School Mindfulness Champion Workshop
LED BY:
Barnaby Spring, NYC Dept of Education, Director of Mindfulness in Education
and
Matt Dewar, Journey 30K, and COSEM 18-19 President
This is a newly added workshop we've combines elements from Barnaby Spring and Matt Dewar's workshops. It is geared toward school mindfulness champions---which may be any educator, PreK -16, parent, educational leader, elected official. . . anyone with a passion for bringing mindfulness into schools. We are filming it and potentially using it in our online Mindful Educator Academy, documentary, or PESI.com offering.
In it we will explore how mindfulness brings creativity, imagination and innovation to life in our world on all levels of development and all of our professional activities. Mindfulness reminds us why these essential elements of learning, of making, of dreaming and “stepping outside the box and reimagining the situation” are critical to our joy, happiness, freedom, as well as the sustainability of our species.
We will also explore parallels between research on narrative identity and Joseph Campbell's work on the "Hero's Journey," a model for narrative identity in literature. Both highlight themes of resiliency and self-transformation which directly tie in with mindfulness. The work of a school mindfulness champion will follow the "Hero's Journey" and participants will share their in-progress journeys with each other and offer support for each other's continued success and potentially ultimate goal of full-school or full-district integration.
As we engage in this mindfulness workshop/journey we will travel together towards the creation by each participant of a personal artifact, a symbol, a design, a character, an image. . . that “marks” your mindful engagement with this dynamic process and your own personal “work of art” that embodies and represents what you explored today as well as a vision for your own creative, imaginative and innovative journey into the future.
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Segment 1 with Matt: Looking at the narrative of our lives (as well as our mindfulness path) through the Hero's Journey lens. Who am I and where am I going?
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Segment 2 with Barnaby: Creativity, Innovation, and Imagination. What do we want to create? What do we want to solve? What do we want to bring from the unknown and into the known before we end our "professional careers" as mindfulness educators, people educating mindfully, that might be of service to all we leave behind?
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Segment 3 with Barnaby: (sung to the tune of What's Love Got to do With It): "OH-OH-OH, what's Chance got to do with it, got to do with it....What's Chance but a way to screw up my plans?" Really? How can interdependent workings of time, space and chance be a critical thought partner: a personal, portable champion and connector?
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Segment 4: Creating a personal artifact and using writing prompts to continue our narrative identity exploration.
Presenter Bios:
Barnaby Spring is an actor, artist, writer, educator, public speaker, activist, certified mindfulness and yoga teacher, educational theorist, husband, father and currently serves as Director of Mindfulness In Education, in the Office of the First Deputy Chancellor, in the New York City Department of Education where he has served since the mid-90s as a teacher working with girls on Rikers Island, then as a Dean of Students, then as Principal and now in this current role.
Dr. Matthew Dewar is COSEM's 18-19 President and the founder of JOURNEY 30K, a personal development platform that utilizes wellness and mindfulness strategies to transform individuals and organizations. Matthew is also a high school teacher, well-being coordinator, and learning facilitator who has designed and implemented teacher professional development and school wellness curricula, including mindfulness-based wellness for faculty and students. Most recently, Matthew has created and implemented mindfulness programming for professional and collegiate athletes. His work has been featured on TEDx, NPR, and the National Wellness Institute's podcast. He is the author of Education and Well-Being: An Ontological Inquiry. Watch Matt's TEDx Talk
Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education
Teaching is a very stressful profession and there has been increased awareness of the stresses faced by educators, including support staff and administrators. This Workshop will review the theory and practices of the CARE Program. CARE (createforeducation.org) is an evidence-based program for teachers and others in caring professions. This workshop will include experiential activities that demonstrate key aspects of the CARE Program including short mindfulness practices and practices regarding emotional awareness and regulation.
The learning goals of the workshop are to:
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Understand the concept of mindfulness and how this supports the resilience of teachers/administrators
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Demonstrate how mindfulness practices improves the social and emotional competence of teachers and the climate of the classroom
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Experience and reflect on the effect of mindfulness practices as a participant
Tish Jennings is no longer coming to the conference. Our apologies. Her colleague/CARE facilitator, Tina Raspanti , will be leading this workshop. We hope to have Tish next year!
Presenter Bio:
Tina is lifelong learner and has 27 years in the education field. She started her teaching career in Virginia, where she earned an M.Ed. from the College of William and Mary in Inclusion, Teaming, and Collaboration. Moving home to Pittsburgh, she joined the Mt. Lebanon School district where she teaches psychology. She earned a Certificate in Positive Psychology from the Flourishing Center, has engaged in coursework, and holds several certifications related to mindfulness, compassion, and social emotional learning programming for both students and teachers. Tina is a catalyst for connection and collaboration; she hopes to work side by side with others interested in building inclusive, empathetic and compassionate learning communities.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Teens (MBSR-T)
The world-renowned Jon Kabat-Zinn’s adult MBSR program, has been modeled and adapted for teens and is life-changing. The effects of stress on teens’ mental and physical health today are enormous. Stress does not discriminate. Stress is impinging on ALL youth regardless of race, sex or class! Fact: 1 in 5 youth 13-18 years of age have or will have a serious mental illness. Now that we recognize the problem lets discuss a solution.
Join Gina M. Biegel, LMFT, the founder and creator of MBSR-T for an intensive, full-day seminar that provides proven intervention strategies, essential treatment tools, and behavioral techniques to use with all adolescents. The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Teens Program (MBSR-T) is an evidence-based efficacious therapeutic treatment approach for teens in both clinical and non-clinical settings. Gina will teach you how to use her evidence-based, cutting-edge approach directly after the training. You will have a myriad of therapeutic tools to walk away with.
By attending this engaging day, you will be able to teach teens how to shift their thinking away from impulsive, thoughtless, and judgmental ways of reacting to life and teach them to mindfully respond. Mindfulness skills provide teens withan anchor and compass to guide them when they feel emotionally dysregulated, stressed, anxious and depressed. Teach teens to live rather than just exist in an ever- increasing multi- media stimulated technological environment.
MBSR-T will help teens:
• Shift from reactivity and impulsivity to thoughtful responding
• Move from feeling powerless to feeling a sense of agency and control
• More accurately perceive and appraise stressful situations
• Decrease negative harmful judgments
• Increase positive coping strategies and decrease self-harming thinking and
behaviors
• Increase and maintain an overall since of health and well-being
Target Audience: Counselors, Psychotherapists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Case Managers, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addictions Counselors, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Speech-Language Pathologists, Educators, School Administrators, Other Mental Health Professionals
"Gina Biegel has put together an intensive training for professionals in helping stressed adolescents find relief and clarity based on her direct experience supporting teens during this challenging time of life.” Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.
Learning Objectives:
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Breakdown the foundational principles of MBSR-T.
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Construct the essential core components of the MBSR-T program.
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Implement the curriculum in the MBSR-T program and be able to teach interventions from all of the 8-sessions.
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Devise mindfulness techniques that increase teen’s present moment functioning and living.
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Experiment with interventions that can be used in teen’s daily life to facilitate maintenance and growth of the MBSR-T program.
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Explore the recent advances in neuroscience, neuroplasticity and mindfulness on the developing teenage brain.
Yoga and Mindfulness in the Classroom: Tools to Improve SEL, Academic Success, Behavior and Climate
Increasing numbers of students across the country lack the skills of self-regulation, impulse control and focus negatively affecting their behavior, ability to learn and overall well-being. Sharing trauma and evidence-informed yoga and mindfulness techniques, specifically designed for the time and space crunched classroom, is a convenient, engaging and effective way to promote these skills while cultivating a positive, peaceful productive classroom climate.
In this interactive workshop, you will learn how to empower your students and yourself with increased self-awareness, the foundation for the development of skills of self-regulation and cognitive control. You will recognize signs of imbalance and gain the confidence and skills to proactively and effectively implement over 67 yoga and mindfulness-based activities including a mix of yoga postures, brain boosting movements, breath exercises, visualizations, mindfulness activities, creative movement and community-building games. Wellness, positive psychology and character-building discussion and reflection topics such as the power of positive thinking and gratitude, nutrition, and being a peacemaker, address the whole child while encouraging learning-readiness and positive social interactions.
No yoga experience or yoga mat required. Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and flat-soled shoes as we'll be simulating a classroom experience. This fun and interactive workshop will relax and inspire you while providing you with tangible tools you can implement the very next school day!
“A must for all 21st century educators!”
“The most inspiring, immediately usable PD I’ve ever attended. I can’t wait to get started!”
This workshop is most appropriate for K-6 classroom teachers, administrators, school counselors, special educators, social workers, behavior interventionists, school nurses, occupational therapists, SLPs, physical therapists, physical education teachers, health educators, and paraprofessionals, however school professionals working in other grade levels will also benefit.
Participants will:
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Understand how stress and trauma affect learning and behavior.
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Access and utilize the growing evidence-base supporting the integration of yoga, mindfulness and meditation at school.
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Crosswalk mindful practices with a variety of school roles and educational standards, as well as school and district-wide goals such as the creation of safe and healthy schools.
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Understand the 5 critical steps to integrated self-regulation and its relationship to the science of neuroplasticity.
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Learn over 67 simple, classroom-friendly yoga and mindfulness techniques to support learning readiness and the development of social and emotional learning competencies and resilience.
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Gain strategies for improving classroom management and reducing behavior referrals by supporting both group and students’ individual needs.
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Become a more effective educator, counselor or therapist while supporting his/her own well-being.
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Access information, tools and resources for supporting buy-in and funding for sustainable, school-wide implementation.
Materials:
In addition to a program manual, note-taking guide, and certificate of completion, participants will also gain access a variety of invaluable resources. The supplemental Yoga 4 Classrooms Activity Card Decks can be ordered in advance on Amazon or purchased on site at the conference. School/District orders of more than 10 are discounted through: www.yoga4classrooms.com