"New News" from The Hawn Foundation

Cognitive Neuroscience and MindUP 

Goldie Hawn recently visited the lab of Dr. Amishi Jha, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami, Flordia. (See http://www.amishi.com/lab/.) Dr. Jha investigates the neural bases of attention, working memory, and the effects of mindfulness training. She also serves as a scientific adviser for The Hawn Foundation. Goldie met with Dr. Jha, philanthropist Stuart Miller, Alex Daily, Dr. Pascal J. Goldschmidt, Dean of the Miller School of Medicine at UM, and Dr. Rod Wellens, Psychology Department Chair at UM to discuss Amishi's research on the cognitive neuroscience of mindfulness training and the link between her work and the aims of The Hawn Foundation. Goldie also explored the Jha Cognitive Neuroscience Brainwave Recording. With Dr. Jha, the foundation is planning to research the MindUP program as implemented in the Miami-Dade school district and examine the influence of MindUP on students from an empirical neuroscience-based perspective. Our hope is that this intersecton of cognitive neuroscience research and MindUP will make a substantial contribution to the knowledge and understanding of educators, scientists, and the general public regarding the beneficial effects of mindfulness.

Judy Willis and Marc Meyer at Learning & the Brain Conference

Learning & the Brain has been bringing neuroscientists and educators together since 1999 to explore new research on the brain and learning and its implications for education by providing educaitonal conferences, symposia, and summer institutes on the latest in neuroscience and psychology and their potential applications to teachers in their classrooms. On February 16, Dr. Judy Willis (see her website RADTeach) and Dr. Marc Meyer presented a four-hour workshop at the "Educating the Whole Child/Student" conference in San Francisco sponsored by Learning & the Brain. Nearly 1500 neuroscience researchers, public and independent school teachers and administrators, and others attended the three-day event. With their "Whole Child-Mind Interventions for Successful Students: What Research Tells Us about the Impact of Emotion," Judy and Marc presented a variety of strategies focused on engaging students in the classroom, reducing stress, and readying a child's brain for learning. About 150 people attended the workshop.

A MindUP Workshop in Pacoima, California

With a grant from Communities in Schools, which was garnered by its Los Angeles Chapter President, Bobby Arias, The Hawn Foundation had the opportunity to bring MindUP to a group of 65 teachers and administrators at Pacoima Charter School in Pacoima, California, on February 6th and 7th. This predominately Latino school serves 800 neighborhood children and other kids from the area in Pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. David Moreno, the school's full-time social worker, was instrumental in orchestrating two workshops--one for the school's leadership team and another for its full faculty and staff. Moreno will also serve as Pacoima Charter School's MindUP School Coordinator. Teachers were impressed with how MindUP would teach the children those skills necessary to focus attention and reduce anxiety and stress, and left the workshop with a clear plan to begin the MindUP program immediately. Just in time for this year's round of high-stakes testing that will take place in about six weeks' time. Many felt that the "Core Practice" of focused attention/mindful breathing would really benefit the children.

MindUP is brought to Miami-Dade School District

With the support and encouragement of Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, Rebecca Calos, MindUP Consultant and Associate Director of the Northeast Region, and Dr. Marc Meyer traveled to Miami, Florida to conduct MindUP workshops at two Miami-Dade public schools on February 3rd. The Teacher Training Workshops were held at the Coconut Palm Academy and William Lehman Elementary School--both known throughout the district for their inspired school leaders and dynamic and devoted teachers. Since the weather in Miami was nothing less than glorious, a number of workshop activities focused on the MindUP curriculum, such as Lessons 8 and 9 that involve mindful movement, were done outside--much to the delight of all participants. Dr. Linda Amica-Roberts, principal of Coconut Palm, remarked that her teachers were totally absorbed in the workshop and could not wait to implement the program with their students. A total of about 130 teachers and administrators attended the two trainings. And between them, Coconut Palm and William Lehman are home to about 1800 elementary and middle school students. Principal Maria Cruz was very happy that MindUP would be a part of Lehman Elementary School, especially given its focus on a variety of skills from which students will derive great benefits in the realm of social and emotional learning. 

Teacher Training at the Chidren First Academies in Phoenix

On January 28th, The Hawn Foundation had the privilege of conducting a MindUP Workshop for teachers from two charter schools in Phoenix, Arizona. The Children First Academies of Tempe and Phoenix are unique K-8 schools because they serve a very distinct student population. They are schools for homeless and underprivileged children operating in the Valley of the Sun. Under the direction of the Sequoia Schools, the two academies serve about 500 at-risk children, and especially go to extraordinary lengths to fill the needs of the homeless. They pick up students from shelters and tempoary housing to attend school each day. They offer meals, organize volunteer health and dental care, have clothing rooms, and organize food drives for the children's families. And needless to say, they teach to high academic standards.

MindUP was brought ot the Children First Academies through the generosity of the Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation. Principals Dan Cooper (Tempe campus) and Donna Driggers (Phoenix campus), along with 25 teachers attended the workshop conducted by Dr. Marc Meyer. Also in attendance were some special guests: Dr. Marilyn Seymann, Executive Director of the Halle Foundation; Debra Esparza, Senior Associate for Operations, and Janet Kington, Senior Associate for Integrated Systems, of  the Arizona Girl Scouts;. and, John Whiteman, CEO of the Whiteman Foundation. Participants were spellbound while learning about our evidence-based program and the neuroscience behind it and thoroughly enjoyed learning about the curriculum through hands-on activities.

New Partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago 

The Hawn Foundation has entered into a new, vibrant partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago. Our collaboration was kicked off on 6 January with a MindUP Training Workshop for the 16 Club directors and other staff members conducted by Dr. Marc Meyer and Marilyn Perlman. Also attending from the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago were James Keane, President and CEO, and Jeffrey Sadowski, Vice President of Operations. The Hawn Foundation previously implemented MindUP in a Boys and Girls Club in Newark, New Jersey as well as a YMWCA in Akron, Ohio. With the help of our partners in the youth services field, it is the Foundation's intention to develop a version of the MindUP Curriculum focusing on children's wellbeing and happiness geared to after school programming. We are also pleased to announce that Goldie Hawn has been appointed to the National Board of Governors of the Boys and Girls Club, and joins the likes of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, baseball legend Ken Griffey, Jr., and philanthropist Lewis Katz.

Teacher Training Workshop in Basalt, Colorado

On 2 January, Dr. Marc Meyer and Dr. Charlene Myklebust conducted a MindUP Teacher Training Workshop for the faculty of Basalt Elementary School in Basalt, Colorado. Kathy Hegberg, founder of the Snowmass Counseling Center and Lucia Puchalski, a teacher at the school and now the MindUP Coordinator, assissted in the day-long training. One of the largest schools in the Aspen Valley region, Basalt Elementary has about 750 students in kindergarten through fourth grade. The school was awarded the 2011 Governor's Distinguished Improvement prize (awarded annually to only 8% of Colorado's public schools), which no doubt was a result of the hard work of Principal Suzanne Wheeler-Del Piccolo and her dedicated and talented faculty. The workshop was funded by a grant from the Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation. Participants were especially excited to hear about how MindUP is anchored in neuroscience and how they can engage students more fully in regular classroom activities through brain-based learning and teaching strategies. As an added surprise, Goldie Hawn, founder of The Hawn Foundation, stopped by to wish everyone a Happy New Year and to express her thanks to all of the Basalt Elementary School's 65 teachers for bringing MindUP to their students. To read more about The Hawn Foundation's workshop, see the recent article in The Aspen Times.

Newark's Mayor Cory Booker Visits Oliver Street School

On December 20th Newark’s dynamic mayor, Cory Booker, spent the morning at Oliver Street School. At the invitation of Principal Havier Nazario and Dr. Marc Meyer of The Hawn Foundation, Mayor Booker observed and participated in MindUP activities in second, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms. 

After being greeted by three seventh-grade students, Mayor Booker was whisked away to participate in a MindUP “brain break” with Ms. DaCosta’s fourth-graders. His student chaperons then guided him to Ms. Costeira’s second grade classroom, where Mr. Booker was treated to a fun MindUP lesson on nerve cells in the brain. The children and their special guest actually became neurons and pretended to send various sensory messages to the brain through dendrites and synapses!

A natural in the classroom, Mayor Booker spoke with Ms. Rodriques’s fourth graders about the choice they had to manage their emotions or let emotion take control of them. “You can be either a thermometer or a thermostat. One of the things you can control in this life is how you respond to the things around you. Don’t just get all heated up about what happens, act like a thermostat and guide your emotions,” the Mayor said.

Mayor Booker has been a staunch supporter of The Hawn Foundation’s efforts to bring MindUP to Newark school children. So far, about 400 teachers from 15 schools have participated in the Foundation’s professional development workshops, where educators learn about MindUP and the neuroscientific and social and emotion learning underpinnings of the program as well as experience the MindUP Curriculum first-hand. In Association with Newark Public Schools, The Hawn Foundation will conduct five new on-site school workshops in January and February.

Pilot Program in Chicago Public School District

Through a generous grant from the Joseph Perlman Family Foundation, Glencoe, Illinois, The MindUP Curriculum is now being implemented in two public schools as a part of a pilot program to disseminate MindUP in the Chicago area. Sauganash Elementary School and Pershing West Middle School were chosen to participate in the study and will implement the program throghout the 2011-2012 academic year. Nearly 75 teachers and administrators were trained in MindUP over two days of professional development workshops conducted by Dr. Marc Meyer and Rebecca Calos, Associate Director of The Hawn Foundation's North East Regional Center. Becky is also a middle school teacher at Brown School, Schenectady, New York.

New Research on MindUP

After a year spent implementing MindUP and infusing it throughout its curriculum, the J. Erik Jonsson Community School of Dallas, Texas has released an in-house study of the effectiveness of the program. Using the MindUP Evaluation Toolkit and a few measures it adapted from other sources, this study looked at changes in peer acceptance for students in the 3s program through 3rd grade while the 4th and 5th grade students were evaluated for changes in peer acceptance, empathy, perspective taking, mindfulness and happiness. (Click here for a copy of the report.)

MindUP Trainings in Australia 

On December 6 through 9, Graham Watts, The Hawn Foundation UK’s program director, and Dr. Marc Meyer traveled to Brisbane Australia and conducted two MindUP workshops. Sponsored by The Benevolent Society, a two-day workshop was held for 25 participants to give staff and teachers a firm grounding in the MindUP program, which they will implement with young children and their families. Our first foray into Australia was followed a day later by a one-day workshop held at the Sesame Lane Child Centre in Kippa Ring, located just outside of Brisbane. About 25 faculty and administrators from Sesame Lane were joined by Other interested educators and clinicians from other Australian cities joined the 25 faculty and administrators from Sesame Lane to experience and gain first-hand knowledge of The MindUP Curriculum. Dr. Meyer was also invited to address to a group of local dignitaries and educators at a special breakfast meeting, during which he spoke about MindUP and the potential for a revolution in education by means of brain-based learning and teaching and mindfulness.

Marian University and THF Sponsor a Two-Day MindUP Regional Workshop

The Hawn Foundation and the School of Education faculty at Marian University of Indianapolis came together in October 2011 with great success, facilitating a conference and workshop that opened university students and educators minds and hearts to the impact of mindful education and the neuroscience of learning through MindUP by integrating presentations and workshop activities that informed students and teachers about the brain and ways to be responsive rather than reactive through positive social and emotional experience. Hosted by Dr. Lori Desautels, the conference featured a wide variety of keynote speeches by Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl of the University of British Columbia, psychologist Dr. Shefali Tsabary, Dr. Patricia Jennings of Penn State University, Dr. Marc Meyer of The Hawn Foundation, and Dr. Linden Hill of Marian University. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that optimism, feelings of success, and a sense of wellbeing begins and ends with “serving another” through everyday experiences.

Children at young ages teach us about compassion, but somewhere along the way, this sense of joy and compassion is forgotten and shelved. The plasticity, power, and training of the brain allows us to imagine, create, and live the lives we center our thoughts upon. The Hawn Foundation’s Professor Lori Desautels’ new book, How May I Serve You? Revelations in Education (to be published in February 2012), discusses these mindful instructional practices integrating the power of perspective, storytelling, and service inside our homes and classrooms. (Click here.)