| Being Fully Present in the Classroom
| |
|
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back to a new academic year! I hope that you had a restful summer and took some time away from this oppressive heat, and that you are feeling energized for another year of teaching.
This past year was a challenging one for many of us as we juggled in-person and virtual classroom environments. Some instructors, myself included, noticed a sharp drop in attendance and overall student engagement. After more than a year of online instruction, and with video recordings of live lectures more commonly posted online, it seems like many students are struggling to stay focused on their studies, and as an unintended consequence there is often a decrease in attendance. Even for those students regularly attending lectures, faculty are faced with the challenge of keeping them engaged with the course. Stress and heavy workloads have only worsened student attention spans, which is magnified by the myriad distractions literally at their fingertips. We can spend hours preparing lessons filled with information and activities, but unless our students are fully present, they will not learn what we expect them to learn.
How do we create a culture of presence in the classroom?
The practice of mindfulness is a centuries-old Buddhist tradition that is known to have several proven benefits like improving attention and concentration, reducing stress, developing coping skills for negative emotions like anxiety, and enhancing positive emotions like happiness and compassion. Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. – Jon Kabat-Zinn.
In general, mindfulness has three qualities, all of which are relevant to students in our classrooms: 1) Attention or being awake in every moment, 2) Intention or the choice to pay attention, and 3) Attitude or the open curiosity with which we engage with every moment. Here are some ways in which we can bring these components into our courses:
- Mindfulness of Breathing: Spend the first two minutes of class practicing guided breathing (4 counts IN, 4 counts HOLD, 4 counts OUT, 4 counts HOLD).
- Pause: Intentionally pause for a couple of minutes during your lectures. These moments can be especially powerful if included after teaching a difficult concept.
- Mindful Listening: In this exercise students work in pairs, where one member of the pair explains or teaches a concept for about two minutes while the other student actively listens. The listener then repeats what was shared by the speaker, after which the students switch roles.
The Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC) recommends several other mindfulness-themed activities we can implement in our classrooms while teaching. Our campus mindfulness coordinator, James Butler, has the following recommendations of ways in which we can help our students be mindfully present in the classroom:
- The Mindful UT webpage has several resources for students, faculty, and staff.
- The Mindfulness Guidebook created by James Butler and Thea Woodruff (Well-Being in Learning Environments Coordinator) lists various ways in which we can support our student’s presence and well-being in the classroom.
- Practice mindfulness ourselves, even for just a couple of minutes each day. This will not only model healthy practices for our students, but also help us to deal with our own stressors, and thereby help us be fully present for our students.
If you’re looking for more techniques to encourage your students’ active presence and participation, this semester’s PTF Think Tanks will focus on ways to engage our students more effectively. Check out the information below, and join us for conversations in a safe environment with a diverse group of fellow instructors. All are welcome!
I am excited about implementing a few of these ideas into my classes, and I hope that you find these resources useful.
Sincerely,
| |
Nina Telang
Chair-Elect, Provost's Teaching Fellows
| |
Upcoming Events:
PTF Think Tank: Designing Learning, September 27 at 3:00: PTF Think Tanks, facilitated by the Provost's Teaching Fellows, invite instructors to discuss problems and tackle tough topics in a safe environment among a diverse group of fellow instructors. This semester's series, Evolving Teaching and Learning Norms, will kick off in September with Designing Learning, facilitated by Julie Schell (COFA and Academic Affairs). This session will lay the foundation for how the science of learning and design can intersect to cultivate effect learning experiences, and integrate established research from cognitive science to think differently about teaching. RSVP to attend!
Lunch and Lecture Series, September 8 – October 20: In this series, you can join experienced UT faculty and instructors in looking at different uses and facets of lecturing by exploring it from multiple vantage points. September topics include Rapport: Connect and Communicate (09/08, 11:30-12:30) and Reinforce: Information into Knowledge (09/222, 11:30-12:30). Lunch will be provided for all registered participants. Register here to attend the Lunch and Lecture Series.
| |
|
Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness, Susan L. Smalley and Diana Winston, 2010.
| |
|
|
|
|
