Teaching with Joy: Educational Practices for the Twenty-First Century

This edited collection addresses the growing need for ideas and methods conducive to holistic educational practices and aims to encourage more personal growth in students too often distracted by the background noise of war, violence, racism, and environmental deterioration. The contributors are working teachers and professors who have integrated a degree of spirituality into a wide range of classes in both urban and rural settings across the US. This ground-breaking collection will provide practical advice about how to implement an ethical and spiritual curriculum while avoiding religious dogmatism.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 'I Feel Good Here': How to Create Harmonious Learning Environments
Chapter 3 Bodies in the Classroom
Chapter 4 Meditation in the Dance Studio
Chapter 5 Using Hatha Yoga Breathing Assignments: An Essay
Chapter 6 Awakening the Dragon: Qigong Practice in Literature Class
Chapter 7 Circles of Learning in the Women's Studies Class
Chapter 8 Using Silence to Promote Spiritual Growth
Chapter 9 How Mindfulness Can Help Us Become Better Communicators
Chapter 10 Words of Their Own
Chapter 11 Personal Narratives for Spiritual Understanding and Empowerment in the ESL Classroom
Chapter 12 Creating a Space
Chapter 13 The Invitation to Notice and Wonder: Caring About Ideas
Chapter 14 Writing Center Teaching: Learning How to Live Our Lives
Chapter 15 Kathleen Norris's Spiritual Guide to the Land: A Lesson in Geography and Spirituality
Chapter 16 Spirits Rooted in Place: Field Studies as Pedagogical Paradigm for Creating Change
Chapter 17 Joy in the Classroom
Chapter 18 Mindfulness in the Multicultural Classroom
Chapter 19 Celebrating Spiritual and Cultural Traditions in the University Classroom
Chapter 20 Assessing the Impact of Personal Beliefs and Values on Classroom Instruction
Chapter 21 In the Steps of Sojourner
Chapter 22 Honorable Intentions: Mindful Approaches to Teaching and Learning
Chapter 23 'My Personality is Where My Heart Is Stored': Building a Learning Community in the Classroom
Chapter 24 A Death in the Family: Coping with Student Death at School
Chapter 25 Writing from the Heart to Heal
Chapter 26 Communication on Education
Chapter 27 Conclusion

Sharon Shelton-Colangelo is associate professor of English at Northwest Vista College.

Carolina Mancuso is assistant professor of literacy at Brooklyn College.

Mimi Duvall is chair of the art department at Northwest Vista College.