Sentipensante (Sensing/Thinking) Pedagogy

An inspirational and holistic approach to teaching by a renowned Latina scholar Defines seven steps to unlocking the potential of teachers and their students Deeply informed by the author's educational journey as a minority woman from a background of rural povertyLaura Rendón is a scholar of national stature, known for her research on students of colour and first-generation college students, and on the factors that promote and impede student success. The motivation for the quest that Laura Rendón shares in this book was the realisation that she, along with many educators, had lost sight of the deeper, relationship-centred essence of education, and lost touch with the fine balance between educating for academics and educating for life. Her purpose is to reconnect readers with the original impulse that led them to become educators; and to help them rediscover, with her, their passion for teaching and learning in the service of others and for the well being of our society. She offers a transformative vision of education that emphasises the harmonic, complementary relationship between the sentir of intuition and the inner life and the pensar of intellectualism and the pursuit of scholarship; between teaching and learning; formal knowledge and wisdom; and between Western and non-Western ways of knowing. In the process she develops a pedagogy that encompasses wholeness, multiculturalism, and contemplative practice, that helps students transcend limiting views about themselves; fosters high expectations, and helps students to become social change agents. She invites the reader to share her journey in developing sentipensante pedagogy, and to challenge seven entrenched agreements about education that act against wholeness and the appreciation of truth in all forms. She offers examples of her own teaching and of the classroom practices of faculty she encountered along the way; as well as guidance on the challenges, rewards and responsibilities that anyone embarking on creating a new vision of teaching and learning should attend to. Though based on the author’s life work in higher education, her insights and approach apply equally to all teaching and learning contexts.

"Sentipensante Pedagogy provides a helpful invitation and charitable contribution to the ongoing dialogue between different visions of pedagogy."-- "Teaching Theology and Religion" (4/1/2010 12:00:00 AM), "Challenging, inspiring, beautifully written, and unusual, this book calls readers to find ways to link mind and heart -- thinking and feeling -- to transform teaching and learning in higher education. I commend this book to readers. Laura Rendón has illustrated how one can unite one's deep beliefs, values, and feelings, with one's keen analytical and intellectual abilities.Many faculty members, and certainly many graduate students considering work in academe, are interested in how to shape careers where their passions and values are central, and how to find satisfactory and meaningful balance in their commitment to both the professional and personal dimensions of their lives.Laura Rendón's volume offers insights, examples, questions and inspiration that will help those grappling with such issues. The book or any of its individual chapters can be used by individuals thinking through their own values and practice, in classes designed to prepare future faculty members, or in faculty development programs organizing dialogues about teaching and academic life...an important, thought-provoking, and unique addition to the literature on teaching, learning, and the academic life."-- "The Review of Higher Education" (12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM), "Anyone who has yearned for a fresh vision of teaching and learning for the 21st century should read Sentipesante. Laura Rendón has written a book that is both deeply personal and prophetic. She balances scholarly familiarity with educational theory and history with the demographic reality that is already upon us: the changing composition of our classrooms on all measures of diversity. This is the future, and much of the power of Sentipesante derives from the fact that the experience of all Rendón's interviewees is in a range of public institutions. Written as a manifesto to her fellow faculty and kindred administrative spirits, Laura recognizes that not all will be up for the personal and professional challenge that this remaking of the academy entails. For those who are, it offers practical advice, courage, and inspiration. Like all work at the intersection of diversity and contemplative practice, this is a book that will change lives."--Thomas B. Coburn, President (7/1/2008 12:00:00 AM), "Laura Rendón has done a beautiful thing. She has mindfully, thoughtfully and with great clarity seen and named our familiar habits of thought, belief and practice that limit the dynamic evolution of how we lift up, honor, and educate the precious hearts, minds and bodies of our children. Laura has sifted these complex threads through the lens of her fine mind and good heart, offering us a clear and colorful tapestry of guidance and companionship on a fresh, imperative educational adventure. We cannot ever honestly claim to nourish a new generation of souls unless we ourselves are actively and vitally alive and well. Through beginner's mind, a contagious sense of wonder, and a deeply courageous vision for what is possible, she offers us the ultimate gift of education: The unlimited capacity to grow a world of human beings deeper, stronger, wiser, and more loving."--Wayne Muller, founder of Bread for the Journey, ordained minister, therapist, and author of the national best-seller Legacy of the Heart (9/1/2008 12:00:00 AM)

Laura I. Rendón is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA. She is also a consultant and speaker on topics related to contemplative pedagogy and its applications in multicultural and social justice educational settings, and is nationally known for her work related to college access, retention, and graduation of low-income, first-generation students.