What is mindful learning, and why is it important? In this session, attendees learn the answer to this question as you participate in hands-on activities that can be applied right away in your classes to encourage both mindfulness and active learning.

Ellen Langer (2000) defines mindfulness as a “flexible state of mind in which we are actively engaged in the present, noticing new things and sensitive to context”. In other words, mindful learning is the state of being aware of the learning process and participating actively in it, as opposed to just learning mindlessly. Mindless learning, on the other hand, may be defined as learning things in a habitual and repetitive way, without stimulating thought and expecting automatic responses in single and unrealistic contexts.

There are five main characteristics of mindful learning: openness to novelty, awareness of multiple perspectives, sensitivity to different contexts, alertness to distinctions, and usefulness in the present (Langer & Moldoveanu, 2000). Mindfulness can be encouraged through cooperative learning activities, learning strategies, scaffolding, and differentiation. Some classroom tasks that promote active learning are: think-pair-share, number heads together, jigsaw, carousel, and thinkpad brainstorming, among others. The participants in this session will put these activities into practice in order to learn the target theory. At the end of the presentation, they will leave with meaningful learning about the concepts presented as well as with fresh ideas that they can immediately incorporate into their lessons to help their students learn mindfully.

Leticia Vela, BS in administration and master’s in multidisciplinary studies, has been teaching English as a foreign language since 1996. Leticia is a member of the Mexican Association of Teachers of English (MexTESOL), and she is currently the director of uSpeak Training Center, where she is dedicated to transforming the lives of its students through high quality English language courses and professional development and training.