BATAAN PENINSULA STATE UNIVERSITY-BAGAC CAMPUS

College of Education
OUR VISION
A leading university in the Philippines recognized
for its proactive contribution to Sustainable
Development through equitable and inclusive
programs and services by 2030.
OUR MISSION Room 105, BPSU Building, Aguinaldo Street,
To develop competitive graduates and empowered
community members by providing relevant, innovative
Bagumbayan, Bagac, Bataan 2107 PH Contact
and transformative knowledge, research, extension and Numbers: 047-237-4688 / +639175775955
production programs and services through progressive Website: www.bpsu.edu.ph E-mail: bpsu-
enhancement of its human resource capabilities and bagac@gmail.com
institutional mechanisms.

Name: GONZALBO, JOAN S. Year and Course: BEED-IV

Date: NOVEMBER 22-26 FIELD STUDY 2

MY PROFESSIONAL READINGS: WEEK 06 NOVEMBER 22-26

Everybody Present: Mindfulness in the Classroom

 November 26, 2021

 Kristen Rousch, PhD
 https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/everybody-
present-mindfulness-in-the-classroom/

I am so pleased to share how mindfulness can be easily incorporated into the college
classroom. So what exactly is this mindfulness that you’ve been hearing about and what
does Buddhist meditation have to do with teaching students?
Mindfulness meditation and just the simple intention to be mindful during the day are
no longer under the sole purview of the Buddhist tradition. Mindfulness is finding its way to
the average person, who simply wants to live a more conscious life.
Of course, mindful students are better able to focus attention, which improves their
self-awareness, their concentration, and finally, their memory. I’ve told my students many
times that your memory is only as good as your encoding and your encoding is only as
good as your attention. There’s a lot of research that confirms numerous academic
benefits for a mindful classroom.
Interestingly—and I love this—it is also associated with increased patience, kindness,
compassion, and overall improved classroom climate. Many teachers that were interested
in this topic already appreciate the value of meditation, and they’re curious to know how to
apply it to the classroom. Mindfulness in schools has actually been around for several
years in K-12 settings, and that’s where most of the academic research has taken place.
Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer deserves most of the credit for introducing the topic
with her book, Mindfulness, published in 1990.
About eight years later, John Kabat-Zinn started conducting his eight-week
mindfulness-based stress reduction programs. It’s gained momentum for the last 17
years. Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as paying attention in a particular way on purpose
in the present moment non-judgmentally.
What is meant by “the present?” The present is not your thought about the present. It
is the experience of the moment, perhaps before you have the thought. Here’s an
example: Imagine you open the door and walk into a new restaurant. You look around and
take it all in. That’s the present, the moment of experiencing before you have the thought.
It is located in the space between stimulus and response.

Reflection:
Paying attention to what is happening right now, in the present moment, is
mindfulness. A mindfulness practice can help to open up that space so that more
deliberate choices can be made instead of mindless reactions. This awareness can help
me concentrate better and do better in school. Mindfulness appears to foster emotional
equilibrium, kindness, and compassion in an enigmatic way. These characteristics aid in
the learning process.