Sharon Solloway
Dr. Sharon Solloway began her public school teaching career in 1969 as a first grade teacher in the San Antonio Independent School District. In her fourteen years in the elementary classroom she taught in schools in Texas and Oklahoma. She earned her Masters in Early Childhood Education in 1996 from the University of Central Oklahoma. In 1999 she graduated with her Ph.D. in Applied Behavioral Studies from Oklahoma State University. Her doctoral program focused on transpersonal theories of human development and educational psychology. Her dissertation research documented the experiences of teachers in public, private, rural, suburban, and inner city schools in grades PreK-12. These teachers practiced breath meditation for thirty minutes five days a week outside the classroom and practiced mindfulness in the classroom during the eight week study. These novice practitioners reported enhanced qualities of presence in the classroom leading to improved pedagogy and deepened relationships with students. Dr. Solloway's work in the Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education at Bloomsburg University began in 1999. She developed a mindfulness assignment in which her pre-service and veteran teacher education students practiced mindfulness using the breath to center attention in the present moment and then notice what is happening both inside and outside their bodies. The students documented the effects of their mindfulness practice in journals. Some of these effects were heightened self-awareness, reduced stress, enhanced relationships, and enhanced enjoyment of ordinary experiences. In 2006, Dr. Solloway developed a mindfulness survey instrument crafting the statements from her students' mindfulness journal entries. The instrument has been calibrated with a Rasch model with over 1,500 participants to date. The Rasch model creates a linear measure of students' experiences of mindfulness practice across time. In 2007 Dr. Solloway made an inner University move to the Department of Developmental Instruction to teach two courses with mindfulness practice, brain research, and mindset orientations as the key course components.
Publications
Mindfulness Practice:
A Rasch Variable Construct Innovation
Sharon G. Solloway, Bloomsburg University
Mindfulness in Measurement: Reconsidering
the Measurable in Mindfulness Practice
Sharon G. Solloway, Bloomsburg University
Symposium Powerpoint Presentation
Speakers
- Arthur Zajonc, Professor of Physics at Amherst College and renowned expert in bringing contemplative inquiry into teaching for transformative education;
- Maureen Hall, Assistant Professor of Education, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, currently co-authoring a book on the use of reflection in writing and education classes;
- Sharon Solloway, Associate Professor of Education at Bloomsburg University, whose research focuses on bringing reflective practices into education for hard to reach student populations;
- Michael Franklin, Director of Art Therapy at Naropa University, who has both practiced and taught the intersection between art therapy and mindfulness in various academic, community, and clinical settings.