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Considerating the Prospect of Cultivating Mindfulness in Teacher Education
Issues in Teacher Education
Short Title: Issues in Teacher Education
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: 2018/01/01/
Pages: 57 - 72
Sources ID: 91786
Visibility: Public (group default)
Abstract: (Show)
In this article, the author argues that mindfulness--a metacognitive strategy used to regulate thoughts and emotions--is a powerful tool that can improve novice teacher resilience in the face of the stress, tension, and vulnerability that accompanies the endeavor of learning to teach. He will advance two theses: First, mindfulness cultivates in-the-moment awareness, an ability that helps novice teachers to navigate the complexity of the classroom. Second, mindfulness invites novice teachers to exercise nonjudgmental acceptance of their own thoughts and feelings. He argues that while the former aim (in-the-moment awareness) aligns with current frameworks of teacher education, the latter aim (nonjudgmental acceptance) presents current frameworks of teacher education with a challenge. Cultivating both components of mindfulness, however, can be considered to be promising approaches towards strengthening novice teachers' expertise and resilience.