News

25 May New York’s Garrison Institute Highlights “City of Compassion”

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.”

03 May Study: CARE Program Reduces Stress, Improves Classroom Quality

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.”

07 Apr Jennings to Lead UNC’s Contemplative Teaching Event

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.

29 Mar Science News: Mindfulness Defuses Stress in Classrooms and Teaching

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.”