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Recognizing the complex personal, academic, and professional commitments in our daily lives is an essential step to connecting with our diverse community of students, faculty, and staff. As educators, this understanding plays a significant role in supporting student success across both undergraduate and graduate levels.
Consider what happens when we enter a classroom, whether it is physical or virtual: we rarely begin instructing immediately. We typically take a few moments to set up technology, organize our thoughts, turn our phones on silent, greet arriving students, and/or address individual questions.
Just as instructors require this setup time, students also need a deliberate transition into the learning environment and the topic of the day. Simply putting away personal belongings and opening a laptop is insufficient for deep focus. Students need time to arrive at full attention - intentionally anchoring their minds to the present moment so they can engage meaningfully with course content, despite outside distractions.
In our first Know & Go session, Contemplative Practices for Authentic Learning, we will explore evidence-based strategies that cultivate mindfulness and presence for both educators and students. We will cover a variety of adaptable activities, ranging from brief one-minute grounding exercises to more extended classroom practices. These tools are just one of many in our toolbox to help support our students with the potential of applying these tools in their lives outside of academics.
Please register if you would like a reminder to attend. Otherwise, please feel free to join the Zoom.