Joshua C. Felver and Nirbhay N. Singh: Mindfulness in the Classroom: an Evidence-Based Program to Reduce Disruptive Behaviors and Increase Academic Engagement. New Harbinger Publications, Inc., Oakland, California, 2020, 205 pp

Excerpt

A classroom is a place where two entities, teachers and students, meet to achieve a common goal. Teachers come to teach and students come (willingly or unwillingly) to learn. In this transaction between teaching and learning, competency and compassion is needed from the teachers, and concentration and cooperation is expected from the students. However, students with emotional and behavioral difficulties do not learn well, and students without emotional or behavioral difficulties cannot learn well because of the chaos in the classroom. Sandwiched between these two groups is the helpless teacher stressed out from the disturbance in the classroom. Teachers report disciplinary problems being the main reason for reduced instructional time, teachers’ emotional stress and exhaustion, and teacher retention and turnover. What happens in the school does not stay at the school. Teachers and students take home their stress, which negatively impacts their relationship with others at home. It appears that schools have resorted to an easy way out through expulsion and suspension to deal with inappropriate student behaviors. …