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03/12/2015 12:00 AMGuilford resident Suzanne Duran Crelin is taking a simple, inexpensive idea-mindfulness-and applying it to help students stay focused, calm, and present.
Suzanne is now enjoying her third year as principal of the K-8 ACES Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School in Hamden. ACES is one of three Regional Educational Service Centers that oversees the magnet schools "choice" effort in Connecticut.
Suzanne was teaching in New Haven several years ago when she began to realize that practicing mindfulness had an impact on her students, in part because it provides a "strategy for helping people, in general, to learn, to cope, to relate," she explains.
"I found that working even with students others may have found challenging, I didn't find challenging. Or I'd find they settled fine and we had a great relationship, and they would take [learning] risks," says Suzanne. "And I was wondering, 'Why?' And I thought, 'Oh, I think it's my practice of being aware and present with people."
Suzanne was a language arts teacher at ACES Collaborative Alternative Magnet School for Leadership and also taught at New Haven's Hyde Leadership School before serving her first principal's post at New Haven's MicroSociety Magnet School (now West Rock Authors Academy). She earned a B.A. in English from New York University, a master's in English and peace studies from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a sixth-year diploma in educational leadership from Quinnipiac University.
In fact, the idea of applying mindfulness to an educational setting was what led Suzanne to pursue her administrative certification.
"I knew it was working," she says. "But as a teacher, I never had that kind of influence that I needed. So part of the reason I went back to school to become an administrator and to become a school leader was to be able to take this practice into schools and say, 'This is a missing piece-it's not the missing link, but it's a piece that we can implement easily.' You don't have to buy anything. You need a little training and practice."
She put out the offer at Wintergreen during the spring of her first year leading the school. Seven teachers signed up for an online course through www.mindfulschools.com. Just more than two years later, some 30 (about one-third) of the school's teachers and staff have opted in and are trained and practicing mindfulness as part of their students' day. That number is increasing as other educators and professionals in the building see the results it brings, says Suzanne.
"It's really interesting. I think the world is ready for it. You see it everywhere," she says. "I don't know if we're ever going to get to a point here where every teacher is practicing mindfulness, and that's okay, because that's diversity, too. But if you have enough people spread within the community, you have that tipping point to make it impactful."
There are no religious overtones to the type of mindfulness practiced at Wintergreen, she notes.
"We've really stripped it down out of the religious context and look at it more from a perspective of social, emotional learning," Suzanne explains. "There's also a lot of neuroscience that can back the practices of mindfulness in that anyone who's practicing can make the choice between stimulus and response. So it provides for that space. You know, it's constantly said to kids, 'Think before you act,' or 'Pay attention-focus,' but we don't give them any kind of practice so they can increase their attention. That's what mindfulness does for them."
Even without adding mindfulness as a learning approach, Wintergreen has much to offer students who arrive here from a suburban setting, says Suzanne.
"We have a very diverse population-ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically," says Suzanne. "At Wintergreen we nurture unity while celebrating diversity."
She adds that students at Wintergreen experience diversity beyond an individual's cognitive understanding of the importance of human diversity and social justice, by "working together, side by side, with those who do not share our background."
"Sharing time, space, goals, lunch, ideas-that's what breaks down barriers. Going to a school that has such a diverse population gives students an experience that cannot be replicated in a school that has a more homogenous population," says Suzanne.
During the 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. extended school day, students enjoy two "special" periods. Spanish is taught in grades K-8. The school mounts two musical theater programs each year, offers studio-style art classes, and celebrates students' work with an annual art show. Students begin playing a band instrument in 4th grade and may choose to learn strings starting in grade 1. The school's focus on technology integration includes SMART Boards in classrooms and one-to-one laptops provided for each 6th- through 8th-grade student.
Wintergreen School follows the new Common Core Standards (CCS), but mindfulness can help there, too, notes Suzanne.
"One of my teachers said last year, 'This should have been the most stressful year of my life-all of my teacher friends are saying it is-but for me, it hasn't been.' And she really attributed it to her own [mindfulness] practice," says Suzanne, adding that Wintergreen's poised to meet CCS benchmarks because "our inquiry process already supports deep thinking and rigor."
Wintergreen's population of 600-plus students is spread out in a beautiful building in a Hamden neighborhood. Factory-model bells or buzzers don't sound between classes, but at any point in the day, a gentle chime or "singing bowl" tone could resonate from a classroom. That's mindfulness underway, with many kids from 1st grade up spending a few minutes centering themselves with their teacher, who is "calm and present" as their "anchor," says Suzanne.
"Teachers-these days, especially-they are wanting to do so much, and they're always ahead of themselves. So if the teacher's not present, the kids aren't anchored. More studies are showing, especially in a brain that's growing, the adult is the [student's] neuro-anchor."
Mindfulness blends nicely with Wintergreen's vision, which is "thinking about the whole child" by educating through "innovation, inquiry, and the arts," and finally, focusing on how each child may see his or her role in "making the world a better place," says Suzanne.
"Wintergreen has a good reputation for academics and a rigorous program, so people pick it for that, and we also have a lot of technology and the arts, so I think people are drawn to that, too," says Suzanne. "We also want to bring our students a sense of mindfulness and heartfulness and social responsibility. So we're also hoping to attract kids, or their parents, who are interested in that.'
Guilford families can apply for their children to attend Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School through Parent Choice, for which tuition costs are covered, though transportation must be provided by the family. For more information, visit www.aces.org/wmis. To learn more about the ACES choices application process, visit www.aces.org or call 203-498-6843.