences–Cognitive• Thoughts• Attitudes & Beliefs

–Affective• Affective Awareness• Affective Experience

–Physical • Awareness of External Experiences–A way of engaging, being active in and

relating to the world

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What is Interpersonal Mindfulness?(Teachers/Parents – Duncan, Coatsworth, Jennings, Greenberg)

• Listening with full attention to children and colleagues

• Present-centered awareness of emotions experienced by self and students during interactions

• Openness and non-judgmental acceptance and receptivity to child’s thoughts and feelings

• Self-regulation in teaching - Low reactivity and low automaticity in reaction to normative child and adolescent behavior

• Awareness of and responsiveness to students’ individual needs – “teachable moments”

• Compassion for self and students

Are Mindfulness and Practices the Same Thing?

Mindfulness

PracticesMeditation

YogaMartial Arts

Service Learning

Three Components of Change?

DharmaWorld View

SanghaCommunityPractices

Model of Skills Development in Context

Skilled Practice???

Changing Habits of Thought and Behavior

Self Awareness and Generalized Use of Skills in Contexts

Context That Supports/Nurtures New Thoughts and Behaviors

Mindfulness in TeachingCARE

Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education

Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE)

• Extension of Cultivating Emotional Balance• Integrates emotion skills training and mindfulness-

based approaches to emotion regulation• Applies mindfulness to the WAY teachers

– Teach– Relate to students– Manage classrooms– Model prosocial behavior

• Initial trainings in Denver, Philadelphia and New York• Now working with teachers in Harrisburg area and

next year in this area of Central PA.• Yearly Facilitator Training at The Garrison Institute

The Teaching Tree

The Teaching Tree

Inner Resources

Classroom Presence

Technique

Curricula

CAREIntervention Aims

• Improve Teachers’ Well-being– Increase• Mindfulness• Positive affect• Efficacy

– Decrease• Burnout• Negative affect

CARE Training• Two 2-day sessions separated by 1 month of

application and coaching• Emotion awareness– Didactic lessons on emotion– Experiential exercises on emotion

• Mindfulness (basic and applied)• Empathy & Compassion for self and other– Caring practice– Deep listening

• Applications of these to teaching through discussion and role plays

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Self-AwarenessBody Scan

Mindfulness in Parenting

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• A parent, youth and family skills-building curriculum designed to:– Prevent teen substance abuse and

other behavior problems – Strengthen parenting skills– Build family strengths

• Originally called the Iowa Strengthening Families Program• Developed by Virginia Molgaard, Ph.D.• Evaluated by Richard Spoth, Ph.D. and others at the:

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SFP 10-14: Program Format

• 7 weekly sessions (plus 4 boosters)• Each session 2 hours in length– Begins with a dinner (recommended)

• Parents and youth meet separately first hour• Parent Session highly structured and Video

Guided• Families practice skills and have fun together

during the second hour

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Mindfulness and Family-based Prevention

• Extending Mindfulness to Parenting and Family/Parenting Interventions– Stress

• Extra-familial (Parent’s lives)• Family/Parenting stress• Relationship changes and tensions with adolescents

– Interrupting “Automatic” negative relationship patterns– Attention to Parent well-being– Application of skills in challenging situations

• No tests of Mindful Parenting interventions

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• New “Mindful Parenting” Activities – Based on our model (Duncan et al.) – Listening with Full Attention

• Goal: Teach Attention and Careful Listening skills to use in moment-to-moment parenting interactions – Short REFLECTION ACTIVITIES (start and end of sessions)– New Didactic/Interactive Activities

– Emotional Awareness of Self and Child• Goal: Teach parents to become more aware of their own

emotional states and the emotional states of their youth– Affective Awareness activities– Attention to low-level emotions– Reflections on interrelatedness of moods and attention to escalating

cycles

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• New “Mindful Parenting” Activities– Nonjudgmental Acceptance of Self and Child

• Goal: Help parents adopt an accepting, nonjudgmental attitude when interacting with their youth– Reflections/activities on attributions and expectations – Reflections/activities on parenting goals (child vs parent-centered)

– Self-Regulation in the Parenting Relationship• Goal: Build skills to regulate parental affect during interactions

with their youth– Reflections/activities bringing Attention to “Automatic Reactions” and

escalating emotions– Focus on “person specific situations”– Relaxation and Attention “Stop, Be Calm, Be Present”

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• New “Mindful Parenting” Activities– Compassion for Self and Child• Goal: Increase likelihood of parents’ adopting a stance

of empathy and compassion towards their children and themselves– Expand on “Love and Limits” – Reflections/activities to enhance empathic concern for youth

(difficulties of being an adolescent)– Reflections/activities identifying positive parenting and

avoiding harsh self-judgments

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Overall Mindful Parenting

Pre-test Post-test-0.750000000000001-0.500000000000001-0.250000000000001

-7.7715611723761E-160.2499999999999990.4999999999999990.7499999999999990.999999999999999

MSFP SFP Control

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Maternal Well-being

00.050.1

0.150.2

0.250.3

0.350.4

Mother Symptoms Global Mental Health

MSFP v.C MSFP v SFP

What Can Mindful Practices Do

• May Have Quite Different Outcomes Depending on the Practices (Breathing, Yoga, Compassion Focus, Attention Focus)

• May Depend on the Population• Having a clear theory of change is critical and

this needs to be contextualized

Suggestions• Short mindfulness practice first thing in the morning• Use breathing on your way to school• Set intention for the day in the car or walking into

school• Use breathing to address tension• Walking and standing mindfulness practice during

class• Bring mindfulness to everyday tasks• Form a group to practice mindfulness