Mindfulness for Educators - The Center for Mindful Inquiry - Certificate Program

Judy Coven

2010-09-24T16:08:16Z

M.S., and Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mathematics Education and Teacher Leadership; former core faculty at Antioch University New England; veteran elementary school teacher in innovative public school settings; mathematics education consultant; yoga for elementary classrooms instructor.

Susan Dreyer-Leon

2010-09-24T16:08:48Z

Ed.D., Director, Experienced Educators' Program at Antioch University New England; former alternative public high school teacher/leader in New York city and Vermont; National School Reform faculty coach; experienced Coalition of Essential Schools teacher, leader, and facilitator.

Jack Millett

2010-09-24T16:09:16Z

MAT, Co-Founder and teacher at the Center for Mindful Inquiry; teacher at Vermont Insight Meditation Center; visiting professor at SIT Graduate Institute; former long-term Associate Professor in the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at SIT Graduate Institute.

Andrew Olendzki

2010-09-24T16:09:43Z

Guest Presenter for Summer Intensive
Ph.D., Executive Director, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies; Teacher at numerous colleges and universities; author of Unlimiting Mind: The Radically Experiential Psychology of Buddhism.

Mu Soeng

2010-09-24T16:10:13Z

Guest Presenter for Summer Intensive
Program Director and Resident Scholar, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies; author of The Heart of the Universe: Exploring the Heart Sutra, The Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way we Perceive the World, and Trust in Mind: the Rebellion of Chinese Zen.

Claire M. Stanley

2010-09-24T16:10:39Z

Ph.D., Co-Founder and Teacher at the Center for Mindful Inquiry; Guiding Teacher at Vermont Insight Meditation Center; Advisory Board member of the Center for Clinical Mindfulness and Meditation at Union Institute and University; member of Board of Directors of Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and Vermont Insight Meditation Center; former long-term Associate Professor in the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at SIT Graduate Institute.

Using Buddhist Frameworks to Reflect on Teaching and Learning

2011-07-14T18:10:13Z

In this course, and throughout the whole year of the Certificate Program, participants will strengthen their mindfulness meditation and mindfulness practices in the midst of their work and their lives. Additionally, they will study, learn, and understand core Buddhist concepts and frameworks that support a mindful perspective on their work as educators. Finally, they will develop skill in mindful inquiry using educational reflective practices and Buddhist frameworks.

Specifically in this first course in the Program, participants will study and explore the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (body, feelings, mind, and mind objects) and the Four Noble Truths for the establishment of mindfulness throughout daily life and in the midst of educational contexts. These will serve as the principle frameworks through which participants can begin to see more clearly into the nature of their own minds, their students' minds, and the nature of their working lives as educators within schools or universities. As a result of this process, each participant's educational context will become the ground for mindfulness and reflection on both the thorny and inspiring aspects of one's work as an educator. The interface of mindfulness and reflection is seamless with one complementing the other so that there is a sense of nothing extra added, only a deepening of seeing and understanding.

Using Buddhist Frameworks consists of an Opening Residential Weekend at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS), followed by a continuing online study component that deepens and strengthens the conceptual and experiential material, knowledge and wisdom gained during the weekend. The interactive online community and established cohort enhance and deepen the skills of mindful inquiry and reflection and create a supportive container for learning and application.

Spring Semester 2012: January 27 - May 10
Opening Residential Weekend Study Retreat at BCBS: January 27 - 29
Online Study: January 29 - May 10
3 credits

Human Development and the Inner Landscape of Teachers and Learners

2011-07-14T18:16:49Z

The goals of educational programs are sometimes at odds with the cognitive and emotional realities of teachers and learners. Finding balance both internally and externally can help an educator to move beyond momentary limitations in order to create new learning possibilities.

In this course, educators gain new insight into the moment-to-moment reality of their professional lives through a renewed understanding of human psychology and human development across the lifespan as well as the integration of kindness, compassion, and equanimity practices. A preliminary online study and discussion component familiarizes participants with concepts and terms in the more recent literature of education and psychology as well as readings from Buddhist scholarship and the mindfulness in education literature. A five-day residential study retreat at BCBS follows the on-line component and concludes the course.

Summer Semester 2012: May 16 - August 15
Online Study: May 16 - August 15
Residential Study Retreat at BCBS: August 3 - 8
3 credits

Awareness of Body, Mind, Heart and Brain: Pathways to Change in Education

2011-07-14T18:20:06Z

Buddhist thought and practice encompass the body, mind and heart as a focus for learning, understanding and action. Most recently, research studies in neuroscience have shown the explicit and visible (through FMRI) relationship between body, mind, heart and brain function.

In this course, participants will examine some of the most recent studies in neuroscience and their applications to teaching, learning, and one's particular educational context. As in the spring course, there will be equal emphasis on application and reflection within one's educational context and the ongoing development of mindfulness meditation practice and personal daily life mindfulness practices. Of the three courses in the Certificate Program, this one will highlight the scientific nature of mindfulness practice and how it is possible to see, apply, verify, or modify based on the first-order data received through the body, mind, heart and brain change process that is every human being.

This culminating course in the Certificate Program begins with an online study component, continues with a third Residency at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS) over a weekend, followed by a few weeks of final online study. In the final online discussion and submissions, participants will shape and define the pathways to change that they intend to explore or deepen in order to lead toward greater freedom and joy in their educational contexts and at the heart of teaching and learning.

Fall Semester 2012: September 24 - December 20
Online Study: September 24 - December 20
Final Residential Study Retreat at BCBS: November 30 - December 2
3 credits