The Pennsylvania State University

1. The Pennsylvania State University Nurturing Teacher Mindfulness to Create a Caring ClassroomElaine Berrena & Mark GreenbergManchester June 2011

2. Good Morning!

3. Setting Intention

4. Mindfulness Projects • Mindfulness and Teaching – CARE • Mindfulness and Parenting • Mindfulness Programs for Children and Youth

5. PEACE Promoting Empathy Awareness and Compassion in Education Mindfulness and Teaching - CARE Mindfulness and Parenting Mindfulness Programs for Children and Youth

6. 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

7. 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 Tutu From Educating the Heart (Vancouver 2006)

8. 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

9. 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

10. What is Interpersonal Mindfulness?(Teachers/Parents – Duncan, Coatsworth, Jennings, Greenberg) • Listening with full attention tochildren and colleagues • Present-centered awareness of emotions experienced by self and students during interactions • Openness and non-judgmental acceptance andreceptivity 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

11. Are Mindfulness and Practices the Same Thing? Mindfulness Practices Meditation Yoga Martial Arts Service Learning

12. Three Components of Change?

13. Model of Skills Development in Context Self Awareness and Generalized Use of Skills in Contexts Skilled Practice??? Changing Habits of Thought and Behavior Context That Supports/Nurtures New Thoughts and Behaviors

14. Mindfulness in TeachingCARECultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education

15. 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

16. The Teaching Tree

17. The Teaching Tree Technique Curricula Classroom Presence Inner Resources

18. CAREIntervention Aims • Improve Teachers’ Well-being • Increase • Mindfulness • Positive affect • Efficacy • Decrease • Burnout • Negative affect

19. 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

21. Self-AwarenessBody Scan

22. Mindfulness in Parenting

23. 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:

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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”

28. 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

29. Overall Mindful Parenting

30. Maternal Well-being

32. 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

33. 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