Abstract
In this chapter I present an autoethnography on mindful awareness and describe how mindfulness practice creates meaningful classroom interactions. Mindfulness is a commitment by teachers and students to be together, to be emotionally flexible, empathetic, and share in decision-making. In mindful classroom practice, relationships cogenerate emergent understanding. Through mindfulness, teachers and students throw out the systemic stressors of time, tests, and burnout. They abandon themselves to coexist in compassionate relationships. Being educated is being mindful. In this narrative, as the school year gets underway, my students and I come together in pools of thought. Teenagers on fire with hormones, dive in, they are excited to rekindle friendships. I gingerly dip my toe, resistant to fall, asking, “How can this be our best year?” In this chapter, I share my lived experience, my self-awareness and my perception of students’ emerging understandings in light of mindfulness practice.
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Noble, L. (2016). Mindfulness. In: Powietrzynska, M., Tobin, K. (eds) Mindfulness and Educating Citizens for Everyday Life. Bold Visions in Educational Research. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-570-8_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-570-8_6
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