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Presence in Teaching: Awakening Body Wisdom

Ahangar Ahmadi, Sara
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1458058036

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Curriculum and Instruction (Education).
The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ experiences of presence and examine whether the presence workshop could foster presence among teachers. There are very few studies on the topic of presence in educational setting, which can be of significant importance in developing holistic human beings. This study explored the overarching research question: “How can presence experience be fostered among teachers through awakening body awareness?” This qualitative research investigated the experiences of teachers before, during, and after the body awareness workshop in order to specifically explore a) How do teachers understand presence? b) How is body awareness defined in teachers’ life and praxis? c) How can body awareness be integrated in the teacher education program? d) How does presence change teachers’ different kinds of relationships? and e) What qualities can be observed as a result of enhanced presence? Case study research design was utilized to collect data through interviewing, participants’ reflections and journals, and informal observations. The study included 5 teachers working in a small town in Ohio. The data from teachers were coded, thematically analyzed, and compared to respond the research questions. Other qualitative techniques such as triangulation, peer debriefing, and member checking helped the researcher to establish the rigor and credibility of the study. This study revealed that participants had no prior familiarity with presence but they formed their personalized understanding of the presence experience towards the end of the workshop. The findings indicated that, teachers’ presence emerged as relationship in three areas of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal; participants enhanced their presence and reported to have experienced more unity and harmony with their selves and their surroundings; they felt more energized, attuned to the class environment, and more creative in their teaching; body awareness was also experienced and fostered in all relationship domains; at the intrapersonal domain, participants recognized the body-mind-emotion cycle and could observe the integration in themselves; at the interpersonal domain, their relationships with the people around them became more flexible and open; at the transpersonal domain, they shared their experiences by sentences such as feeling their being or having more awareness; and finally, participants’ experiences of presence changed to a holistic and authentic relationship with self and others in harmony with the context. Consequently, participants’ perspective of teaching and learning became more authentic and flexible. This study provided some input on how presence was recognized by the teachers and presented a model for an intervention that could foster presence among teachers. Outcomes of this study could be utilized as a springboard in designing more mindful programs for the teachers and augment the information on presence experience and holistic education. Moreover, the implications and recommendations of this study could guide the researchers in contemplative studies for the new venues of mindful investigation in education.
John Henning, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Education; Teacher Education
Presence experience; Body awareness; Teacher education; Mindfulness; Relationship; Transpersonal relationship

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ahangar Ahmadi, S. (2016). Presence in Teaching: Awakening Body Wisdom [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1458058036

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ahangar Ahmadi, Sara. Presence in Teaching: Awakening Body Wisdom. 2016. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1458058036.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ahangar Ahmadi, Sara. "Presence in Teaching: Awakening Body Wisdom." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1458058036

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1458058036
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© 2016, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Presence in Teaching: Awakening Body Wisdom by Sara Ahangar Ahmadi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.