Saturday, August 18, 2018

Mindful Observation


This week, I am writing about mindful observation – observing with increased awareness and presence.  Let’s start by being present in this moment, wherever you are, while you are reading this blog.  Breathe in slowly.  Breathe out slowly.  Pause.  Center yourself.  Now notice.  What do you see? Look around.  Pause.  What do you hear? Any subtle smells?  Do you feel your back against the chair? Your feet on the floor?  Intentionally raise your awareness of your senses and pause before reading on.  How do you feel?

When teaching, the onslaught of sounds, movement, and decisions bombards us, with little time available to process.  Observing, however, provides an opportunity to mindfully attend to what is going on in the classroom.  Jon Kabat-Zinn* defines mindfulness as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of an experience.”  Even if judgment will come, it can wait until you have genuinely experienced the moment. 

Being mindful is about being fully present where you are and how it feels to be there.  When we are mindful, we are open to new information and aware of more than one perspective.  When we make ourselves mindfully present during observations, we pay attention to aspects of the environment that we might otherwise overlook.  Being mindful helps us delve deeper and challenge moment-to-moment judgments.  We become aware of our assumptions.  We take stock of how we are feeling and become more attuned to how others are feeling. 

Achieving mindfulness in the midst of commotion

Much like the exercise at the beginning of this post, I encourage you to pause and become mindful, multiple times, during an observation.  If you’re like me, your fingers are flying on the keyboard while you observe, trying to absorb everything that happens.  However, that very preoccupation can keep me from being completely present.  Without missing too much in my notes, I can purposefully pause, center myself, and do a “sense check,” attending to all that is going on around me.  Turn my head, shift my position.  Listen for more than just words.  After this expectant pause, I can go back to notetaking and capture the richer, broader experience of being in this lesson, in this classroom.

Reflecting mindfully through writing

Soon after an observation, give yourself a few minutes for reflective writing, while all is still fresh.  Four minutes is enough.  Really.  You just need to capture those fleeting feelings while they are fresh.  Challenge your judgments.  Step back from instinctive reactions.  Look deeper.  Scan your body and mind for impressions and write these down.  Notice your emotions and concerns.  Mindful writing increases perceptiveness and discernment and supports our reasoning.**

Use your notes from during and after the observation to write to the teacher whose class you’ve observed.  Share with her an important insight you gained while in the classroom.  This initial communication can open opportunities for deep thinking together during a debrief. 

Share mindful observation with others

Once you have some practice with mindful observation, share the practice with others.  Give the teacher who will observe you some tips for how to observe mindfully.  What has worked for you?  When the teacher you are modeling for observes mindfully, your demonstration lesson will be more powerful.

As mindful observation spreads throughout your school, you might notice an increased focus, more openness, and a certain sense of calm, even amidst the busy, decision-packed moments of the everyday.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Notice.    

* Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice,10, 144–156.

** I am indebted to Nicole Damico and Anne Whitney for their thoughts on Mindful Writing.  See Damico, N., & Whitney, A. E. (2017). Turning off autopilot: Mindful writing for teachers. Voices From the Middle, 25(2), 37-40.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

Growing as a coach by providing powerful feedback:



Teach on the first day:



Building independence so teachers can confer during reading workshop:



Helping teachers deal with the emotional side of change:



Beat beginning-of-school-year stress:


That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

Was this helpful?  Please share!
Want to know about new posts? Click “Follow” (bottom right)


Like on Facebook at: facebook.com/mycoachescouch for more coaching and teaching tips!


2 comments: