Last year’s admin suggested my co-counselor and I run a book study related to SEL as a way of increasing effective SEL practices among our faculty. New admin is less into this idea (read: not going to give us money to buy the books and encourage faculty to do it) but before they came on board, I spent the summer previewing books and jotting down ideas to facilitate talks with our teachers. One of the books I made it all the way through, and thought was great, was Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom by Meena Srinivasan.
You have to believe that you will be more productive living in the present and taking the time to be mindful than you would be thinking about the past and future all the time.
Every day (ok, maybe every other day), I try to shift my thinking in that direction. My natural tendency is to stress and to by a mental time traveler. My mindfulness is a work in progress. Now on to more of the nitty gritty of what I found, chapter highlights, and some suggestions for discussion questions if you use this book. This isn’t nice or neat or clean, but it’s what my brain focused on as I read through each chapter. It won’t make a ton of sense if you’re not reading the book, but if you are, it may be a helpful starting point to creating a book study with your faculty. Or if you’re still deciding whether or not to read it, these jots might sway you one way or another!
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