As The Hawn Foundation’s signature educational initiative, MindUP™ is anchored in current research in cognitive neuroscience, evidence-based classroom pedagogy, best-practices mindful education, precepts of social and emotional learning (SEL), and guiding principles of positive psychology. MindUP™ is a family of social, emotional, and attentional self-regulatory strategies and skills developed for cultivating well-being and emotional balance. Among the various MindUP™ skills taught to students, focused attention and nonreactive monitoring of experience from moment to moment display the potential to have a long-term impact on brain function and social and emotional behavior.

The SEL framework guiding MindUP™ was developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), a research-focused organization whose mission is to “establish social and emotional learning as an essential part of education.”

MindUP™ features lessons to improve behavior and learning for children. The lessons fit easily into any schedule and can be implemented with minimal preparation. Classroom management tips and content-based activities are also provided to assist educators in using MindUP™ throughout their classrooms. Our program provides children with emotional and cognitive tools to help them manage emotions and behaviors, reduce stress, sharpen concentration, and increase empathy and optimism.

The Hawn Foundation is pleased to announce that it will conduct a one-day Regional Workshop on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17^TH in Saratoga, California. The Workshop will run from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.

MindUP features lessons to improve behavior and learning for children. The lessons fit comfortably into any schedule and can be implemented with ease. Classroom management tips and content-based activities are also provided to assist educators in using MindUP throughout the school. The program provides children with emotional and cognitive tools to help them manage emotions and behaviors, reduce stress, sharpen concentration, and increase empathy and optimism.

In this one-day Workshop, the theoretical and pedagogical foundations of MindUP will be explored. Practical, hands-on implementation strategies and actual MindUP lessons will be examined in grade-level breakout sessions. Participants in the MindUP workshop can expect to:

• Learn how to implement MindUP in the classroom;
• Become familiar with the theoretical and pedagogical foundations of MindUP;
• Experience first-hand the MindUP curriculum through interactive learning;
• Develop an acquaintance with how MindUP supports children’s acquisition of skills to recognize and manage emotions, develop concern for others, make responsible decisions, and maintain positive relationships;
• Learn how to integrate the principles and concepts of MindUP into standards-based or core curricula;
• Evaluate and manage the efficacy of MindUP;
• Explore a variety of topics and issues focused on SEL, mindful education and The MindUP curriculum.

TO REGISTER, ACCESS THE HAWN FOUNDATION WEBSITE AT WWW.THEHAWNFOUNDATION.ORG AND GO TO “UPCOMING EVENTS” ON THE HOMEPAGE. CLICK ON “MindUP Regional Workshop, Saratoga Unified School District, CA Nov 17 2012” 

OR

REGISTER DIRECTLY AT: http://mindupsaratoga.doattend.com

For more information, please contact Dr. Marc A. Meyer, Director of Educational Programs and Initiatives at [email protected].

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012, ASPEN, COLORADO  --- After a rigorous, multi-year study of social and emotional learning programs developed for schools in the United States, the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) announced last week that MindUP™, the signature educational program of The Hawn Foundation, was chosen as a CASEL SELect Program.

Research has shown that MindUP™ improves individual student learning and well-being in and out of school by helping children develop self-awareness, resiliency, and empathy, and by teaching them how to manage their emotions, stress, and anxiety.  Kids with these skills have the ability to be happier and more optimistic, and to achieve a higher level of success in and out of school.

Award-winning actor, director, producer, author and children’s advocate Goldie Hawn launched The Hawn Foundation, a non-profit 501(C)(3), in 2003. The Hawn Foundation is a philanthropic and charitable organization providing on-going support for initiatives to rejuvenate public and independent education and empower children to learn with eagerness and confidence. TheMindUP™ program transforms how children learn and how teachers teach.

CASEL, based in Chicago, is the nation’s leading organization advancing the teaching of academic, social and emotional skills. Through research, practice, and policy, it collaborates to ensure that all students from preschool through high school have the opportunity to master these skills.

CASEL released the 2013 CASEL Guide on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on September 20, with Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), a champion of social and emotional learning and author of the Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Act of 2011. Joining Biggert was Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), a co-sponsor of the legislation, whose book A Mindful Nation was published last year. “It’s not enough that kids know how to pass tests and follow rules,” Biggert said. “To be successful in life, and in school, they need to understand how to relate to others and themselves, and to make responsible decisions.”

The 2013 CASEL Guide: Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs (Preschool and Elementary School Edition) identifies 23 school-based programs that promote students’ self-control, relationship-building and problem-solving, among other competencies. The report is the first comprehensive review of its kind in nearly a decade. MindUP is now one of these exceptional programs.

“Being selected by CASEL as one of the premier SEL programs in the United States is a tremendous honor,” Goldie Hawn said. “I am very grateful to all the wonderful teachers, scholars, researchers and children who helped create MindUP™. It is beautiful to witness the culmination of such hard work and dedication in our new partnership with CASEL.”

Goldie Hawn’s bestselling book Ten Mindful Minutes, which focuses on how MindUP™ can be used in the home, is now out in paperback.

To learn more about The Hawn Foundation and its MindUP™ program, go to www.thehawnfoundation.org. For CASEL and read the 2013 CASEL Guide to SELect Programs, access www.casel.org.

For further information please contact:

Dr. Marc A. Meyer, Director of Education and Strategic Partnerships

([email protected]; 518.387.9006

Dear All,

I wanted to let you know that on 5-7 October 2012, a joint workshop on MindUP and CARE (http://www.care4teachers.org/) will be hosted by the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.

Teaching is one of the most rewarding professions. But it can also be one of the most difficult. Standardized testing, the necessity of developing new tactics of classroom management, and the need to work with students increasingly impacted by poverty, violence, and social dysfunction can add up to a highly stressful environment for teachers.

Studies show that helping teachers cope with such stress effectively does more than reduce burnout; it also allows them to be role models for healthy social and emotional behavior and improves educational outcomes for students. Children, of course, can suffer from life’s stresses and anxieties as well, which can make it difficult for them to achieve their full potential and for teachers to maintain a safe and nurturing learning environment. This workshop with Marc A. Meyer and Patricia Jennings addresses these issues by introducing educators to two innovative, evidence-based programs, Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) and MindUP™.

We learn CARE’s techniques to reduce stress, improve mental concentration and emotional awareness, and facilitate responsiveness. Developed for children in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, MindUP™ complements the classroom model of CARE.

Registration is online at: http://www.eomega.org/workshops/transformational-schools#-workshop-description-block