Workshops Part Two

Part One of our workshops intended to raise our students' awareness of their own learning needs was a series of short seminars on the brains, learning environments, sleep, nutrition, and adolescent brain development. Some of the students found it tedious. Some found it helpful.

Part Two was a "conversation cafe" where small groups of students sit down with a teacher/facilitator and discuss the following questions:

What skills do you need? What knowledge do you need? What should TAS emphasize more? What is lacking here at TAS?

To "what skills do you need" students suggested:

the ability to research well
note-taking
time management skills
focusing skills
prioritizing information
organizing/where to start with a paper or project
help expressing what is on my mind
remembering
independent living
skills socializing/social skills
manners
comfort in society
independent learning
more “practical skills”
living and coping skills for college
how to find and apply for a job
cooking/shopping for self
computer skills
test taking
how to kill an animal with your bare hands
career survey/exploration
etiquette
resumes
expressing feelings tactfully
public speaking
writing: basic expository/journalism
raising a family
how to teach a class and organize it

These are all very sensible and realistic. We do offer quite a bit of the above, but clearly some students do not are not aware of this, or do not feel what we offer quite meets their needs. I love how varied and concrete this list is.

What knowledge do you need?

basic knowledge
in-depth courses
personal finance/basic accounting
insurance
architecture
college counseling
career counseling
current events
modern history
politics
WWII
therapeutic music
nutrition
horse science/care
welding/metalwork
goal formulation
driving/general coordination
shop class type skills
college visits/what is college life like?

Again, very astute. These lists show a maturity and perspective taking that I find very comforting. The facilitators did fine work in getting most of the students to contribute- these lists do reflect a fairly wide sample of students.

What should we emphasize more?

meditation
college prep
SAT prep
college field trips
mindfulness
study skills
quiet areas
activities
more class discussion instead of independent reading
shop classes
structured study halls
better organized field trips
more cooking time
student planned field trips with more teacher help
basic living skills
breakfast
timeliness througout the day- classes, blessing, lunch
philosophy/meaning of life
guidance counseling
more freedom in art classes, more basic skills

more small group discussions
greater variety in physical ed: more cardio/stretching
jewelry making
split last period in two
more fundraisers
math and science levels for different abilities and skills
more respect from certain students for the teachers and other students
more intervention from teacher if this is not the case

What is lacking at TAS?

more challenging classes
different course levels
understanding of age differences and skill levels
greater awareness of student interaction
last period of school is too long
quiet areas
teacher-student interaction in larger classes
homeroom groups/guided conversations
grade levels
guest teachers
Shim Gum Do
computer lab
better computers
greater variety in libray/better organized
a public library class

All in all a substantial list.

Next step is to post these on a bulletin board at school and to encourage the students to prioritize it it terms of time frames and degree of need.

Re: Mindfulness in the New York Times

A little criticism of the article...

  It does not mention how Kabat-Zinn and Linehan both have done a great deal
to structure their approach so it is empirically useful, offers anecdotes in
support of mindfulness and sweeping, rather vague claims against it. It does
cite a few studies, but also calls the evidence "thin".

  It mentions nothing of the neurology involved in mindfulness. And perhaps
worst of all, inflates the dangers of it. Dangers? in being mindful? I guess
must be some downside to being self-aware!
 
  I would have preferred that the article had more on a) DBT's success rate
with such a difficult population b) the comparative safety over, say, drugs
c) the many types of practice a therapist can draw on for every type of patient
and d) how a mindfulness approach certainly does not exclude any other type of
approach.

 A primary mistake in reporting on this subject is that rarely is it mentioned
that mindfulness is simply everyday engagement. I guess it is a "kind of sort of"
attempt to introduce it to the NYT readership. But on balance it doesn't seem to
say much at all.

I really should post some information on both Linehan's and Kabat-Zinn's work. It
is very important.

MIndfulness in the New York Times

from this morning's paper:

The patient sat with his eyes closed, submerged in the rhythm of his own breathing, and after a while noticed that he was thinking about his troubled relationship with his father.

“I was able to be there, present for the pain,” he said, when the meditation session ended. “To just let it be what it was, without thinking it through.”

The therapist nodded.

“Acceptance is what it was,” he continued. “Just letting it be. Not trying to change anything.”

“That’s it,” the therapist said. “That’s it, and that’s big.”

This exercise in focused awareness and mental catch-and-release of emotions has become perhaps the most popular new psychotherapy technique of the past decade. Mindfulness meditation, as it is called, is rooted in the teachings of a fifth-century B.C. Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha. It is catching the attention of talk therapists of all stripes, including academic researchers, Freudian analysts in private practice and skeptics who see all the hallmarks of another fad.

continue on to the article

Holistic Life Foundation

On Wednesday, May 28, HLF will be visiting our school and conducting two workshops in yoga and mindfulness. These three young men have a great story: they saw a need for guidance, mindfulness, and yoga amongst the undersupervised kids in their gritty Baltimore neighborhood. They have brought their program into the schools and the YMCA's. They even are working with a researcher at Johns Hopkins on isolating the clinical effects of mindfulness training.

Welcome, gentlemen!