'us'

I saw a quote several months ago and can’t remember the exact words, but it was something along the lines that when we identify ourselves (‘us’) through labels we commit violence, because by doing so, we, in turn, label others as ‘them’.

At first I was taken aback and dismissed it as a bit extreme. However, it was enough of a brain irritant that I have been pondering it ever since and grappling with how this person came to that viewpoint. I thought about it a lot this past week during the readings and discussions in class. Then I wondered if/how that may apply to how I label myself and the resulting impact on my relationships with others. I wondered what divisions or violence I create when I use…Female. Heterosexual. Married. 3 children. Lutheran. US citizen. Caucasian, not of Hispanic origin. 45-55. College educated. SpEd Teacher. Union president. Employed. Omnivore. Gay rights supporter.

In America’s nascent years, labels defined who had certain inalienable rights and who didn’t. By labeling those who had rights, the ones who didn’t match those labels fell into the ‘them’ category…one vote, 3/5 vote, or no vote at all. The violence committed: alienation from the system that was supposed to provide life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It stands to reason that the education system, serving as the ‘feeder program’ to full participation in society, may have been viewed very differently depending on the lenses a person’s birthright afforded her/him.

As a student I went to fully integrated schools since kindergarten. I saw the historical and legal transgressions as something from the past and not relevant to the present. I couldn’t wrap my head around the struggle for civil rights or the rise of organizations like NAACP, AIM, NOMAS, and others. It annoyed and scared me when riots broke out in my home town and the courthouse was vandalized. But then again, I also didn’t have a clue that my town had red-lined neighborhoods with differing curfews depending on the color of your skin while I was growing up. I was unaware that Aaron had grandparents at his home who were born into sharecropper families and worked as small children. Wright’s parents were held in a Japanese internment camp. Jonita’s parents went to a mission school in Montana and Jonita was in town living away from her birth family as part of a different mission program. These stories were revealed as we went to school together. At school, I had the benefit to see myself reflected in the teaching staff and the reading material and come home at the end of the day. I bought into this system that said “anything is possible”. It wasn’t a question for me. However, many of my classmates didn’t have the same benefit.

This systematic alienation through US history was driven home saliently for me, as a young adult, when I attended the 90^th birthday party for Isabel, a tribal elder. As we talked I learned that she liked the shirt I was wearing, that she had grandchildren I worked with, that she was 14 when Chief Joseph died, and that she remembered him walking around Nespelem. That conversation turned out to be an all-out challenge to any residual thinking I may have had about history as something disconnected to the present. On that day, Safeway birthday cake on plastic plates collided with tule mat houses and tepees, the US Calvary, and Nez Perce people trying to make their way to Canada. My world was rocked in a way it hadn’t been before…and opened up.

How does that relate to education today? Many students that are in the education system now, go home to families who were educated in a way that sold them and/or their loved ones incredibly short, sometimes for generations. The legacy of pain and alienation is very present and real. We have an opportunity in this.

I don’t believe our school system will ever get rid of categorizing people by gender, race, age, free & reduced lunch, or special needs. It is how we try to measure where we are succeeding and where we aren’t. But, if we can shift the ‘us v them’ paradigm to simply ‘us’, we might be able to create a system that can increase our success rate for all. I am not advocating a melting pot ‘us’. I believe that model strips away uniqueness and demands conformity at a high price.

As a teacher, I need to be authentic about who I am and aware of my own blind spots that my experiences bring to working with a diverse community of students and families. I need to make sure my materials reflect the students who are in the class, as well as expose them to different cultures and new ways of thinking about the world around them. I can’t do this with ‘drive-by’ culture lessons of Native Americans solely in relationship to Thanksgiving, African Americans during Black History Month, Mexican Americans during the week of Cinco de Mayo, or ‘Christmas around The World’. These methods usually present culture and diversity as separate from the rest of the curriculum…which just changes the way alienation is packaged. I believe diversity needs to be interwoven throughout the curriculum, in the staff, and a natural part of the educational conversation whenever possible to best serve students. The process and conversations surrounding diversity won’t always be easy if they are approached with honesty, but they are potentially very fruitful.

Will Schools Ever Get It Right?

On the book…

I must say that I am really enjoying this book and finding it extremely interesting.

As I was reading this week, I was surprised by the realization that debates in public education have been going on since it started. Some of the debates that I thought were relatively new have been going on for some time such as college prep vs. vocational training, whole language vs. phonics and teaching the whole child not just filling heads with information.  The realization was sort of freeing to me because I have a tendency to take criticism of public schools too personally.  I realized that we will never get it right! No matter what we do, there will be a group of people opposed to it, and public schools will forever be the scape goats. 

What matters, though, is that whichever  way the pendulum swings, there always have been and always will be many excellent teachers in the trenches who do the best they can every day to provide what students need academically, socially, and emotionally.

I was also moved by the fact that minorities were willing to sacrifice their lives and endanger their children to make things better for themselves and for future generations.  It must have been terrifying for a child to see the National Guard waiting to keep you out of school, and then have the army show up to get you in.  It took courage to say the least.

I loved the story of Julian Nava and his brother who wouldn’t take no for an answer, and look where it got him!  He showed that he was intelligent and capable of earning a doctorate degree from Harvard.

It’s interesting to me that conservatives call integration a “tragic failure.”  In my opinion the sacrifices that were made by minorities have made a tremendous difference, but there’s still work to be done.   Public education still isn’t equal for minorities in many areas.  Urban schools, which consist primarily of minority students are underfunded, run down, and don’t have quality teachers in many cases.

On contemplative pedagogy…

I love starting class with contemplation!   It helps me to de-stress, consciously focus on what I read (getting rid of the 10,000 other things I’m thinking about) and formulate my thoughts before I write.  In my classroom, when I give a writing assignment, I often have kids sit silently for a few minutes and think about what they want to write before they actually start writing.  It has cut down on the kids who say they have nothing to write about.  I like the idea of having them sit and contemplate what they read before a reading response, though, and think I will try that in the fall. 

I know that my mini-research project from the fall, the Take 5 activity (mindfulness), that I did with my class made a big difference in improving their self-control and attention spans.  The kids could see a difference as well.  Unfortunately as the year went on, I stopped making time for it and only did it sporadically because kids would ask to do it. I plan to try again in the fall with my new class.

Kim-Another viewpoint

     Progressive education shifted American education from “teach the basics” to “teach the whole child”.  If I were to ask thirty of my favorite educators which philosophy matches theirs, I assume that more than half would agree that “the “whole child” philosophy feels right.  I go home at the end of a hard day and I reflect on the social growth of my students, I mourn at the emotional scars that I see in their words, and  I  celebrate at the advances that they make in regards to building a sense of belonging and support within my class, the school and the community.

     This book and the blogs I have read suggest that we have become scapegoats to society and we should go back to the basics and society and the family should take responsibility for their child’s moral development, character integrity and social norms.  If I had been the ‘case study’ for this theory, and my parental upbringing was the only basis for my character development, I don’t think I would know any of you today. 

     It was because of my teachers that encouraged me, neighbors that nurtured me and families of my friends that took an active role in my social upbringing that I can now provide those same things to the students in my room. If I hadn’t been the teacher that believed in “the whole child” I would have missed the chance to watch Sammy play piano at three piano recitals sitting next to her great-grandfather, while her mother was locked up.  If I only taught the basics, I wouldn’t have attended the graduation of my first second grade class and got a front row seat at the auditorium filled with over eighteen hundred people. If I were only concerned about the basics, I may have missed the chance to intercept young girl’s cries for help in a nearly successful suicidal attempt this spring.

     Given the experience of twenty years with young students, and young parents, I see the demise that we are addressing here.  I see the breakdown of moral character in my young students and instead of blaming the parents or society for not providing it; I take the opportunity to educate the whole family.  I am not putting myself on a pedestal and preach that I do the right thing all the time, but I think we need to look again at the problem. 

     We need to encourage society and the powers-that-be to look at the development of the whole child: the physiological development, the emotional development and the cognitive development and put into place an entire structure that encourages a safe and trusting environment for children to become successful adults.

We have a long way to go.  The Department of Health and Human Services could work together with the Department of Education instead of separate to address this concern.  The Board of Education in each state could come together and create a Task Force to regulate and ensure an equal and respectful education for all public school children. The expertise in psychology and social work can come together and help to rebuild the moral character and social norms that many, my childhood included, didn’t have.The Department of Labor along side of the Department of Treasury could be a part of the solution instead of directing economic failures on the schools. This building of a utopia is far reaching, but one voice has now been heard by some.

    In closing, I believe that a healthy happy teacher is more successful for reaching unhealthy and hurt children.  If we take care of ourselves, through whatever means necessary, we can ensure that no child is left behind.

Mari_Social Responsibility vs School Responsibility

The quiet contemplation and breathing time in class is helpful to let the mind come to a clearing moment in which nothing matters but understanding that I have to take time for myself.  Contemplative moments like this make you realize that you are a human being and need to step outside of yourself, the craziness of life and the hecticness of getting a master’s degree.  I feel that this type of contemplative exercise will be more helpful as the summer progresses, stresses increase and writer’s block happens in my paper.  This is a chance to know what is real in my mind and if it is focusing on breathe, a particular data question or issue in schools- this will help me think more clearly and precisely on those topics. 

As the experienced cohort, we were given opportunities to work with mindfulness/contemplative practices within our classrooms last fall; and much like the individuals in our current classes, contemplative education was received in different ways.  In my school, it was seen as a hippie movement that offended students and I could not call it “mindfulness” within my classroom.  After the first experience the students didn’t want to do it again, I made them try it two more times before changing paths all together.  The resistance students had towards contemplative was mirrored within the adult community I teach in.  It was hard for me to accept this idea because I too thought it was not my job or a waste of valuable instruction time.  Lots of things have changed since that mini action research project.  My goal was to be more contemplative in my personal life so that at the start of this school year I could again introduce students to the idea of being calm and reflective.  This personal contemplation has come in the way of writing, breathing, prayer and just quiet time for me.  This is not something everyone believes in and that is okay, it is something that is good for kids though.  My students were not receptive to mindful breathing or quiet moments so instead I replaced it with stress balls during tests, something to focus their negative energy and world problems on.  This was a great success.  While I am still hesitant on the use of mindfulness school wide, I know personally it is helping.

To talk about the Schools book, I want to focus on the one section which really got me thinking.  I LOVE this book.  Maybe it is truly the history nerd in me, maybe it is just the resound appreciation I have for education system or very much a combination of both but this is a book that I will photocopy (and break copyright ;))  in order to give my students the opportunity to engage in worthwhile discussions of such depth that we are experiencing in our own classes.

The issue that has stayed in my mind was the issue of schools as substitute families.  Schools are now responsible for feeding, character education, moral education and teaching common sense.  All of which were taught by parents in the past.  So why the change?  Why have schools begun to be this mechanism to replace families?  In the Common School era schools taught the 3 Rs, schools were there to teach content, democracy and introduce working skills.  Schools did not teach students to bathe, brush their teeth or the basic elements of right and wrong.  The question for me, as a social historian, is why did this societal shift occur? The Progressives encouraged the idea of holistic schooling, of teaching students what was needed to live and survive both today and in the future so that their entire self was prepared.  I don’t understand why society had to give up this basic responsibility.  Yes, families were working hard hours in poor circumstances but we, as a society, have been raising children for centuries and have found balance before- what makes American Schools and society so different that we are substituting our schools for the family structures of the past.  Today, schools feed children 2-3 meals per day, in some cases we supply basic hygiene supplies, clothing and the most necessary love and security.  These are all basic structures needed for centuries and families previously obliged, so what is different now? I think it is society that needs reformed… not school reform. Society has now dictated that in order for families to become wealthy there is no time left to “raise” kids and schools are now surrogate parents.  Is this bad? For some kids no, but there is a desire for schools to teach academics and electives not “how to bathe, eat right, and survive day to day”.  So what matters here? Is it that schools want to be surrogate families or that society expects it? If schools naturally took this responsibility on then there is no problem because it was a need addressed by schools, but if this is a shift that society doesn’t want responsibility any more, then that needs to be looked at.  There are so many bad things in society today and schools cannot fix them all.  Don’t put the burden on schools to fix everything that is wrong- find a way to give some responsibility back to society.  Historically, there are societal and family norms.  These norms changed at each of the great historical moments as well as the transition in school history outlined in the Schools book.  I can go on about what norms have transferred and the effect historically on society and families but that is not my point.  My point is that a transfer occurred without a dynamic rationale, a transfer of more than just social norms but social responsibility.

When Everyting Old is New Again

 

            I really enjoyed the reading and discussion this week; however it all sounded eerily familiar.  While administrative practices and theories have come and gone and come again, have good teaching practices really changed that much?  There is always going to be a boogie man out there and we teacher keep doing what we do. During the industrial revolution we couldn’t keep up with Britton and Germany. During the Cold War we couldn’t beat the Soviets into space. Today we are losing the technology war to China and India. Wrong on all three counts, politicians and industrial leaders just needed and continue to need someone to blame and the schools are convenient scapegoat.  As Matt pointed out in class, just a few short years after Sputnik the United States put men on the moon. That wasn’t accomplished because of the National Defense Education Act. It was accomplished by men who started school while space travel was just a dream. Just like today, their teachers had to prepare them for jobs that didn’t even exist. Could Neil Armstrong have taken that one giant leap without his teachers?  I had the opportunity to attend the Northwest Educational Technology Conference this past year. One of the speakers informed us that the United States filed more that 4,000 patents in 2012.  The Chinese only filed 44.  I really think politicians manufacture these crises in education just so they can have something to bloviate about. Hope you don’t mind me stealing a phrase from Bill O’Reilly. Just imagine a reporter asking a candidate where they stand on the situation with the U.S. education crisis. The candidate responds, “I think the United States has the finest system of education in the world”. Can you say unelectable?

            I’ve decided that I’m going to stop feeling beat-up by what is said in the media about education.

            We have made great strides in providing equal access to education for all, however, there seems to be one segment of our population where separate but equal is still the rule. I’m talking about students with disabilities or even an apparent lack of ability.  Yes, there is a difference between having a disability and not having the ability. As I reflect on my own time in elementary school I remember the day in 1^st grade when our school principal came to each class to tell us that the words Negro or colored would no longer be used. Instead we would say black or Afro-American. This would have been a year before school bussing started in Omaha. I’ve found myself having those exact conversations with teachers and students lately only the words have been Autistic, or he’s Down’s , or this one (and it really twists my guts to even type it) retarded or retard. I had a parent recently defend her son’s right to call another student retard because, “retard is in the dictionary”. I thought my principal handled it well when she pointed out that the “N” word is also in the dictionary.  That day in 1971 when Mr. Pederson told us we had to stop using colored when referring to black students I was very confused as a 1^st grader, but it was the response of parents and teachers that stuck with me. There were crossed arms, huffs and tisks, and much rolling of eyes. The same response I get when I talk about using people first language. A couple of years ago I pointed out to a teacher that Johnny (not student’s real name) is not Autistic, he is a student in your 4^th grade class who has Autism.  Her response, “I guess I’m just not that PC”. The more things change the more they stay the same.    

Week One

There were many little things, which seemed to catch my attention and kept me engaged this week. As a Social Studies person I have never looked into the History of my profession other than the basics Title Nine, The Little Rick Nine, Brown vs. Board of Education, and the treatment of Native Americans.  Out of the things that engaged me I will just share the two that have made me wonder and think all week.

Something, which really struck a cord with me, is the forced celebration, in schools, of American Holidays.  My family came to America from Ireland escaping the British rule. After reading the piece which talks about Americanizing students by having them celebrate holidays such as Thanksgiving, I find myself wondering, “Why does my family celebrate Thanksgiving?’” and “When did we start celebrating this holiday?”  For some reason this really struck me and I wonder when did we stop being ourselves and become what those who were already Americanized wished us to be?

I also find it interesting today we aren’t allowed much leeway in our classes to celebrate holidays with our students.  Gosh, we may offend someone who believes something else.  In the past this is something we forced onto others or shared with them depending on viewpoints.  I know at my school I am not able to show the History Channel’s History of Halloween any more to my World History class due to the religious preference of two students in our school.  The video doesn’t glamorize Halloween it just shares and explains how we got to the holiday so many share today.  One student asked me this year, “Mrs. Wolf by being so sensitive to everyone’s needs are we becoming too sensitive?”  Interesting thought and one I do not have an answer too.

Something I still find myself coming back to was during the era of segregating the schools.  Until I was a parent I gave little thought to what it would mean to send your child into an arena where it will be violent, psychologically and physically and expect them to learn.  I grew up in an area with many different groups of people attending the same school.  Maybe this is why I have never given it much thought as well.  I cannot imagine what it was like to watch your child walk away and be one of the first students to segregate a school.  At some point I might find myself thinking I could educate my child at home better by keeping them close to me and safe. To be those students and to take steps into a school that is supposed to be a safe place and find nothing but hatred and violence toward you would be intimidating.   I have a friend who is African American and when it came to attending her local high school she decided being part of Running Start was going to be easier than attending a high school where she would be the only non Caucasian student.  She had spent junior high being teased and harassed. She felt she would get a better education by going elsewhere.  This was only ten years ago.  How far have we moved forward since the segregation of schools?

The Purpose of Education

My ideas this week are much, much too big for one little blog, but as my time is also limited, I am trying to focus on one question this week. What is the purpose of education? As I read about the history of education for the first time this week, I noticed that we seem to have many of the same arguments about education today that have been happening for generations. As David Tyack states in the introduction of our book “Schools are the most familiar of all civic institutions” As a society we expect school and education to be an integral part of childhood. And although we all seem to agree that education is important, we seem to disagree on the purpose of education which leads to endless debates of policy. So, what should be the goal for the students in the education system? There seems to be a multitude of ideas.

1)      Is the goal for school to be an equalizer? Should every person (not matter their social status) have the chance at an education that can open doors to a better life? I would answer absolutely, yes!  Horace Mann argued that school should be an equalizer, and I would agree that ideally, education should be the only key needed for social success. In reality, education can open some doors and help people improve their own lives; however, full social class transformation is rare.  Nor is fair and equitable education available to everyone just yet. The good news is we have made progress in this direction. Public education (although shown to not always be equitable) is available to everyone. And, we have made great progress in the percentages of high school graduates and even though we have a long way to go, more students of all ethnic and class groups are attending college and other post high school training. Education can not by itself be a solution to equality, but as society progresses so do our schools.

2)      Is the goal of education to be a platform for social change? It certainly has been, and to me this makes sense for two reasons. For one, school is one of the only places where children are exposed to ideas and ideals other than those in their home. Children are not only mold-able and adaptable; they are also naturally good and loving. As we saw in our book, children are not naturally prejudice. Children are naturally accepting, and we as a society teach them otherwise. If we want their future to be better, we need to reach them before those other societal forces have hardened and corrupted that natural acceptance. Also, school is central to our lives. It’s been proven throughout history that making changes in school really does affect the majority of society which makes it not only a natural platform but also a powerful one.

3)      Is the goal of education to prepare a workforce? Or Is the goal of education to prepare students for college?  I say YES!!! To both of these ideas. I think everyone should be a positive contributing member to society and one excellent way to do that is to have a good solid job. Most of the best jobs require post-secondary training, so ideally we want to provide children with the skills necessary to succeed in that learning environment.  We all have different skills and strengths however and college is not the ideal environment for everyone. This is why some students need to leave high school with the work skills they need to immediately get a job and the life skills necessary to function as a happy adult.  So we have to prepare both college students and a work force. And to make this even more difficult, because of the changing economy, we cannot even predict the exact skills and knowledge both types of students will need. So what is the answer? I think George hit it on the head in his blog when he said we need to teach, "work-transferable skills, including communication, teamwork, and perseverance (maybe we can even help them develop curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control" I truly believe that if people had these skills they could be trained for just about any line of work or success in college. I am hopeful for the future if we can teach those skills.

There are other ideas out there for the goals of education including finding and training our future leaders who may also add to the ideas of what school should be. In truth, I could write for pages about the purposes of schools. For me, school was a place where I learned what kind of adult I wanted to be and what kind of future I wanted to have, and that process took me along a path that provided social movement opportunity, exposed me to more enlightened social ideals than those with which my parents were raised, trained me to work hard, taught me a desire to strive for knowledge and higher learning, taught be how to get along with my peers and be part of a community, and even taught me to hone leadership skills. School must have a multitude of endless purposes because the purpose of every person going through our education system is different. It is a lot of pressure to think of all school is expected to be and do for our society, but it also gives me a love for my career that I know makes a positive difference in the lives of children, and especially when I acknowledge how far education has come, I have hope.  

On Contemplation and Bells...

I tried to post this in response to an earlier blog post...but it was too long for the comment box (I'm an academic, what did you expect?)  So, I am posting it here in the hopes that it will be read:

Of course, I would love to respond!  This type of thinking is exactly the attitude that I have run into in schools across Idaho…teachers and administrators who feel that merely “clearing your mind” or “contemplating” is somehow tied to Eastern religions.  Unfortunately, this is a common misconception.  Every religious tradition has some contemplative aspect whether it be called meditation, prayer, contemplation.  It is usually a practice that is designed to remove you from the day-to-day worries of your life and is supposed to be a reflective time to consider “how things are going”.  I think that the following illustration is a nice way of understanding the various “contemplative” traditions: http://spirituality.wsu.edu/dimensions-of-spirituality/equanimity/tree-of-contemplative-practices/ .  Contemplation/meditation is a natural human tendency/desire...it just happens to be used more frequently by religion.

If you look at the tree graphic, you will probably notice that there is a broad range of practices from the secular to the overtly religious...and many are Western.  Christianity has a strong contemplative tradition, and some of the earliest work in contemplative pedagogy was begun by Thomas Merton, a Trappist (Catholic) monk.  In fact, the contemplation and writing exercise that I have you do in class is modeled upon a traditional Christian monastic practice called “lectio divina” (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_Divina or http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/tree/lectiodivina ).  Granted, I have modified it to be a more silent practice without the verbal “response” or “prayer”…nevertheless, the idea of identifying a passage of text or an idea and contemplating, and then responding to it is uniquely Christian in origin.  Nevertheless, contemplation is not a religious thing….but it is used by religions as a mechanism to open the mind and expand awareness of our place in the world.  Unfortunately, education hasn't always been interested in "opening the mind" so we haven't been good about using contemplation in the classroom...too often Western education has been about cramming the mind full of objective facts and sterile knowledge rather than taking the time to make personal connections between the learner and what is learned.

Now, to the bell issue.  The fact that I use Tibetan tingsha in class is merely a coincidence and personal preference.   I use them because they are small and portable…I could just as easily use a larger handbell as is used in Christian monastic traditions.  In fact, I think the handbell has a much more resonant and lasting sound…but handbells are large and heavy to lug around.  The use of the bell is merely a signaling mechanism that allows the “facilitator” to participate and remain in the contemplative experience along with the rest of the group.  Every time the facilitator has to talk it takes them out of the contemplative experience.  Although I have not yet stopped talking in my facilitation of our in-class contemplative exercise, I am slowly moving us in that direction.  Nevertheless, if my use of the bell is an overt distraction that keeps members of the class from being able to focus, I am open to merely facilitating the process verbally. 

Churches have used bells for thousands of years to call people to worship, to mark the hours, to celebrate holidays, to mourn deaths, or to warn of danger.  The sound of the bell has a strong Western tradition of signaling that we need to stop what we are doing and pay attention to what we should be doing right here, right now.  According to a Lutheran history of the handbell, bells were steeped in superstition during the Middle Ages.  Bells were often baptized, and once baptized had the power to ward off evil spells and spirits.  Bells were hung in doorways to protect visitors and the visited from the evil spirits, which were believed to hang around doorways awaiting the chance to slip inside.  A visitor would ring the bell to drive the spirits away then pass inside - which is the likely origin of the present day doorbell.  This custom also led to the "passing bell" which was rung to drive away spirits who stood at the foot of a bed and about the house ready to seize a person's soul as he died.  The sound of consecrated bells was also believed to dispel thunder and lightning and to calm storms at sea for which demons were believed to be responsible.   Talk about mysticism!  

I think that you need to remember that bells are used throughout our society as cues to pay attention or to transition…for example, school houses used to be built with bells outside the door or an actual belltower to call students to class.  Most teachers also had small hand bells on their desks to call the class to order or to signal a transition between activities (that is why engraved handbells are still a traditional gift or award for educators…see here for just one example: http://giftsforeducators.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13 ).   Bells are still used in schools to signal transition times between periods, recess, lunch, or the beginning/end of the day.   Part of this is a holdover from when schools used to be held in churches.  The unfortunate assumption that bells are uniquely “Eastern” shows just how much we have forgotten about our Western religious history and how much we have learned to tune out the various “bells” that still measure out each and every school day.  In fact many schools take tremendous pride in their school bells (see: http://www.stauntonschools.org/History_of_the_Staunton_School_Bell.pdf or http://www.prideofscotts.org/Bell%20Story.htm or http://ohiosmalltownmuseum.org/bell.htm) Personally, I think the tingsha are a much more light and calm sound than the god-awful “bells” that are now used in many schools. 

Finally, I understand that what I am asking you to do is a little bit out of the ordinary and uncomfortable.  It was out of the ordinary and uncomfortable for me until 4 years ago.  4 years ago I went  to Harvard Medical School to participate in their clinical training program on Mind/Body medicine.  I will tell you the whole story on Monday…but to satisfy your curiosity let me say that I am not an easy person to convince and I am naturally skeptical of anything that smacks of “new age” or “mysticism”.  The thing that convinced me of the importance of contemplative practice in my personal life and classroom was medical evidence about the effect of contemplation/mindfulness/meditation of the physiology of the body and brain.  Suffice it to say that teachers and students are stressed out; stress slows down or stops the learning process and affects teachers’ ability to be effective; therefore managing stress through meditation/contemplation/mindfulness/yoga/tai chi  makes students and teachers healthier, happier, more productive and more successful.  It’s that easy, and there are large-scale experimental studies that support it.  

When we talk about using evidence based practices in the classroom, the field of mindfulness in the classroom has more substantial biological/neurological/psychological evidence behind it than almost any other instructional/behavioral practice that is currently used in schools.  I will share some of that research on Monday (much to the chagrin of the last cohort, I’m sureJ ).  If you want to do some pre-reading, please check out the following small sample of peer-reviewed journal articles/abstracts that cover the medical/education research….I will be happy to answer any additional questions on Monday.

·         http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1093/clipsy.bpg015/full

·         http://www.jpedhc.org/article/S0891-5245(05)00109-4/abstract

·         http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10865-007-9130-7

·         http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/62/5/613.short

·         http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10516983

·         https://www.fammed.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/webfm-uploads/documents/outreach/mindfulness/res-mindfulness-meditation-practice-review.pdf

·         http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362331903000430

·         http://www.openground.com.au/articles/MBSR_MA_JPR_2004.pdf

·         http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15328015TLM1502_03#.UcSCYPm87ng

·         http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1602246?uid=3739648&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102433338847

·         http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tl.352/abstract

·         http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3996/

·         And on and on and on and on……….