{"id":1006,"date":"2011-08-24T10:38:20","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T15:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/?p=1006"},"modified":"2011-08-24T10:38:20","modified_gmt":"2011-08-24T15:38:20","slug":"a-necessary-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/a-necessary-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"A Necessary Failure?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Circle<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the past year or two I've become increasingly interested in the idea of contemplative pedagogy. This is the notion that we can foster a more thoughtful way of living and learning in our students and in ourselves by cultivating reflective and meditative practices in our teaching.<\/p>\n

To this end, I've relished the opportunity to engage in a series of discussions on this topic with faculty, and I've challenged myself to incorporate contemplative practices into these sessions whenever appropriate.<\/p>\n

Most recently I had the opportunity to lead a short discussion with participants in the Faculty Communities of Teaching Scholars<\/a>. Our theme this year is \"Promoting Critical Thinking and Self-Authorship in the First Two Years.\" Contemplative practices seem like a perfect fit for developing self-authorship, and so once again I attempted to teach by example. As we were thinking so intensely about our students' needs and capacities, I decided to conduct a loving-kindness meditation. Also known as Metta Bhavana<\/a>, this is an ancient practice from the Buddhist tradition. I modified the typical practice to focus specifically on our students.<\/p>\n

In some ways, I may have been overreaching. I am not a practicing Buddhist, and more to the point I had never done Metta Bhavana before. Nevertheless, I went forward with it. I even went so far as to rearrange our classroom into a configuration more conducive to the practice. <\/p>\n

I was fairly pleased with the results. Certainly I did get some good feedback from the participants, with at least one person saying she repeated the practice later on her own time. That's wonderful.<\/p>\n

All the same, in some ways I consider the exercise at least a partial failure. The problem was not the practice itself, I think, so much as what followed. I was so intent on preparing for the Metta Bhavana itself that I did not attend to the context. I failed to make a strong connection between the meditative practice and the larger conversations that had been emerging in the classroom over the previous days. That left some participants wondering what to make of it all.<\/p>\n

But if this was a failure, at least it was an educational and perhaps necessary one. I learned a valuable lesson. Several in fact. Always attend the context. Always make the connection. When trying something new, don't neglect these important basics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past year or two I've become increasingly interested in the idea of contemplative pedagogy. This is the notion that we can foster a more thoughtful way of living and learning in our students and in ourselves by cultivating reflective and meditative practices in our teaching. To this end, I've relished the opportunity to ...continue reading \"A Necessary Failure?\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[132,204,209],"class_list":{"0":"post-1006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-integrative","7":"tag-facts","8":"tag-meditation","9":"tag-metta","10":"h-entry","11":"hentry","12":"h-as-article"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82MQk-ge","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12553,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/sotl-webinar\/","url_meta":{"origin":1006,"position":0},"title":"SoTL Webinar","author":"Bart Everson","date":"August 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"What does it mean to bring a contemplative approach to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning? That's the subject of an upcoming webinar from the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education. Contemplative Practices in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning A webinar with Patricia Owen-Smith Professor of Psychology and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transformative Banquet"","block_context":{"text":"Transformative Banquet","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/integrative\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Patti Owen-Smith","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.contemplativemind.org\/admin\/wp-content\/uploads\/pos-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10162,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/conversation-48\/","url_meta":{"origin":1006,"position":1},"title":"Conversation #48: Jane Compson on Contemplative Pedagogy in Online Course","author":"Bart Everson","date":"September 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Conversation #48 A conversation with Dr. Jane Compson of UW-Tacoma, on implementing a contemplative pedagogy in an online course. Dr. Compson got her PhD in Comparative Religion from the University of Bristol, and more recently got her second Masters in Philosophy, concentrating on bioethics, from Colorado State. She currently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CAT & Mouse: E-Learning"","block_context":{"text":"CAT & Mouse: E-Learning","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/online\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/background-313415.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/background-313415.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/background-313415.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/background-313415.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/background-313415.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15283,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/remote-mindfulness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1006,"position":2},"title":"Remote Mindfulness","author":"Bart Everson","date":"April 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's say that you used to begin class with a moment of silence. Or perhaps you incorporated some other elements of mindfulness or contemplative pedagogy into your teaching. Did those practices survive the transition to remote teaching this semester? Perhaps they fell by the wayside in the rush to get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CAT & Mouse: E-Learning"","block_context":{"text":"CAT & Mouse: E-Learning","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/online\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Contemplation-Green.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":757,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/beginning-with-silence\/","url_meta":{"origin":1006,"position":3},"title":"Beginning with Silence","author":"Bart Everson","date":"September 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this semester, after eleven years working in faculty development, I led my first session that didn't have anything to do with technology. The subject? A moment of silence. We began the session with a brief moment of silence, then I asked some questions to prompt a short discussion. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transformative Banquet"","block_context":{"text":"Transformative Banquet","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/integrative\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5959,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/pedagogy-for-self-and-planet\/","url_meta":{"origin":1006,"position":4},"title":"Pedagogy for Self and Planet","author":"Bart Everson","date":"March 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a workshop\/retreat for which combines two current CAT themes: contemplative pedagogy and the quest for sustainability. Contemplative Environmental Studies: Pedagogy for Self and Planet July 26 - August 1, 2015 Location: Lama Foundation, San Cristobal, New Mexico How can higher education best address global environmental challenges? How can we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Teaching & Learning Conferences"","block_context":{"text":"Teaching & Learning Conferences","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/teaching-learning-conferences\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2460,"url":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/xavier-faculty-react-to-sentipensante-pedagogy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1006,"position":5},"title":"Xavier Faculty React to Sentipensante Pedagogy","author":"Bart Everson","date":"November 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"For our seventh annual Fall Faculty Book Club, we read Sentipensante (Sensing\/Thinking) Pedagogy: Educating for Wholeness, Social Justice and Liberation by Laura I. Rend\u00f3n. At our final meeting, we asked our participating faculty to jot down some thoughts. Here is what they wrote. The book challenged traditional approaches to teaching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transformative Banquet"","block_context":{"text":"Transformative Banquet","link":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/topic\/integrative\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cat.xula.edu\/food\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}