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Today, I'm attending a session on Mindfulness in Legal Pedagogy sponsored by the Section on Teaching Methods (co-sponsored by Balance in Legal Education), moderated by @kywh, with @ElizFEmens, Peter Huang ( @ColoLaw), and @rvmagee. #AALS2021
Overall questions: What does mindfulness pedagogy mean to you? What does it look like in the classes you teach? And what are you learning about the value of mindfulness in light of the converging pandemics we are facing? #AALS2021
First up is @rvmagee, who will be giving an overview of how mindfulness might be incorporated into teaching & learning in all of our classrooms as well as into our institutional cultures. #AALS2021
She has been incorporating mindfulness into her teaching since 2004, and @usflaw has also incorporated it in various ways, including for faculty and staff. #AALS2021
Prof. Magee teaches torts, race & law, as well as other classes (insurance law, immigration law). Her own meditation/mindfulness practices were important for her own support in her teaching about personal injury, race and racism. #AALS2021
She started to offer those practices in her classroom because they worked for her personally but also because she perceived a need. These practices support personal exploration and interpersonal dynamics, like deepening our social and emotional intelligence. #AALS2021
She thinks of mindfulness as being embedded in a set of ethical commitments & empathic compassionate desire to minimize suffering. Mindfulness pedagogy embeds that kind of awareness & ethics-based commitments into teaching & learning, which helps deepen values & skills. #AALS2021
In torts, offers moments of arriving, pausing, & settling. Invitations to practice skills of speaking & listening to each other, not necessarily naming it as "mindfulness." Helps students understand that they will learn more deeply if they are learning from each other. #AALS2021
In contemplative lawyering, thinks about how mindfulness practice can be a source of professional support throughout students' careers. #AALS2021
Prof. Magee has written a lot about how mindfulness practice is hidden infrastructure for resilience and lifelong engagement with difficult aspects of racism and inequality. #AALS2021
Prof. Magee invites us to take a moment to reflect, breathe, and think about what we want to get out of mindfulness practice for ourselves, our students, and our campuses. #AALS2021
Up next: @ElizFEmens ( @ColumbiaLaw)! Starting with question of value--what makes mindfulness valuable to pedagogy? #AALS2021
Three main values: (1) Engagement (2) Facing difficulty--showing up for the hard stuff, including tough conversations (3) Flexibility--being able to innovate and face apparent mistakes/glitches as opportunities. #AALS2021
These values are especially important now in that mindfulness helps us prepare for whatever may be coming (for students, professors, and lawyers). #AALS2021
Mindfulness = paying attention to what is happening right now, without judgment. If we can be mindful any time, why practice mindfulness formally? But most of us actually aren't so good at being mindful because we're not so good at the "right now" part of it. #AALS2021
We do more reflecting backwards than "right now" reflection. The "without judgment" part is maybe even harder, especially for lawyers. It can sound like it means without a normative valance or without the ability to make decisions or without discernment. #AALS2021
Without judgment refers more to without negativity bias or "inner snark." Lawyers are particularly prone to this. In the law school setting, a big challenge is that mindfulness has a "PR" problem & there is resistance to the idea that it can be offered in a law school. #AALS2021
It may not be the right thing for everyone, but it is a skill set that is useful to learn. Learned in a survey of entering 1Ls, when asked to evaluate their own leadership ability, >90% of students think they are already proficient in the "leading self" part. #AALS2021
So what do we do if students think they already know how to do this? One solution is not calling it "mindfulness." Prof. Emens directs a mindfulness program but considers herself an unlikely advocate for mindfulness in law school. #AALS2021
Goals: (1) Aiming to practice mindfulness herself and (2) aiming to help students develop mindfulness skills, both formally and informally. #AALS2021
Three methods: (1) mindfulness program in the law school for faculty, students, and staff, including a pilot mindfulness in racism group that includes alums, faculty, students, and staff. #AALS2021
(2) Optional targeted courses that include mindfulness components, including one course on racial justice. (3) Informal practices that she includes in other classes. #AALS2021
Examples: when arriving to class, will invite students to look across at faces &names to see who is in the room. Acknowledge that this is a hard time--just that acknowledgement is very meaningful to students. Invites students to put down what they need to put down. #AALS2021
Talks about what to do when technology fails--treats it as a forced pause. Has students engage in reflective listening practices. Invited students to write down 6 word statements of something they are grateful for. Around exams, uses tool for reflection on the process. #AALS2021
Being a mindful teacher means using tools to help her remember to be mindful. Most reliable = feeling her feet on the ground. Also, showing up to mistakes or catastrophes w/ a feeling of possibility. Has a formal mindfulness practice that helps her keep learning. #AALS2021
Prof. Huang's mindfulness practice came from his grandmother. Kept it separate from his teaching for most of his life until he got into positive psychology, studying happiness and wellbeing. #AALS2021
People are mental time travelers--ruminating about the past or looking into the future--as opposed to dealing with the present. It's not judgmental but observing reality unfold. #AALS2021
Pausing creates space between what happens to us, which we can't control, and how we respond, which we can control. That gives us an opportunity to be more thoughtful, reflective, and ethical. #AALS2021
Students pushed back on mindfulness when they talked about it in class without actually doing it. When they actually do it, they recognize that they feel more grounded. If you actually practice it, people recognize the benefit. #AALS2021
Sometimes we let our emotions take over, and mindfulness can help us have a personal pivot in our perspective, and develop empathy and compassion. #AALS2021
The Socratic method teaches us to speak quickly without actually teaching and to think about what to say instead of listening to what the professor is saying. #AALS2021
Introduces mindful pedagogy gently. For example, in torts, talks about mindfulness as taking care and as a way of helping students study. #AALS2021
Prof. Huang mentioned this video as one mindfulness resource: Why Mindfulness is a Super Power #AALS2021
Companies and med schools have started introduces mindfulness as a way to avoid burnout. If you are compromised and unable to think clearly, you will be less effective as a lawyer. Developing resilience and mindfulness = developing professional competence. #AALS2021
Mindfulness is something people are familiar with but may not label it or think of it as something that they need to practice. Noticing that your mind is wandering is success, and that's a good thing. #AALS2021
We should also be teaching students to feel like a lawyer and to be mindful like a lawyer. Good lawyers are mindful. #AALS2021
(Apologies if I missed anything from Prof. Huang--some technical difficulties with the audio.)
Q for @ElizFEmens--what is an exam wrapper & do you grade it? She got the idea from @s_james_s: What You Don’t Know (Can Hurt You): Using Exam Wrappers to Foster Self-Assessment Skills in Law Students, 40 PACE L. REV. 154, 161–62 (2020).
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/4/ #AALS2021
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/plr/vol40/iss1/4/ #AALS2021
She does not grade or collect it (which raises Qs about whether it should be mandatory) but gives out when they get exam grade back. Wants it to be an honest self-assessment of study practices. #AALS2021
Q: How do you actually get started on introducing mindfulness? What do you do if there is pushback? #AALS2021
. @rvmagee: In the early 2000s, was looking at what was meaningful to her as a law prof/where she and her students could be thriving more. Started to become more aware of how her own mindfulness practices were helping her with resilience & sustainability. #AALS2021
That made her want to bring it in more, and she shared some of those aspirations with her Dean. The Dean helped her see that it wasn't a personal concern but that there were others with similar questions/concerns. So they put together a task force to explore it. #AALS2021
They met for a year, did some brown bags, and had their own personal practices. Find other people at your institution or in your broader network that can support you. There is a Mindfulness in Law society. #AALS2021
Also, have your own practice. The Center for Contemplative Mind & Society has a book on contemplative practices in higher education. The idea of bringing these practices into higher ed is broader than law school, so look to those external networks. #AALS2021
Prof. Huang: part of it is framing. Mindfulness includes decisionmaking--often, unethical decisions are because of mindlessness or not understanding ethical implications. Makes it easier to address in legal ethics & leadership courses. #AALS2021
Try to get others teaching the same course to introduce mindfulness as well. Institutional culture/support matters. Don't have to frame it as mindfulness if you are concerned about prejudgment/reaction to the word. #AALS2021
Look for like-minded folks at business schools and medical schools if you can't find them in your law school. #AALS2021
@ElizFEmens echoes comments about community and personal practice. Can incorporate small moments of inviting people to pause without your own personal practice. But really need a personal practice to be able to use it to teach growth. #AALS2021
Here is the book mentioned earlier in this thread: http://www.contemplativemind.org/book . #AALS2021
Gives students a reflection in class asking students to think ahead 100 years and identify what is the biggest legal wrong at the current moment. Asks students if they are willing to share during small group lunches. #AALS2021
Doesn't assume that everyone agrees and asks students if they have a really different answer. Part of mindfulness is dealing with the consequences of being the only one to say something or saying something others don't want to hear. #AALS2021
There are scripts, including in @rvmagee's book, but that is not generally how Prof. Emens does it. For her, it is really about practice. She needed an intensive practice to really make it click. #AALS2021
Once she had that experience, it helped get her through the hard times. These practices are not easy. There is a lot of unpleasantness. #AALS2021
@kywh asks if any of the panelists would be provide an example of a short mindfulness exercise, and @rvmagee offers a reflection on mindful speaking and teaching (inspired by Gregory Kramer, who has written on insight dialogue). Pairs is often a good way to do this. #AALS2021
Give each party specific instructions about how to engage in their role (listener/speaker) mindful. Have both ground in a bit of mindfulness. A listener would see their role as helping the speaker speak their deeper truth, being a space where the truth can be spoken. #AALS2021
Notice thoughts, emotions, sensations that might be coming up and see if you can let them go and really be present. Notice body language--how we say things and not just the words. #AALS2021
Mindful speaking--invite people to pause, relax, trust, and then mindfully speak and share their inner voice. Allow there to be pauses and not rushing to speak before they are ready. #AALS2021
Give them time so that it is structured with uninterrupted speaking and listening, and then the listener sharing what they learned. Then close the loop by giving the speaker a chance to respond. #AALS2021
@ElizFEmens--does mindful listening around contracts concepts (e.g. discuss whether consideration is a good doctrine). Currently puts students into rooms of 3-4 and gives everyone a role, which works better than pairs in a Zoom context. #AALS2021
Q for Prof. Huang: How can you use mindful concepts to disrupt Socratic questioning? #AALS2021
Socratic dialogue is challenging because it puts a premium on responding on the spot. Online environment allows different tools, which is one way to disrupt the nature of Socratic dialogue. #AALS2021
This allows students to think more mindfully. Should put a premium on answering thoughtfully instead of quickly. #AALS2021
Prof. Huang references Lani Guinier's work on the Socratic method: https://chronicle.com/article/lani-guinier-starts-campaign-to-curb-use-of-socratic-method/ #AALS2021
@rvmagee: Mindfulness dovetails with equity work & wellness. Some members of our community are more affected than others--it is not just a way to help students perform well but helps make our institutional spaces more just, equitable, & inclusive, where more can thrive. #AALS2021
Prof. Huang: Very passionate about mindfulness and happy to be a resource for others. It offers a chance for people to connect. Mindfulness can make our lives better and make society better. #AALS2021
@ElizFEmens: Starting to use mindfulness practices with students felt like a big leap. Asking the question "what would I do if I weren't afraid" has led her to choices she might have not made otherwise & opened her up to meaningful teaching and collaboration. #AALS2021
