Nurturing Mindfulness in Education

Today I had the pleasure of watching a lecture by Dr. Mark Greenberg on Nurturing Mindfulness in Education (the video can be found here, and is well worth the watch!). The concept of mindfulness is one that has recently come to the forefront for educators, as we are realizing more and more that our students cannot be successful in all the ways we would wish, if they cannot attend to their lessons. Greenberg suspects that it is the “desperation of modern life” that has led to both the increased awareness of mindfulness in many members of society, as well as an increase in scientific research to determine the  effectiveness of strategies to increase said mindfulness. Any of us who read the news know that every day we are bombarded with the latest “research” - often contradictory - explaining why we should or should not engage in any given activity. In fact, we are often able to pick and choose our research to support any stance we wish to take! (Caffeine will accelerate bone loss in women...oh, no, wait...caffeine will make you live longer and reduce the risk of dementia! Pick your position; there’s research to back you up). However, if we are to be putting our time, efforts, and educational resources - not to mention children’s futures - on the line, we should be pretty sure that what we are doing is actually helpful! Thankfully, researchers are now doing just that.

In the video, Greenberg talks about the research he and others are currently engaged in, to increase mindfulness in both teachers and their students. Now, to be clear, mindfulness in this sense is not simply the peaceful meditation of a person unconcerned with the world. Rather, it is being wholly present in the moment, and more than that, being the very best of yourself that you can be in that moment. If you are listening, listen with all your heart and mind; if you are working or teaching or learning or thinking, focus your energies on your task without allowing distractions to disrupt your best. What a difference such a focus could make in our classrooms! And not just with kids; teachers are by nature multi-taskers, and as a result are rarely fully present in a conversation or collaborative effort. We know it’s true! There are always so many things waiting for us, and having them percolating in the back of our minds continually bumps our stress levels up to the breaking point. Greenberg’s research, while new, suggests that purposefully teaching teachers how to be mindful and present has a dramatic ability to help them calm. What a blissful idea! Calm teachers would take that extra moment to look in a student’s eyes before judging or yelling; a calm teacher would recognize the fear or anxiety lurking beneath that “defiance”; calm teachers would smile more, and connect more, and have the patience to listen to myriad little stories about a child’s day. Calm teachers could teach their students to be calm kids, by modeling and sharing and working at it together. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to effect this change in my own school, but I am certainly going to try!

It starts with hope. At the close of his lecture, Greenberg read a quote by Howard Zinn which is now going to be put on a poster and placed in a prominent spot in my classroom. His words fully encapsulate how I feel about the world and about teaching: What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we want good things to happen, let’s look for the good! Let’s celebrate the good that we see all around us! If we want our students and ourselves to be mindful and “our best selves”, then let’s celebrate all of the times that we are, and strive for more! There is always hope, and it is always in our hands.

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Howard Zinn