Education Week spoke to Tish Jennings about how teachers can cope with the tremendous challenges of teaching. “The social and emotional demands of the classroom are staggering. The teacher must build supportive relationships with 20-30 young people, with their own individual needs, desires, fears, and concerns, while these young people are learning how to manage social relationships between…
In its piece about how to effectively use systems change to realize social change, The Stanford Innovation Review calls the Compassionate Schools Project a “… systems change endeavor that has used thoughtful research and analysis to hone its approach.” From the article: “The message is clear: Our focus should be more on solving problems through creative collaboration, and less on…
In her acceptance speech for a prestigious teaching award, Meghann Clem Mattingly said of the Compassionate Schools Project, “I believe this to be more than a project. I believe this to be a movement. And being a part of this movement has been the biggest honor of my career yet.” Mattingly, who teaches at Louisville’s Cane Run School, received the ExCEL…
NPR station WHYY reported on a Baltimore program teaching mindfulness to school children there, and consulted Compassionate Schools Project’s Tish Jennings. From the story: “What if every time a kid acted out, he got sent to take some deep breaths, instead of detention? Well a program in Baltimore has been trying that out for the past few years, with…
From the story: “Newly armed with a doctorate in education, Stephanie Romero, executive director of the new nonprofit Awaken Pittsburgh, is developing curriculum for mindfulness with projects in various sites in the Pittsburgh area. During her studies — with a focus on mindfulness as a teacher — she discovered efforts to use meditative practices to…
NPR’s Morning Edition talks to Jennings about mindfulness in the classroom. From the story: Forty-six percent of teachers say they feel high daily stress. That’s on par with nurses and physicians. And roughly half of teachers agree with this statement: “The stress and disappointments involved in teaching at this school aren’t really worth it.” It’s…
The University of Virginia’s premier news outlet, UVA TODAY, featured the Compassionate Schools Project: “Students watch as pieces of glitter float furiously around inside a recently shaken jar. The glitter, their teacher tells them, is akin to their emotions; after being provoked, if they wait and give it time, the glittery chaos inside the jar…
The Compassionate Schools Project is pleased to announce a $1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The award will focus on evaluation, and complements funding for implementation in the upcoming year.
The Christian Science Monitor published an in-depth story on the Compassionate Schools Project. One of the teachers, Miss Clem, commented on the difference with this type of instruction, “How many times as a teacher have I said, ‘Sit up and focus,’ when I’ve never once given you the definition of what focus means?” Now, she’s showing them what it feels like…
In “The Mindful Classroom,” Time highlighted the Compassionate Schools Project curriculum being implemented in Louisville, Kentucky classrooms. From the article, by Mandy Oaklander for Time: Some Experts Think Mindfulness is the Antidote to Distraction, Misbehaving—Even Poor Math Scores. Are They On to Something? Christina Johnson’s Classroom must be the most peaceful place at Cane Run Elementary School in Louisville, Ky. Instead of…
