Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Cultivating a Culture of Learning: Contemplative Practices, Pedagogy, and Research in Education

Cultivating a Culture of Learning: Contemplative Practices, Pedagogy, and Research in Education illustrates portraits of practice from a variety of teacher education programs, bringing together a rich collection of voices from diverse settings. Authors share their first-hand experience of cultivating a culture of learning as teacher educators and employing contemplative practices in their work with educators. Contemplative practices, pedagogy, and research are analyzed as essential components of cultivating cultures of learning in classrooms. Several chapters offer innovative models, pedagogy, and courses utilizing contemplative practices. The authors in this book advocate and express the importance of creating spaces where the inner life and qualities such as intuition, creativity, silence, and heart-centered learning are valued and work in partnership with cognitive and rational ways of knowing and being in the world. Authors explore challenges faced institutionally, with students, and personally. The insights and challenges shared in these portraits of practice are intended to stimulate conversation and engender future pedagogy and research in the field of contemplative education. Review Byrnes, Dalton, & Dorman have managed to achieve throughout their 3-volume, edited collection, ideas both practical and inspiring. They offer the reader great scope and depth in describing contemplative practices from a variety of settings and perspectives. Teacher educators will understand more deeply what contemplative education is, ways to incorporate its practices, and why it is so valuable in supporting teacher education students and practicing teachers. Throughout the chapters, they provide the tools for self-transformation through experiences that move the soul, awaken the heart, and strengthen pedagogical thinking.--Sandra Finney PhD, author of "Strong Spirits, Kind Hearts," coauthor of "The Way of the Teacher" Kathryn Byrnes, Jane E. Dalton, and Elizabeth Hope Dorman are to be commended for this vitally required three-volume series for the field of contemplative education. The series offers abundant riches in theory, application, and research for teacher education. It is widely understood, if not applied, that if schools are to avoid becoming increasingly irrelevant and ineffective in an age of distraction, anxiety, and superficiality, then how we educate educators has to change. At a time where, on a global scale, radical changes in K-12 curricula are occurring, these volumes are indeed welcome. Doubling down on instructional strategies, e-learning devices, and content expertise miss the point entirely: we need to attend to the inner lives of aspiring teachers so they in turn can foster a learning environment that honors both the interior and exterior world of students. The three-volume work edited by Byrnes, Dalton, and Dorman fills a timely need to apply the principles and processes of contemplative inquiry to pre-service teacher education. Today's teacher education needs to include contemplative orientations to address the challenges of pre-service teachers becoming more fully human and to offer specific contemplative foundations and approaches for those who design and teach in pre-service programs. The essays in these volumes will be valuable to both faculty and the pre-service teachers themselves. Drawing from a rich and eclectic range of teacher education programs infused with various contemplative practices, the first volume, Cultivating a Culture of Learning: Contemplative Practice, Pedagogy, and Research in Education, serves as an extremely useful primer. The editors and authors outline the many benefits contemplative orientations and pedagogies offer, reminding us that teaching and learning "at its best is one of the most elemental of human exchanges," one that requires "all dimensions of human awareness and action." Contemplative approaches allow us to deepen the inquiry into self, self-with-o