Why come?
Join fellow educators for an inspiring and innovative 2-day event led by Tineke Spruytenburg and Claude Acher, two pillars of Wake Up Schools, a non-religious and non-sectarian initiative of Thich Nhat Hanh and his Plum Village community. This workshop will give you new ideas and strategies for supporting the development of balance and wellness for students, teachers and the wider school community.
Registration
Individuals:
Early-bird rate – €160 (until September 22)
Regular rate – €190 (after September 22)
Group rate (3 or more):
Group rate - €175
Event details
Who should attend
For K-12 Educators
This interactive workshop will give you strategies and methods for your own use as well as for use with students of all ages who may be experiencing anxiety related to transition between cultures or from academic and social stress. Tineke Spruytenburg and Claude Acher will share their vast experiences gained as teachers and trainers of international educators and collaborators of the book “Happy Teachers Change the World” (Thich Nhat Hanh/Plum Village approach to mindfulness in education). Their sessions will provide practical guidance for cultivating mindfulness in education.
This event is about bringing focus and calm to the classroom, to teachers and to individual students, while helping you to acquire the tools needed to sustain a culture of focus and learning.
Workshop Goals:
participants will acquire a clear understanding of the potential of mindfulness in their own (professional) life
participants will be offered practical tools for implementing mindfulness in their daily life, the classroom and the school environment
participants will have opportunities to share and inspire each other
Programme Overview:
The programme will consist of sessions around different topics, including:
theory based on recent research
practical mindfulness exercises
time for reflection and sharing experiences
teachers sharing the mindfulness strategies they use in the classroom
time for discussion, questions and feedback
The programme will include:
Different aspects of the mind when cultivating mindfulness and increasing the capacity to pay attention: what happens in the mind when we strive to be mindful? How can we take care of our own and our pupils emotions in order to be able to change our habitual energy and act in a way that has a positive impact on the situation?
Specific challenges and opportunities that arise when practising mindfulness in education: the numbers of people and schools involved in mindfulness in education are rising rapidly. Research in this area has allowed us to profit from the knowledge and experience of others and increase our success when practising mindfulness with our pupils.
Cultivating mindfulness in ourselves: we have to practise what we preach. A teacher who is trying to convey mindfulness to his pupils only in words, and not in actions, will not likely be very successful. Our own focus and attention deeply influences the atmosphere in the classroom.
Cultivating mindfulness in our pupils and classrooms: how can we start to implement mindfulness in our classroom? How can we improve existing mindfulness programmes? What can we learn from others?
Cultivating mindfulness across our school community: how can we create favourable conditions for mindfulness in an educational setting?
Schedule
8:00 – 8:30 Light breakfast (arrival/registration)
8:30 – 10:30 Session
10:30 – 11:00 Morning break
11:00 – 12:30 Session
12:30 – 13:15 Lunch
13:15 – 14:30 Session
14:30 – 15:00
Afternoon break
15:00 – 16:00 Session
Featured speaker
Tineke Spruytenburg
Author, Teacher, Speaker
Tineke Spruytenburg studied Pedagogy at the University of Leiden (1989) and completed her training in Special Education at the Department for Special Education (1985).
In 2002, after an exciting academic career, she became a primary school teacher. Since then she has worked in primary, special primary and, from 2008, in special education (cluster 4).
Tineke received her most influential training during a stay of two years in the Practice Centre Plum Village of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh in southwestern France. From September 2005 to August 2007 she practiced the art of mindful living amid the monastic followers of this world famous Zen master.
While staying at Plum Village, she was trained as a provider of children’s programmes, which are organized through major retreats. She is part of the core group who collaborated in the production of “Happy Teachers Change the World”. She was also colaborated in the production of the book “Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children” Having returned to the Netherlands, she continues her work with the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbröl, Germany, which also belongs to the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. She is an apprentice Dharma teacher.
Tineke provides guidance at the request of parents/guardians for individual children and children’s mindfulness groups. She also coaches individual teachers who want to integrate the practice of mindfulness in their daily life and work.
Claude Acker
Teacher, Certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction trainer.
Claude Acker, until recently, worked as a French teacher at a secondary school in The Hague. He runs a practice for meditation and mindfulness. Claude is a certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction trainer. His mission is to help people heal themselves and create a happy and fulfilled life for themselves.
Claude has (co-)organised several international retreats and works closely with the Plum village monastics during six to eight weeks each year. Together with Tineke Spruytenburg he has hosted workshops in Dutch schools on mindfulness. They organised two international mindfulness in education retreats and are currently planning the third one.
Suggested reading and video
Claude and Tinkeke suggest that participants might like to read Happy Teachers Change the World and/or watch this video.