Foreword by Richard Brady, President, Mindfulness in Education Network Introduction Chapter 1. Why Mindfulness? The School Leader's Life A School Leader Practicing Mindfulness Benefits of Practice What Is Mindfulness? Why Do Leaders Need a Mindfulness Practice? Leadership Challenges to Our Sector Knowing When to Disengage and Recharge How Stress Shapes Our Brains Mindfulness for Educational Leaders Your Leadership Practice Matters A Leader With a Growing Mindfulness Practice First Steps: You've Got to Practice Portraits of Practice Chapter 2. The Science of Mindfulness Practice Snapshot: A School Leader Practicing Mindfulness The Science of Mindfulness Stress: A Public Health Risk for Educators Mindfulness Alleviates Stress in the Body and Mind Mindfulness Practice Aids Portraits of Practice Chapter 3. The Well-Focused School Leader A Sleepless Night for Jason Mindfulness and Attention Training Two Ways to Practice: Formal and Informal Mindfulness Practice Aids Mindful Attitudes How Much Practice Time? Practices That Complement Mindfulness Distraction: The New Normal and the School Leader's Dilemma Negativity Bias: Part of the School Leader's Dilemma The Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind The Myth of Multitasking Portraits of Practice Chapter 4. Communication and Connection: Powerful Skills of the Mindful School Leader Donna S.T.O.P.s Mindful Communication: Mindful Speaking, Mindful Listening Having Difficult Conversations Mindfulness Practice Aids Portraits of Practice Chapter 5. Reclaiming Our Wholeness: Four Educational Leaders Explore Mindfulness Portraits of Practice: Schools Leaders Practicing Mindfulness Mindfulness Practice Aids Chapter 6. Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence: Principles and Practices to Transform Your Leadership Life A Leader Fails to Notice A Leader Grows EQ Through Mindfulness Practice Mindfulness Practice Aids Portraits of Practice Chapter 7. Mindful Leadership in Action: Putting It All Together Fundamental Principles: The Evolution of the Leader Evolves the Team Stepping-Stones in Your Leadership Journey: Know Yourself What Mindfulness Practice Supports A Mindful Leader in Action: A Last Case Study Well-Being and Compassion at the Center of a New Educational Vision Mindfulness Practice Aids Portraits of Practice Appendix A: Books for the Mindful School Leader (Online Only) Appendix B: The (General) Mindful Library (Online Only) Appendix C: Mindfulness Apps-Our Top Picks (Online Only) Appendix D: Our Top Picks for Websites and Places to Practice Mindfulness (Online Only) Appendix E: Relevant, Recent Mindfulness Research in Education (Online Only) Appendix F: Comprehensive List of All Mindfulness Practice Aids in This Book (Online Only) Appendix G: Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Online Only)
In a world in which educational leaders report immense overwhelm at work and an almost unending sense of stress, this book offers explicit practices to help educational leaders learn to pay attention to themselves and their surroundings. Exploring recent research, as well as including practical suggestions on when to practice mindfulness, how to know if you are "doing it right" and how to fit into a busy work life, this guide shows school leaders how they can begin to create quiet and calm in their work lives so as to positively affect their schools, districts, staff and students.
Valerie Brown, JD, MA, PCC, transformed her high-pressure, twenty-year career as a lawyer lobbyist, representing educational institutions and nonprofits, to human-scale work with leaders and teams to foster trustworthy, compassionate, and authentic connections. She is an accredited leadership coach, international retreat leader, writer, and Chief Mindfulness Officer of Lead Smart Coaching, LLC (www.leadsmartcoaching.com), specializing in application and integration of mindfulness and leadership, and is a Co-Director of Georgetown's Institute for Transformational Leadership. She holds the following degrees: Juris Doctorate, Master of Arts, and Bachelor of Arts. Her books include The Road that Teaches: Lessons in Transformation through Travel (QuakerBridge Media, 2012) and the highly acclaimed, The Mindful School Leader: Practices to Transform Your Leadership and School (Corwin, 2014). Valerie's received extensive training from the Center for Courage & Renewal and Parker J. Palmer; the Institute for Transformational Leadership at Georgetown University; the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, & Society; the Center for Compassion Focused Therapy; the Ojai Foundation; the C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology (NYC); Chestnut Hill College (PA) Certificate in Holistic Spirituality; The Leadership Circle Profile (TM); and Transformational Educational Leadership. Valerie is an ordained Dharma Teacher in the Plum Village tradition founded by Thich Nhat Hanh and a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). As a certified kundalini yoga teacher, she helps leaders discover the wisdom of the body. She leads an annual transformational pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago, Spain, to celebrate the power of sacred places. Kirsten Olson is Chief Listening Officer at Old Sow Coaching and Consulting, where she works with education and learning-sector leaders nationally and internationally. She received a masters and doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is also the author Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up To Old School Culture (Teachers College Press, 2009) and Schools as Colonizers (Verlag, 2008). Kirsten is a founding board member of the Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA), a national not-for-profit organized to create greater educational equity, social justice, and to foster passionate learning.