Professional Development for Texas Educators

The Aware Educator

A mindfulness course for teachers. A semester-long cohort that gives teachers a daily practice of their own, and five simple methods for calmer, more focused classrooms.

Bring it to your campus

Teachers are the most over-asked people in any building. The Aware Educator gives them an hour a week that’s about them first: a short practice, a real conversation with colleagues, and a workbook that does the teaching. Teachers practice first. Then they bring it to students.

What’s in the course

Fourteen lessons

Attention, stress, anger, presence, empathy, and building a practice that lasts. Each lesson has a guided practice written out word for word, a summary of the research, a Check-In, and a journal.

Five classroom methods

Mindful Arrival, Mindful Eating, Mindful Walking, Mindful Listening, and Mindful Riddles, with scripts, timing, and adaptations for students with disabilities and students with dyslexia.

A Facilitator Guide

So a principal, counselor, or teacher leader can run the cohort on campus, with session notes for every week, the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale for measuring change, and an attendance and hours tracker.

Mind Muscle

The companion student workbook for grades 3–5, aligned to the Health Education TEKS.

Format and hours

Sixteen live sessions over a semester (a kickoff, fourteen weekly sessions, and two Classroom Methods sessions) plus one hour of independent reading, practice, and journaling for each lesson. Up to 30 clock-hours for educators who complete every session and lesson and pass the end-of-course assessment.

Also available as a half-semester cohort (nine meetings) or a two-day intensive.

What participants will be able to do

Define mindfulness accurately and explain common misconceptions about it
Use practical strategies for noticing thoughts and managing stress and anger
Explain how stress affects learning and behavior, and respond to difficult behavior with presence rather than reaction
Lead five classroom methods and adapt them for students with disabilities and students with dyslexia
Keep a written personal practice plan that lasts beyond the course

Continuing Professional Education

The Aware Educator is designed to meet Texas continuing professional education requirements under 19 TAC Chapter 232 and aligns to the educator standards in 19 TAC §149.1001. Teach Wisdom Traditions (Mind Heart Lens LLC) has applied to the Texas Education Agency for approval as a CPE provider.

Participants receive a certificate listing the provider, the course content, the dates, and the clock-hours completed. The provider keeps attendance records for seven years.

An earlier version of this course was approved for CPE credit by TEA in October 2023 under its predecessor organization, The Awareness & Compassion Project, and has been delivered to schools in Texas and New York.

Who it’s for

Classroom teachers from early childhood through grade 12, school counselors, principals and assistant principals, and instructional coaches. Cohorts of four to twelve educators work best.

Who leads it

Every cohort is led by a facilitator approved by Teach Wisdom Traditions. Facilitators hold a current Texas educator certificate, complete the full course themselves, attend a three-hour Facilitator Orientation, are observed during their first cohort, and take an annual refresher each August.

Bring it to your campus

Participant Workbooks, Facilitator Guides, and classroom sets of Mind Muscle are available for schools and districts, along with facilitator orientation so your own staff can run cohorts year after year.