Mindful Alignment: Foundations of Educator Flourishing

by Sabre Cherkowski, Kelly Hanson, Keith Walker

Overview

Mindful Alignment: Foundations of Educator Flourishing develops a foundation for educators to flourish by promoting self-awareness as a mindful approach to ongoing professional inquiry. It presents three mindful arts—the art of well-being; the art of positive relationships; and the art of living from strengths, passions, and purposes—detailing several practices that, when executed over time, can provide a focus for developing mindful alignment. The authors present an approach to personal, professional learning that encourages educators to slow down, create space to notice, and then nurture their intentions and actions toward fulfilling their purposes and passions, in order to grow a sense of flourishing at work and overcome the challenges presented by teaching in ever increasingly fast-paced, rapidly-changing, accountability-driven professional environments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498570800
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/10/2020
Series:	Mindfulness in Education
Pages:	126
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Sabre Cherkowski is associate professor and director of the Centre for Mindful Engagement in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia.

Kelly Hanson is doctoral student at the University of British Columbia.

Keith Walker is professor of educational leadership in the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Saskatchewan.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Towards Crafting Architectures to Nurture the Educator’s Soul
Chapter One: Mindfulness and Mindful Alignment: A Life-Long Professional Learning Process
Chapter Two: Wellbeing as Wholeness
Chapter Three: Positive Relationships
Chapter Four: Higher Purpose in Work and Strength-Based Living
Chapter Five: Job Crafting
Chapter Six: Mindful Awareness as a Foundation for Flourishing
Appendix
References
About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

These authors invite us to imagine workplaces in which we thrive and that support the flourishing of the other adults and young people who inhabit these school spaces with us. The wellbeing they hope to bring about is about noticing, nurturing, and sustaining human flourishing in schools by attending to positive emotions, strong relationships, a felt sense of meaning and purpose, deep engagement, and the satisfaction that comes with achievement. Throughout the book, they offer powerful images and enticing visions of supportive and collaborative workplaces filled with laughter, fun, and joy. Reading this book will inspire educators to reconnect with their own thriving as well as what they can do, individually and collectively, to support the thriving of all who inhabit schools.

Megan Tschannen-Moran

What makes this book exceptional is its focus on wholeness and mindful alignment for individual, team, and organizational learning. In enacting this holistic focus, the authors have integrated two additional perspectives—the Intersubjective (how people in groups understand each other) and Interobjective (how people coexist with systems). The inclusion of all four perspectives is essential in mapping out the complete ‘architecture’ of the context in which educators live and work. This book will interest educators at the school system and post-secondary level, as well as parents, who are curious about the evolving educational context and the future role of mindfulness.

Veronika Bohac Clarke