Mindfulness and Critical Friendship

Mindfulness and Critical Friendship
Author: Karen Ragoonaden
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2016-06-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1498529585

Mindfulness and Critical Friendship: A New Perspective on Professional Development for Educators assembles an international community of scholar-practitioners from multiple disciplines who utilize different methodologies and ideological perspectives to reflect on and interrogate contexts that situate mindfulness and critical friendship as constructs which support professional development for educators. Mindfulness and critical friendship connect critically and creatively like-minded colleagues and enable the facilitation and promotion of transformative pedagogy and practice. Supported by a robust set of evidence-based research, the contributors to this collection consider the ways in which educators can develop habits of mind and courses of action which will support them as they cultivate their ability to thrive and cope with the modern demands of their personal and professional lives. This edited collection is recommended for educators of all disciplines and for scholars of education, social science, and psychology.

Compassionate Critical Thinking

Compassionate Critical Thinking
Author: Ira Rabois
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2016-10-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1475828837

Teachers can’t add more minutes to a school day, but with mindfulness they can add depth to the moments they do have with students in their classroom. Compassionate Critical Thinking demonstrates how to use mindfulness with instructional effectiveness to increase student participation and decrease classroom stress, and it turns the act of teaching into a transformational practice. Many books teach mindfulness, but few provide a model for teaching critical thinking and integrating it across the curriculum. The purpose of this book is to show teachers how to create a classroom culture of compassionate critical thinking. When students feel a lack of meaning and purpose in their school lives, they resist learning. Using a Socratic style of inquiry, Rabois changes the classroom dynamic to encourage self-reflection, insight, and empathy. Vignettes capture dialogue between teacher and students to illustrate how mindfulness practices elicit essential questions which stimulate inquiry and direct discovery. What bigger mystery is there, what more interesting and relevant story, than the story of one’s own mind and heart and how they relate us to the world?

Radical Friendship

Radical Friendship
Author: Kate Johnson
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2021-08-24
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0834843242

A case for friendship as a radical practice of love, courage, and trust, and seven strategies that pave the way for profound social change. Grounded in the Buddha’s teachings on spiritual friendship, Radical Friendship shares seven strategies to help us embody our deepest values in all of our relationships. Drawing on her experiences as a leading meditation teacher, as well as personal stories of growing up multiracial in a racist world, Kate Johnson brings a fresh take on time-honored wisdom to help us connect more authentically with ourselves, with our friends and family, and within our communities. The divides we experience within us and between us are not only a threat to our physical and emotional health—they are also the weapons and the outcomes of structural oppression. But through wise relationships, it is possible to transform the barriers created by societal injustice. Johnson leads us on a journey to becoming better friends by offering ways to show up for our own and each other’s liberation at every stage of a relationship. Each chapter ends with a meditation or reflection practice to help readers cultivate vibrant, harmonious, revolutionary friendships. Radical Friendship offers a path of depth and hope and shows us the importance of working toward collective wellbeing, one relationship at a time.

Cultivating Professional Development Through Critical Friendship and Reflective Practice: Cases From Japan

Cultivating Professional Development Through Critical Friendship and Reflective Practice: Cases From Japan
Author: Adrianne Verla Uchida
Publisher: Candlin & Mynard
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2023-11-16
Genre: Education
ISBN:

Cultivating Professional Development through Critical Friendship and Reflective Practice: Cases from Japan, edited by Adrianne Verla Uchida and Jennie Roloff Rothman, shows us an innovative bottom-up approach to professional development for educators. A critical friendship is where “two teachers come together willingly to explore facets of their development as decided by the friends” (Farrell, Foreword). These individuals might be colleagues, close friends or acquaintances who are an “invaluable, integral aspect of your personal growth as a professional” (Verla Uchida & Roloff-Rothman, Introduction). This volume enhances our knowledge of reflective practice and makes a valuable contribution to the field. The editors and contributing authors show how reflective practice can foster critical friendships as a means of professional development for educators The book consists of 11 chapters, organized into three parts, based on the type of critical friendship: intra-institutional friendships (those at the same institution), inter-institutional friendships (cross-institutional friendships), and those extra-institutional friendships (friendships that evolved beyond institutions). The editors draw on Farrell’s (2019) six reflective principles to examine how the critical friendship framework possesses a flexibility that fosters meaningful and supportive professional relationships. Although the chapters detail critical friendships in Japan, the themes are equally relevant for educators elsewhere. The context-specific and detailed documentation of the contributors’ stories makes the volume a valuable and inspiring resource for any educator. The volume will undoubtably prompt readers to nurture and reflect on their own critical friendships.

A Mindful Teaching Community

A Mindful Teaching Community
Author: Kelly Hanson
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1498558852

A Mindful Teaching Community: Possibilities for Teacher Professional Learningdescribes a grassroots professional learning journey wherein a group of practicing classroom teachers researches their teaching practices and the role of mindfulness in their learning. Using a mix of methods, this book illustrates how the storiesof an educator can be uncovered, investigated, and transformed through practicing mindfulness within a community. Through the stories told in this collection the teachers learn to see greater connections between their individual ways of thinking, their actions, and the greater system they live and work in. The storied inquiry of the educators offers unique possibilities for teachers’ professional learning.

Understanding a Pedagogy of Teacher Education

Understanding a Pedagogy of Teacher Education
Author: Brandon M. Butler
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2024-04-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1040023355

Providing readers with insights and examples of how teacher educators learn and teach a pedagogy of teacher education (PTE), Butler and Bullock organize a wholistic and practical resource for the next generation of teacher educators. Expanding on the highly referenced scholarship of John Loughran and Tom Russell, Understanding a Pedagogy of Teacher Education explores the learning of PTE through individual and collaborative endeavors, and large-scale institutional and cross-national initiatives. Contributors highlight their experiences teaching PTE in formal learning spaces, in international workshop settings, and on the program-wide scale in order to uncover how they came to understand PTE and enact it effectively. Each chapter connects broad strokes concepts of PTE to well-defined teacher education fields, such as social justice, literacy, early childhood education, and communities of practice. Blending well- established theory with contemporary examples, this book is a great tool for teacher education faculty, doctoral students, and those interested in improving their PTE or supporting others in their PTE learning.

The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens

The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens
Author: Karen Bluth
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2017-12-01
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN: 1626259860

Your teen years are a time of change, growth, and—all too often—psychological struggle. To make matters worse, you are often your own worst critic. The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens offers valuable tools based in mindfulness and self-compassion to help you overcome self-judgment and self-criticism, cultivate compassion toward yourself and others, and embrace who you really are. As a teen, you’re going through major changes—both physically and mentally. These changes can have a dramatic effect on how you perceive, understand, and interpret the world around you, leaving you feeling stressed and anxious. Additionally, you may also find yourself comparing yourself to others—whether its friends, classmates, or celebrities and models. And all of this comparison can leave you feeling like you just aren’t enough. So, how can you move past feelings of stress and insecurity and start living the life you really want? Written by psychologist Karen Bluth and based on practices adapted from Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer’s Mindful Self-Compassion program, this workbook offers fun and tactile exercises grounded in mindfulness and self-compassion to help you cope more effectively with the ongoing challenges of day-to-day life. You’ll learn how to be present with difficult emotions, and respond to these emotions with greater kindness and self-care. By practicing these activities and meditations, you’ll learn specific tools to help you navigate the emotional ups and downs of the teen years with greater ease. Life is imperfect—and so are we. But if you’re ready to move past self-criticism and self-judgment and embrace your unique self, this compassionate guide will light the way.

Breath Friends Forever

Breath Friends Forever
Author: Laurie Grossman
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2018-09-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1684031702

From the creators of the hugely successful Master of Mindfulness, this charming children’s book for readers ages 4 to 7 tells the story of Nessa and Leo’s friendship, and how mindfulness helps them deal with strong emotions such as fear, shyness, and anger. In Breath Friends Forever, best friends Nessa and Leo share their daily struggles—such as going to the doctor or being told “no” by their parents—as well as powerful mindfulness tips for dealing with big feelings like fear and frustration. Written and illustrated by a diverse group of kindergarten and fourth graders from Reach Academy in Oakland, California and designed by Angelina Manriquez, this fun and engaging book helps young readers learn how to be present in the moment and manage stress in their daily lives. Through story and images, children will learn the shark fin technique—a powerful and effective tool for fighting stress—as well as the thumb technique, which will help them deal with moments of extreme stress or anger in the moment, when they may not have a lot of time to react or process things. Kids will also learn important emotion regulation skills that will help them thrive, well on into their adult years. Early childhood is a critical time for brain development, and learning skills for managing emotions and stress early on can set kids up for a lifetime of success. Evidence now shows that age-appropriate mindfulness practices support brain development in ways that promote positive social and emotional learning, increase school readiness, improve self-esteem, and can even help manage behavior issues. In addition to delighting children, this fun and unique book is a great resource for parents, teachers, early childhood educators, mental health professionals, and health care providers who use mindfulness practices with younger children.

Mindful Alignment

Mindful Alignment
Author: Sabre Cherkowski
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2018-03-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1498570798

Mindful Alignment: Foundations of Educator Flourishing develops a foundation for educators to flourish by promoting self-awareness as a mindful approach to ongoing professional inquiry. It presents three mindful arts—the art of well-being; the art of positive relationships; and the art of living from strengths, passions, and purposes—detailing several practices that, when executed over time, can provide a focus for developing mindful alignment. The authors present an approach to personal, professional learning that encourages educators to slow down, create space to notice, and then nurture their intentions and actions toward fulfilling their purposes and passions, in order to grow a sense of flourishing at work and overcome the challenges presented by teaching in ever increasingly fast-paced, rapidly-changing, accountability-driven professional environments.

Self-Study of Language and Literacy Teacher Education Practices

Self-Study of Language and Literacy Teacher Education Practices
Author: Judy Sharkey
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2018-08-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1787545385

Self-Study in Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) contribute to teacher education in culturally and linguistically diverse communities and contexts. The chapters reflect the scholarly inquiry of teacher educators dedicated to investigating and improving their practice.