Capturing the joy of learning moment to moment and facing the future with cheerful anticipation.

This is from Goldie Hawn's The Hawn Foundation. I've been interested in her work since I first heard her speaking of mindfulness.

The Optimistic Classroom

It takes both students and teachers to create an optimistic classroom. MindUP™ directly affects student learning, attitudes, and behaviors by imparting knowledge of how the brain works and through the acquisition of social and emotional skills and strategies and enhanced self-awareness. Children of the Optimistic Classroom are valued for who they are, experience a sense of belonging, understand others’ feelings and needs, have practice in resolving conflicts, and are ready to take on the day’s academic challenges.

Through the Optimistic Classroom as viewed through the lens of MindUP™, teachers can more easily manage the social and academic environment in which they spend the better part of their waking hours. By making mindful decisions and employing the same MindUP™ skills they teach children, educational professionals become more collaborative colleagues and better listeners and communicators. Ultimately, greater job satisfaction results.

A MindUP™ Optimistic Classroom is characterized by:

• Inquisitive young minds ready to learn in an environment that promotes academic success; 
• Growth of respect and personal regard as children learn to acknowledge the unique qualities of others, attentively listen to their concerns, and avoid arbitrary or negative reactions; 
• A rise in positive social exchanges among students and adult colleagues;
• Mutual support for individual effort; 
• Renewed partnerships with parents and families to promote children’s learning and growth; 
• Reduced teacher stress and vulnerability naturally associated with the challenges of the teaching profession;
• Facility to experiment with new approaches to academic content and classroom management.

As a kind of “unwritten code of mindful conduct,” MindUP™ helps students become more productive members of their class. To have happy, self-assured students and teachers means capturing the joy of learning moment to moment and facing the future with cheerful anticipation.

http://www.thehawnfoundation.org/theoptimisticclassroom