The City of Kindness is a coalition of organizations, including Friends of the Dalai Lama, and the Born This Way Foundation, working to inspire kindness in the world. City of Kindness featured the Compassionate Schools Project as one of several resources “to create a culture of kindness from inspiring small acts all the way to building lifelong social and emotional skills.”
See: “Teach Kindness“
The Chronicle of Higher Education focused on the work that Louisville schools and other groups are doing to help its citizens get college degrees using a combination of grit and compassion. The Chronicle talks to Mayor Fischer and reflects on his philosophy, “Mr. Fischer, who has said a good mayor should have the heart of a social worker and the head of a chief executive officer, talks about compassion at times when his fellow elected officials might invoke economic arguments (though he makes those, too).”
The Garrison Institute featured Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and his approach utilizing compassion to run a city with “social muscle”—and highlighted the ways in which the Compassionate Schools Project (CSP) is helping children reach their maximum potential. The institute commissioned Curry School of Education professor and CSP leader Tish Jennings to interview the mayor.
The Garrison Institute‘s mission focuses on contemplative practices and building sustainable movements for a healthier, safer, and more compassionate world.
Read the story, “City of Compassion.”
Teachers in New York City public schools who participated in “Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education,” or CARE, a mindfulness professional development program, not only felt an improvement in their own well-being, they also improved the quality of their classroom. This is according to a new study lead by Patricia “Tish” Jennings, associate professor at the Curry School.
“Today, many teachers are not well-prepared for the social and emotional demands of the classroom,” Jennings said. “While spending a great amount of cognitive energy on the content of their lessons, teachers are also constantly managing a classroom of students, some of whom have difficulty attending to learning activities, sitting still or getting along with their peers.”
From the UVA TODAY Story by Audrey Breen.
Read the full story, “Curry Study: Reducing Teachers’ Stress Leads To Higher-Quality Classrooms.”
Tish Jennings will lead University of North Carolina Asheville faculty through workshops aimed at promoting resilience and contemplative teaching and learning in higher education. Creating a Mindful Campus 2016 will take place May 23-24, 2016. Jennings will lead workshops along with Dee Eggers, and Sonia Marcus. In addition, she will offer a talk geared for K – 12 educators, “Mastering Classroom Social and Emotional Dynamics to Promote Learning: A Mindfulness-Based Approach.” Jennings will also be speaking at the Mindful Life Conference in Washington, DC., April 28-May 1.
Read the story, Students Help Pioneer Mindfulness Movement at UNCA from thebluebanner.net.
The Society for Science & the Public (SSP) highlighted CARE and CSP in Science News for Students, its curricula resource for educators and students. The story articulates the positive effects of mindfulness which CARE and CSP promote and how those affect student and teacher stress, well-being, and teacher ability to engage students and manage disruptive classroom behaviors. Elementary school counselor Mandy Montgomery “has found mindfulness to be so effective that she now uses it with first-grade classes at the beginning of the school year. She teaches the students how to use breathing and mindful-listening techniques to calm themselves and focus their attention on their teachers. ‘I have less anxiety and don’t get as overwhelmed as quickly as I used to,’ she says. ‘I am able to control my temper better and have an overall sense of peace most of the time.'”
Read the full story, “‘Mindfulness’ Defuses Stress in Classrooms and Teaching.”
Listen to students, teachers, and Superintendent Donna Hargens talk about the positive impact and importance of the Compassionate Schools Project for school communities in Louisville, KY after less than one year of implementation.
“Mindful means that you take your thoughts, your inner feelings and you use them in your benefit to get through your day, to worry about yourself, to deal with frustration.” – Tyleik Bishop, Cane Run Elementary
His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with individuals concerned with building compassionate cities, including Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, KY. “He was very encouraged about the Compassionate Schools Project,” Fischer told CSP faculty after the meeting.
The following is excerpted from the Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s official website.
Mayor Fischer informed His Holiness that Louisville was implementing the teaching of these basic human values in their school system with their compassionate schools project. They had started with three schools where they were teaching young children social and emotional behavior centered around kindness, love and compassion, and mindfulness and meditation. These children came from difficult backgrounds and it was the first time in their life that they were able to slow their minds down and actually open their minds and begin learning for the first time.
After questioning whether they were bringing out any reports or carrying out any research on the effects, the Mayor Fischer informed His Holiness that they were working with the University of Virginia and were planning to test ten schools using this scientific approach and another 10 schools not using this approach to compare each other and see if there was a permanent difference.
His Holiness said, “I have been having a dialogue with a number of scientists, educational professionals and others over the last ten years. Many of them agreed that the existing educational system was not adequate enough as it was focused on material values. So there was a need to add education on warm-heartedness. However, in the beginning stages this needed to be done on a small-scale level and once the positive results became clear, then it could be expanded to include more schools and places.”
Photo: His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with U.S. city mayors including Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and others concerned with building compassionate cities. Photo Credit – Tenzin Taklha/OHHDL.
Read the full story, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama Discusses Secular Ethics with Mayors“