Our first meeting was in part a networking meeting to renew existing friendships and to meet those who are new to our group. We talked about our work in progress and ideas for the future. All were invited to attend. We met from 10 am to 12 noon. Networking started at 10 and we took part in Isabella's workshop. Our leader for this session is the talented Isabella Colalillo Katz
Workshop
information: Creativity as Soul Work: Visualization and Creative Writing
This workshop
is based on Isabella's popular creative writing classes and workshops which
use holistic principles and visualization exercises to facilitate natural
writing. Visualization is a dynamic tool to access the Innate Creator,
our creative Self, the source of our creative imagination.
You will sample
the principles of natural writing though several visualization exercises
that tap directly into the imagination (The Innate Creator) to produce
vivid, powerful writing that expresses ideas and visions that are ready
to be communicated through the most appropriate genre for that idea.
Isabella Colalillo Kates Ed. D, who writes under the pen name Isabella Colalillo Katz, is a writer, poet, editor, holistic educator & storyteller. She has published two volumes of poetry, Tasting Fire (1999), And Light Remains (2006) and an award winning children's audio tape, Carob, Crocket and Crystals: The C3 Trilogy. Her creative writing appears in journals and anthologies and has been heard on CBC radio. She had led Creative Writing and Creativity classes and workshops at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, Centennial College and in private workshops and public seminars internationally.
This workshop looked at the reflective nature of children's and young adult literature. How do these artful texts help young people to consider and reconsider their own values and behaviours, to move beyond comprehension questions to thoughtful and heartfelt interpretations of their own lives?
David Booth is Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. He was educated in Ontario, and completed his graduate work at Oxford University and Durham University in England. For over forty years David has been involved in education,as a classroom teacher, language arts consultant, professor, speaker and author. He has written many teacher reference books and texts in all areas of language development, early literacy, reading, writing, speaking and listening, boys and literacy, drama and media. As well, he has written many award-winning picture books for children, including Boldprint Kids, a series of graphic texts for children.
A
popular international speaker, David Booth has addressed educators and
parents in every province of Canada, throughout most American states, and
in England, Germany, Asia, the MidEast, New Zealand and Australia. He has
participated in hundreds of conferences, speaking and presenting workshops
in all areas of language learning, and has won several awards for hisclassroom
teaching, for his contributions to the teaching of reading, and for his
books for young people.
For the Saturday session they covered the following topics about Whole Child School:
--
rationale for starting a new, alternative public school with a holistic
focus on learning and teaching (Stephen)
-- a brief
summary of the process they went through to start a holistic school in
TDSB (Stephen)
-- how they
will offer a holistic curriculum and at the same time follow the Ministry
Curriculum Guidelines (Deborah)
-- an overview
of WCS holistic approach to education (Deborah)
-- questions
-- participants are encouraged to visit the website prior to the session http://www.wholechildschool.ca
Deborah
Adelman
Deborah is
presently an elementary school teacher at Hawthorne Bilingual Alternative
Public School.She has a Master's in Waldorf Education and taught at the
Alan Howard Waldorf School for five years. She is a founding member
of the Whole Child School and she has been working on this initiative for
almost three years.
Stephen
Davies
Stephen is
a public sector management consultant and facilitator with 20 years of
systems thinking and enterprise design experience. He works with
senior leadership and their organizations to reveal their strategic futures
and to accelerate the realization of those futures on a collective level.
Mr. Davies is co-chair of the Whole Child School Organizing Committee and
led the establishment of the WCS Advisory Board.
The Creativity and Wellness workshop involved self-reflective activities to promote personal growth and wellness. Participants had a chance to co-create by drawing, mind-mapping, journalling, and sharing stories. The workshop was interactive and fun!
Solveiga
Miezitis
is professor Emeritus at OISE. She has taught in the School
Psychology Program in Applied Psychology and more recently in Adult Education
and Counseling Psychology at OISE, as well as in the Psychology Dept at
the University of Latvia. Her main research work is in the area of Prevention
of Depression published in Creating Alternatives to Depression in the Schools.
Her current interest is in promoting wellness. During the past decade she
has conducted longitudinal studies on risk and resiliency factors in first-year
student adaptation at the University of Latvia focusing on factors related
to Positive Psychology.
Spiritual
Intelligence and Holy Listening - a workshop presented/facilitated by
Anne Mulvaney
EdD. and Natalie Hemraj, B.A. , presently completing a thesis on Spiritual
Intelligence at York University
This two hour workshop provided an explanation of the topics and a personal experience of Spiritual Intelligence via the path of Holy Listening. You were invited to participate in an exercise where silence speaks and consciousness shifts as we connected with our True Selves in response to one another (I-Thou).
Anne Mulvaney Ed.D. : (OISE, 1994) Anne teaches Meditation, Psychosynthesis and is a Spiritual Director. Also, she currently facilitates Holy Listening groups. She is completing training as a Hospice volunteer. She has facilitated many 4 day workshops, the latest being: “Goodbye Ego, Hello True Self” based on Eckhart Tolle’s “The New Earth”.
Natalie Hemraj is presently completing a Master’s Degree in Education at York University full time. Her interest in the field of spirituality developed during her undergraduate years at York, while concurrently studying Philosophy and completing the Bachelor of Education. Natalie is the facilitator of meditation workshops at her placement school, is currently a spiritual mentor/coach, and is an occasional teacher for the YCDSB. Her main focus in her thesis is the significance of spiritual intelligence and wisdom within education. Her Masters of Education is the stepping-stone to complete her PhD in Education.