Dear All

I had hoped that this would appear a little earlier in the year but I am confident that many of you are familiar with the demands of term time life! I hope this finds you well.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to draw your attention to some events that may be of interest to you.

Firstly, after a very successful Contemplative Pedagogy Symposium at Emerson College in November 2014 we have started making plans for our next event. Although the details are yet to be confirmed the dates are: 12th-14th June 2015 at Emerson College in East Sussex, UK. Arrival is from 4.30pm onwards on the Friday, leaving after lunch on the Sunday. The focus of the weekend will be on exploring different ways of utilising contemplative practice in education. There will be lots of opportunity for discussion and sharing as well as engaging in contemplative practice.  We hope that the weekend will lead to increased confidence in utilising contemplative pedagogy in the classroom and lecture hall; a deeper awareness of what it is and it’s value; and stronger connections with others who have similar ideas about teaching.

We aim to keep costs as low as possible – we hope that it will be below £240 including accommodation and food.

As the plan for the weekend develops I may well be looking for volunteers to run sessions about their experience of using contemplative practice in the classroom. I will let you know.

So please pencil this event into your diaries and I will let you have more details in due course.

Secondly, I received an email from Amir Freimann, who is based in Israel, several months ago and we have since spoken on Skype. He is working on a project called the Teacher’s Path, which explores the potential of teaching as a path of personal development and growth, and as part of this he has organised a week long retreat for teachers in Israel in April 2015. Unfortunately I cannot make the retreat but the work he is doing is very interesting. Do take a look.

Just a reminder that if you would like to write a short blog (up to 600 words) I’d be happy to receive your contributions. This might be describing activities you are doing in the classroom, reflecting on your experience of utilising contemplative practice in your teaching or perhaps a book review or suggestions of useful resources.

I think we can learn alot from each others experience, especially in an area as undeveloped and unexplored as this one. Remember too that you can also use the email list to ask questions or explore pertinent issues. If you are not signed up for the email list let me know – barrattc@essex.ac.uk and I will add you.

With warm wishes

Caroline