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Our Purpose

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Nourishing Teachers/Strengthening Classrooms (NT/SC) was established as a project of Open Spirit in 2012 to offer teachers and students training and skills in mindfulness that they can use in the classrooms to enhance learning and behavior. The project was created by Rosanne Kates, a retired teacher who taught in the Framingham Public Schools for over 30 years. Rosanne's dream was to address the needs of the “whole” person (teachers and students) and to share her heart, mind, and “spirit” through a most effective project, which helps to “nourish” teachers and staff and thus, “strengthens” their students, and our community, at large. 

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Why is mindfulness important? 

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"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgementally."
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Founding Director of the Center for Mindfulness, UMass Medical School

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Mindfulness...

  • Affects teachers' self-awareness, stress management, teaching practice, and job satisfaction.

  • Allows students to achieve more competence in academic learning.

  • Reduces stress, increases focus of attention, engagement, self-control, and self-motivation, and invites in calm, reflective learners.

  • Promotes one's ability to observe what is happening at the present moment, without evaluating, scrutinizing, or dissecting.

  • Allows one to have insight by being open, flexible, and curious.

  • Supports emotional intelligence and social skills.

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Why is mindfulness important in education? 

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What we offer

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We offer the following support and training to teachers and students in the
Framingham Public Schools:

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  • Teacher's own self-care through after-school courses

  • In-school yoga for at-risk student populations

  • Support of the professional development of teachers and staff in mindfulness techniques

  • Weekend restorative yoga workshops for teachers own self-care

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