Holistic Educators Saturday Meetings in Toronto 2011-12

The Holistic Educator’s Group meets Saturday mornings from 10am - 12 noon approximately every two months from September through April. The meetings are open to all who may be interested in holistic teaching and learning and are not exclusively for those who are associated with studies at OISE/UT. We have a number of captivating workshop leaders each year who join us to lead the sessions which tend to be interactive and participatory. Meetings also provide an opportunity to network with those who have common interests. There is no need to register in advance and there is no charge to attend the workshops. Please invite others who may be interested in our meetings.

Our meetings are at OISE/UT, 252 Bloor Street West between St. George Street and Bedford Road on the north side of the street. The room number for the meeting is posted  at the security desk in the lobby. The main floor coffee concession is sometimes open on Saturdays or there's a Tim Horton's just east of the building on Bloor.  Parking on Saturday under the OISE building is fairly reasonable. There is a Green P parking lot on Bedford just north of Bloor. Of course TTC is always a good option (St. George Station on the Bloor/Danforth line).

Jack Miller introduce his new book - Transcendental Learning: The Educational Legacy of Alcott, Emerson, Fuller, Peabody and Thoreau. This book discusses the work of five figures associated with transcendentalism concerning their views on education. Alcott, Emerson, Fuller, Peabody and Thoreau all taught at one time and held definite views about education. The book explores these conceptions with chapters on each of the five individuals and then focuses the main features of transcendental learning and its legacy today. A central thesis of the book is that transcendental learning is essentially holistic in nature and provides rich educational vision that is in many ways a tonic to today.’s factory likeapproach to schooling. In contrast to the narrow vision of education that is promoted by governments and the media, the Transcendentalists offer a redemptive vision of education.

John P. (Jack) Miller, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto and Head of OISE’s Centre for Teacher Development. He has also been Visiting Professor at Shinwa Women’s University in Kobe, Japan, and at Rietsumeiken University in Kyoto, Japan. Professor Miller teaches courses in holistic education and spirituality in education. He has also led workshops and given keynote addresses on those topics at conferences around the world.  Notable among his many books, chapters, and journal articles are Holistic Learning and Spirituality in Education: Breaking New Ground (2005), Education and the Soul: Toward a Spiritual Curriculum (2000), The Contemplative Practitioner (1994), Holistic Learning: The Teacher’s Guide to Integrated Studies (1990), The Holistic Curriculum (1988), The Compassionate Teacher (1981), and Humanizing the Classroom (1976). His writing has been translated into seven languages.

Seeta Nyary - "How You Really Feel?" - How do you really feel? An Emotional Workshop
How true are you being to yourself? Do you hide some olds ghosts or act positive for it’s own sake? Do you say (or do) the things you really need to say or do? Ultimately, we want to be true to our own divine natures. This workshop will give you an approach (personal or for use in the classroom) that acts as a tool to be and work with some of those lofty experiences, while cultivating your natural intelligence that can ultimately arouse your natural warmth and basic goodness. So don’t conceal those unwanted emotions, tell us, and most importantly yourself, how you really feel!

Seeta Nyary: works and studies at OISE. She is a Holistic Learning Conference committee member. Her interest lies in understanding human relations including the relation to one’s self.

Young-Yie Kim - "Compassion in Schools: Life Stories of Four Holistic Educators" - "As an educator with many years’ teaching experience in the Ontario public school system, one of my great concerns is the heightening degree of violence in our schools today. I believe the root of violence lies in a disconnection between education of the mind and education of the heart. The purpose of my study was to investigate various ways of nourishing compassion in our schools through life stories of four holistic educators who nurture a connection of mind, body (heart), and spirit. At the workshop, I will discuss the findings from my research, after which we will have some hands-on activities related to compassion education, followed by a short discussion."

Young-Yie Kim - "I came to Canada in my twenties to become a Core French and later French Immersion teacher, equipped with a Master’s in French Linguistics and a Bachelor’s in Education. Additionally, I am qualified to become a principal in both elementary and secondary panels and to teach Vocal Music. After teaching 29 years in Ontario public schools, I pursued my studies at OISE/UT where I recently obtained a PhD in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning. My next research project is to find ways of bringing happiness into schools. On a personal note, I love reading, dancing, music, and yoga practice. I also enjoy Buddhist temple stays in South Korea."

Merlin Charles - "Linking theory and practice through teaching presence: the root of holistic education"
What is teaching presence and how can it be cultivated in the teaching-learning environment? An increasing number of educators at all levels are realizing the importance of this question. Yet, despite its importance in education, there has been little research on teaching presence. This workshop links theory and practice through the exploration of doctoral research findings.  Gain insight into teachers’ and students’ perceptions of teaching presence and how it can be cultivated to bring about balance, connectedness and inclusiveness in the classroom and beyond.

Merlin Charlesis a doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. As an active member of the student, teacher and parent community, Merlin is particularly interested in matters related to the promotion of social justice and change in education. Through her on-going involvement as a Teacher Education Program Assistant (TEPA) at OISE, as well as a community college instructor, Merlin combines holistic and communicative approaches to second language teaching and learning.

To Be a Friend: The Key to Friendship in Our Lives shows readers how to open the flow of friendship in their lives by learning to be friends. It offers activities that have proven helpful to participants in the author's workshops, exercises that prompt readers to examine their personal beliefs about friendship and apply them in daily life. By following these activities, readers discover how to be friends with themselves, how to be friends with others, and how to strengthen existing friendships. Author David Hunt also describes his experiences with learning how to be a friend, including his successes and failures. In this workshop, Dave will lead us in examples taken from this recently published book. In this workshop, Dave leads us in a variety of activities taken from his writings.

Professor Emeritis Dave Hunt is a psychologist who taught at Yale and Syracuse Universities and who now teaches at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Previous books are Beginning with Ourselves and The Renewal of Personal Energy.

NOTE: Copies of To Be a Friend will be available for purchase from Dave for $15 a copy. You may also order the book from Amazon.ca

February 26, 2011  Two workshops: 1.Trust Children - Carlo Ricci    2. Educating with H.E.A.R.T - Paul Royes
Trust Children
As a society we need to do a much better job of trusting children. Through love, trust, compassion, and respect we can begin to create learner centered democratic spaces and places for young people. In this presentation Carlo will share how unschooling (also known as natural learning, life learning, organic learning, holistic learning, and open source learning), and free schools (like the Albany Free School and Sudbury Schools) are creating environments that trust children.

Carlo will also inform as to how even those without secondary school diplomas and school transcripts can be admitted to post secondary institutions, a concern to many new to unschooling. The session encourages participation and dialogue about these and other alternative ways that people have imagined, created, and are living.

Carlo Ricci is an associate professor at the Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University where he teaches in the Graduate Studies Program. He is the founder and editor of The Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning, a peer reviewed publication. He also founded the Unschooling Channel on YouTube that has received over 25,000 total upload views. He has two children: one has decided to attend school and the other to be unschooled. He is an educational consultant for a group that is planning to open a Sudbury School in the Greater Toronto Area: The Reach Sudbury School of Toronto is scheduled to open in September 2011.

EDUCATING WITH H.E.A.R.T.  (Holistic Educators Association for Resources &Teaching)
H.E.A.R.T. was born on Saturday, November 6th,2010, out of a vision for the following:
1) providing "bridging" support for holistic teachers within their relationships with school administrators and boards of education;
2) creating, maintaining, and providing access to a bank of holistic education resources to be shared by all holistic educators and holistic-based schools.
3) documenting the reimagination of all education through the heart of holistic principles,

The workshop today will be an interactive lesson planning session geared towards creating a set of lessons plans for use in a holistic classroom setting.

Paul E. Royes is Professor, New Media, George Brown College,Toronto, ON.  In 2005, Paul founded THE NOTHING SCHOOL as a vehicle for holistic research, teaching and learning.  Paul is currently working on a book with 10 holistic educators on the POWER OF LOVE IN HOLISTIC EDUCATION: SHARING THE FRUITS OF OUR PRACTICE. (Looking for a few more chapter authors if you are so inclined! Email me: proyes@goodmedia.com). Paul recently envisioned H.E.A.R.T. (Holistic Educators Association for Resources & Teaching), re-imagining all teaching and learning through the heart of holistic principles.

Two Workshops: April 16, 2011
Presentation: The Flow and Pulse of Learning
Kelli Nigh was a drama teacher for a group of young people that remained in a community drama class from the time they were young children to the time they left for university. Meditation techniques, for example, breathing, visualization, tai chi, yoga and various movement activities were explored in this class. The recent issues surrounding global climate change initiated a new curiosity. What would happen if we applied a similar mind/body gentling process while we attend to nature? Kelli will present the findings of this research inquiry with the aim to make a contribution to body/mind curricular approaches in holistic education. Two activities from this gentling process will be explored.

Kelli Nigh is a PhD student at OISE in the field of holistic education. She is also currently an instructor for the Holistic Teaching and Learning Course in the Initial Teacher Education program. While teaching for the past twenty years in various school and community settings, Kelli implemented mind/body awareness and various meditation techniques in the drama classroom. Kelli hopes to continue her research on ways to attend to nature with an energetic aliveness and an active imagination.

Presentation:  Mindful Teaching & Teaching Mindfulness
Mindfulness meditation has seen continued growth into the field of health care over the past 30 years.  This foundation and the mounting research agenda exploring the benefits of mindfulness with students and teachers are creating more opportunities for integrating mindfulness-based practices into education.

Geoffrey Soloway has been teaching and researching a program called Mindfulness-Based Wellness Education (MBWE) in the initial teacher education at OISE/UT over the past 5 years.  Geoff will discuss the core findings of his dissertation illuminating the relationships between the experiences of teacher candidates going through MBWE to priorities of teacher education.   Teaching mindfulness within higher education and professional preparation is also a unique context.  Key curricular and pedagogical components of the MBWE program that supported student engagement will be presented and experienced in our time together.   Participants will take away strategies for practicing mindful teaching and teaching mindfulness. Geoffrey was trained in a classical approach to hatha yoga at Yashodhara Ashram in British Columbia in 2003 and regularly attends mindfulness meditation retreats; recently completing a month-long retreat at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA.  He has attended the Mind & Life Summer Research Institute over the past three years, a forum investigating the emerging field of contemplative neuroscience.  Geoff’s doctoral research received SSHRC funding in 2010/11.

Fall 2011:
September 17, 2011 in Room 5-280: Solveiga Miezitis - "Transformational Narratives"

Transformational Narratives
You are invited to bring a photo, drawing and/or story about a transformational moment in time to share in small group discussions with co-participants in this interactional workshop on Transformational Narratives. The vicarious experience of hearing and sharing stories is emotionally evocative and energizing and can be healing for those who wish to share an adversity story. Solveiga is looking forward to the opportunity to facilitate a co-creative experience of change.

Solveiga Miezitis, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Adult Education and Counseling Psychology
She started her career as a trainer of School Psychologists in the Dept. of Applied Psychology in 1966 and conducted research in Prevention and Intervention of Childhood Depression in the Schools. Her doctoral work and other research interests were related to Creativity. Solveiga has taught courses in Creativity and Wellness to over 500 students since 1997 when she moved to the Dept. of Adult Education and Counseling, where she has also taught courses in Narrative as a Vehicle for Personal Change, Leadership for Change, Personal Values and Organizational Change. She continues teaching on stipend this fall.

• the DaVinci school (http://www.davincischool.ca)
• the Grove community school (http://www.thegrovecommunityschool.ca)
• the Whole Child School (http://www.wholechildschool.ca/)

Educating for Wisdom - Jack Miller
In this workshop Jack Miller will share his understanding of what constitutes wisdom and then explore ways that we can develop a wisdom-based approach to teaching and learning.  The workshop is based on a chapter in book that has just been published that Jack co-edited entitled Spirituality, Religion and Peace Education.

Jack Miller teaches courses at OISE in Holistic Education and Spirituality in Education and is author/editor of more than a dozen books in these fields. His most recent books include the aforementioned and Whole Child Education, which being published this September by U of  Toronto Press.

Featured Speaker: Dr. Njoki Wane, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education (SESE), OISE

Topic: Making Spirituality Visible in Research, Learning and Praxis
There are many ways of defining, interpreting, applying and practicing spirituality.  By weaving spirituality into learning and knowledge creation discourse, educators as well as learners can foster spiritual growth while strengthening the connections between the learner, knowledge and the process of schooling.
In this presentation, we will discuss the following questions:
1.  What is spirituality?
2. What has been the impact of separating the spiritual aspect of our research, teaching and learning from the intellectual development?
3. How can we make spirituality visible in our research, learning and practice?
4. Why has spirituality been silenced and marginalized?
5. Is spirituality necessary in the Academy and if yes, what is its role?
6. In higher education, we are trained to distance ourselves from our research subjects to avoid subjectivity, please share your views?

I start my presentation by sharing with participants some of my experiences of evoking spirituality in my research, teaching and learning. This will be interactive workshop where participants will be encouraged to share their experiences in making spirituality more visible in their research, teaching or learning or their work.

Njoki Wane is a professor in the department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at OISE/UT.  She has recently been appointed Head of the Office of Teaching Support at OISE.  She has written articles and books in the following areas: gender, indigenous knowledge practices, black feminism and anti-racist education.  She teaches courses in these areas as well as a course on Spirituality and Schooling.

Creating Mindful Spaces: The Arts and Young Children
How do educators create mindful spaces in the classroom? How can children be empowered through artistic engagements that provide opportunities to explore and understand self and others? These are some of the questions we will explore in this workshop. Participants will locate their own understanding of “mindful” spaces in learning environments and their journeys in understanding self and the children they work with. Activities and discussion will be based on a short research presentation and DVD that shows a project engaging children in the process of art-making through creating quilts and writing I AM poetry. It is our intention that this interactive session will provide the inspiration for participants to explore these ideas with the young people they work with.

Dr. Marni Binder is an Assistant Professor in The School of Early Childhood at Ryerson University, Toronto Canada. Twenty-three years of teaching in the inner city has shaped her passion for arts- based education.  Marni’s holistic philosophy of education is demonstrated in her research interests covering: early literacy, child art and literacy, arts-based inquiry and multimodal forms of expression as transformative literacy practices.

Sally Kotsopoulos has an Early Childhood Degree from Ryerson University and a Masters in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She is the Manager of the Early Learning Centre at Ryerson University, Toronto Canada, where she leads a team of eight full-time teachers in four classrooms from Toddlers- Kindergarten. She has 30 years of experience in the early childhood profession in the greater Toronto area.

Explorations with  Music-Based Meditation

We will explore various ways in which music can support meditative practice. Music is often used to enhance concentration, focus or relaxation, to improve our well being or to unleash creativity. We will experience several types of meditation with spiritual music from various cultures. Each meditation will have a different focus and purpose.  Participants will record and then share their experiences with partners. Whole group discussion about participants’ experiences, and about possible applications in one’s life and in the classroom will follow.

Rina Cohen is an Associate Professor in the CTL department at OISE/UT where she belongs to the Holistic and Aesthetic Education focus group. She has been utilizing various holistic learning approaches, such as integrated curriculum, meditation and guided visualizations, in her courses. Her current research focusses on helping elementary teachers overcome math anxiety using a variety of holistic approaches.

Karen Csoli: Understanding Spiritual Experiences
Karen's workshop will allow participants the opportunity to focus on their spiritual experiences and the meaning these have in their lives. The foundation of this workshop will be Karen's doctoral dissertation, in which young women discussed how during their own spiritual experiences, they connected with their selves, spirit, nature, others, and community.

Karen Csoli has just completed her PhD in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at OISE. The title of her dissertation is Understanding the Spiritual Experiences of Young Women: A Qualitative Inquiry of Inner Knowing, which combined her interests in spirituality in the curriculum, female spirituality, and youth spirituality. Karen also teaches study strategies to university students with learning disabilities.

Anne Dhir: Perennial Pedagogy
The timeless and boundless perennial understanding, commonly known as ‘the perennial philosophy’ has been a part of the wisdom traditions for centuries.  This philosophy can significantly contribute towards deeper and meaningful lives if brought into the educational milieu.  Anne refers to such an education as ‘perennial pedagogy’.  Her passion lies in facilitating workshops and seminars on mental well being which she has been involved in since 2001. This workshop is an experiential approach to perennial understanding.

Anne Dhir completed her Ph.D in the area of Holistic Education at OISE/UT under the blessed guidance of Dr. Jack Miller in 2008. Her research explored the theoretical and practical foundation of an education and society at large that is grounded in the perennial understanding.

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.

 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.

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.

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.

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.

To be on our mailing list please contact Celia West  celia.west@utoronto.ca

Dr. Selia Karsten
February 2012