TWO DAY CLASS:  Friday, June 18th from 7:00-9:00, and Saturday the 19th from 9:00-3:30.

In this course, teachers will earn 10 PD points as they learn how to address Social-Emotional Learning, in particular self-awareness and self-regulation, using mindfulness techniques. With the belief that helping students get regulated emotionally starts with the regulation of the teacher themselves, we will start this training with an experience of deep relaxation and mindfulness meditation: a restorative yoga class on Friday night. On Saturday, we will learn more about what mindfulness is, cover the science and research supporting mindfulness, explore ideas and strategies for fitting mindfulness into a busy classroom schedule, and for finding time for a personal practice in the busy life of a teacher. Research shows that teachers who experience even a small amount of mindfulness training see improvements in the student’s behavior and performance as the classroom culture improves, even without training the students themselves in mindfulness. The workshop will be experiential and aim to provide teachers with strategies for self-care and avoiding burnout. We'll experience different techniques so teachers can decide what fits their style best. 

Four items will be required in order to receive the professional development points: a reflection journal completed throughout the weekend, a journal on an additional two hours of mindfulness in a home practice (plan will be created during the workshop), a submitted plan for an ongoing personal practice, and a mindfulness plan for the classroom.   Donna Rucinski Harrington is a high school teacher who is trained in both Yoga and Mindfulness and has been teaching these subjects to students for six years. For teachers, she’s run workshops on bringing mindfulness into the classroom, taught yoga and workshops in Mindfulness Meditation. She has DESE certification to provide professional development training.

Limit 12 participants