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Mindfulness in the Classroom

Close to 100 educators from independent and public schools in the region visited Westminster Feb. 23 to attend the sixth annual Westminster Teaching Symposium titled “Mindfulness in the Classroom.”
 
The symposium was sponsored by the Westminster Teaching Initiative (WTI), which was formed in 2010 to enhance teaching and learning at Westminster by encouraging collaboration and dialogue among faculty members and departments about curriculum and pedagogy. The purpose of the symposium is to widen the circle of sharing and allow teachers from area schools to come together, converse and learn from one another. Faculty member Charlie Griffith P’11, ’14, ’17, who serves as director of WTI, organized this year’s symposium.
 
The keynote speaker was Dawa Tarchin Phillips, a teacher, author and research specialist in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at UC Santa Barbara. His research focuses on the cognitive, affective and academic benefits of secular mindfulness training in school children, young adults and educational leaders. The title of his talk was “The Age of Presence, Mindfulness in Education.”
 
Dawa began his remarks by speaking about the importance of mindfulness in education and life. “The majority of adults who are exposed to mindfulness say they wish they had learned about it when they were young,” he said. He described it as a fundamental tool set for accomplishment. “People who are able to be more present are more well, more effective and better performers.” He also discussed the importance of attention in learning, the effects of mind-wandering on achievement, rising stress levels at all ages, allostasis and mindset. “We need an ability to be present to accomplish anything. All of us can benefit from mindfulness.”
 
He pointed out how mindfulness is not new, but a shared knowledge about it has not developed. There are increasing numbers of research studies related to mindfulness and its benefits. He closed by sharing some elements of mindfulness training and steps that be taken to bring mindfulness into communities.
 
Following the keynote address, participants attended breakout sessions where educators shared creative ways and their own experiences encouraging mindfulness in the classroom and deep engagement among their students. The presenters included Lawrence Court, head of Westminster’s English Department; Lindsey Dirats, LEADS department chair at The Gunnery; Jeremy LaCasse, assistant headmaster at Taft School; Mary Ann Haverstock, director of sustainability at South Kent School; Lee Zalinger, head of Westminster’s Science Department; and Art Custer, director of curriculum and instruction at Avon Old Farms School.
 
The symposium concluded with a luncheon in the dining hall.
 
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