Impacting Teaching and Learning

Reviews / Votes

Byrnes, Dalton, & Dorman have managed to achieve throughout their 3-volume, edited collection, ideas both practical and inspiring. They offer the reader great scope and depth in describing contemplative practices from a variety of settings and perspectives. Teacher educators will understand more deeply what contemplative education is, ways to incorporate its practices, and why it is so valuable in supporting teacher education students and practicing teachers. Throughout the chapters, they provide the tools for self-transformation through experiences that move the soul, awaken the heart, and strengthen pedagogical thinking. -- Sandra Finney PhD, author of "Strong Spirits, Kind Hearts," coauthor of "The Way of the Teacher" A remarkable book that is full of important information for those who want to dig deeper into the complexities of integrating contemplative pedagogy into teacher development. Reflective practices are explored as a way to develop the courage to shift status quo pedagogies, see and lead with heart and mind, create balance with the increasing demands of the university system, and develop one's ability to come to deeply know oneself. Grounded in research and personal experiences, this book is a treasure of the profound language of possibility joyfully emerging as the authors share insights from their journeys as contemplative teacher educators. -- Deborah Young, EdS, professor, education, Naropa University Dorman, Dalton, and Byrnes have curated a useful and important set of examples of what it means to incorporate contemplative approaches to learning and teaching. I am sure that this volume, and the other two in the series, will be of great use to anyone wanting to deepen their relationship with their students, colleagues and themselves. -- Daniel Barbezat, coauthor of Contemplative Practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods to Transform Teaching and Learning Contemplative practices have been corporatized and co-opted in many spaces in education to create docile bodies in the classroom. Yet this book offers deep, engaged empirical possibilities of the soul, spirit, mind, and body in learning environments by reminding us that none of us are locked in any one field, space, or genre of thought or writing. That we are always multidimensional, interconnected, and our best when extending compassion, care, and empathy is a remarkable reminder and a marker for educational research. I recommend this book highly as required reading in Teacher Education and beyond. -- Kakali Bhattacharya, author of Power, Race, and Higher Education: A Cross Cultural Parallel Narrative and Foundations of Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide Elizabeth Dorman, Kathryn Byrnes and Jane Dalton and are to be commended for this vitally required three-volume series for the field of contemplative teacher education. The series offers abundant riches in theory, application, and research for teacher education. The three-volume work fills a timely need to apply the principles and processes of contemplative inquiry to preservice teacher education. Today's teacher education needs to include contemplative orientations to address the challenges of preservice teachers becoming more fully human and to offer specific contemplative foundations and approaches for those who design and teach in preservice programs. The essays in these volumes will be valuable to both faculty and the preservice teachers themselves. -- Heesoon Bai, Laurie Anderson, and Charles Scott, program coordinators of Master of Education in Contemplative Inquiry and Approaches to Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada This book offers a ray of hope to teacher educators who aspire to educate the whole teacher who can teach the whole child. These wonderfully short chapters introduce you to diverse strategies designed to cultivate the inner capacities of teachers--self awareness, self regulation, presence, relationship building, self-care etc. The authors, using qualitative research strategies you will want to learn, help us all understand that these skills are essential to creating productive, wholesome and joyful classrooms. These are scholar/practitioners you will want to meet and learn with! -- Rona Wilensky, director of mindfulness programs, PassageWorks Institute Contemplative Practices, Pedagogy, and Research in Education is a profound and crucial wake-up call in the field of education. A collection of brilliant insights-contemporary and historical-into the need for mind-body-spirit balance and how to accomplish that in today's varied teaching environments. These educators value "process over product," a real coup in a world that needs more authenticity. This is precisely the sort of revamping our educational systems need! -- Chris Saade, author of "Second Wave Spirituality: Passion for Peace, Passion for Justice"