Friday Evening, October 26, 2007

5:30 pm – 6:45 pm  CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

7:00 pm    Introduction / Welcome

7:15 pm    Keynote – Rebekah Carpenter: Awakening Voices in the Classroom

8:15 pm    Home Groups

9:00 pm – 10:00 pm    Wine and Cheese Reception

Saturday, October 27, 2007

8:15 am – 9:00 am    CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

SESSIONS A1 – A11
9:00 am – 10:15 am

A1 Susan Schiller: Activating Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) in Every Learner: A brief overview of various definitions and descriptions of Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) establishes a context for activating and measuring SQ.  Participants will then question such measurement and collaborate on creating alternative approaches to classroom use of SQ.

A2 Mary Beattie, Laura Hegge, Darrell Dobson & Gail Thornton: Fostering Connectedness: Hearing the Music of Life: In this workshop we present a narrative of Ellis Rose, a retired professor and musician, examining ways in which his life narrative and chosen narrative interact.  We describe how the interaction of these narratives helps him to foster connectedness within himself and in relationships with others.

A3 Stanley Scott, Hood Frazier & Deborah Frazier: Literature Circles for Holistic Learning and Spiritual Leadership: This session will introduce participants to the concept of a literature circle, a form of instruction based on engaged student discussion and community building, adapted as a model of spiritual or holistic learning.  Participants will learn basic principles of the literature circle, and by active role-playing, see how to put the principles into practice in a small group.

A4 Nicole Lohrbeer: Spiritual Leadership in the Feminist Classroom: Being Present With Conflict: Principles of feminist pedagogy encourage a distinctly non-authoritarian presence in the classroom which is often difficult to maintain in the face of conflict.  This workshop will examine and practice how we, as instructors, can at once facilitate classroom discussions on controversial issues and still create a safe space for critical thinking to emerge.

A5 Sam Crowell: Stories of Peace – Journeys to Transformation: Graduate students in Holistic and Integrative Education created peace curriculum in their classrooms. This session is a compilation of stories, methods, and experiences that transformed students and teachers alike.

A6 Pauline Smiley: Prompting Creative Thinking: The purpose of this experiential workshop is to offer the participants some new methods or strategies to prompt creativity.  Zen masters force this to happen by requiring students to meditate on baffling queries called koans.  Why?  Because this is the path to something called satori, an experience of the mind suddenly sidestepping its usual level of consciousness.  The moment the solution is understood, a mental convention is loosened, and a new state of perception is moved into, that is, the ‘Aha’ experience.

A7 Helene Gross: Head, Heart and Hands: Imagination and the Integration of Spirituality and Morality in the Waldorf Curriculum: Over the past century, Waldorf education has developed a curriculum founded on a holistic approach to learning – an approach that is grounded in the understanding of humans as spiritual beings. This workshop explores some of the ways in which the curriculum’s holistic approach, and its emphasis on imagination and creativity, subtly serve to inspire spiritual and moral leadership in students.

A8 Sandee Sharpe: Your Authentic Self – A Holistic Approach to Leadership: Authenticity is key for successful and meaningful leadership.  Discover and reconnect with your authentic self through body, mind, emotion and spirit activities.  How do we approach our lives and daily interactions?  Does our leadership style shift with self-awareness and a commitment to being authentic? Experiential, engaging and fun!

A9 Anne Mulvaney: By My Choices I Rule My Life, I Choose!: Experience how the psychology of Psychosynthesis can provide elementary and secondary teachers with approaches and techniques which can: help students understand themselves and their inner/outer conflicts; empower students to make wise choices and set goals; introduce them to their “Wise Being” deep within, making them aware of their ever wise spiritual component.

A10 Rebekah Carpenter: Taking Holistic Education Beyond the Classroom: This workshop addresses how to practically begin to reshape not only our public educational institutions towards a more holistic view of learning, but gives practical methods and promotes creative conversations on how to create environments in all of our organizations that “awaken” the gifts, talents and productivity of all of the employees and/or members so that all organizations and the individuals within them are alive and awaken to their gifts, talents and abilities and are authentically operating at peak efficiency each and every day.

A11 Andy James: The 3 Regulations of Body, Energy and Mind in Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong: Shifu Andy James will briefly explain the history and dynamics of the China’s Body-Energy-Mind disciplines and give workshop participants the unique opportunity of experiencing this synthesis for themselves. The workshop will focus on the fundamental (but generally overlooked) dynamics of standing, walking, sitting and breathing.

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SESSIONS B1 – B10
10:45 am – 12:00 pm

B1 Bob London: Nourishing Students’ Relationship with Nature: A Spiritual Perspective: This workshop will discuss principles, guidelines and methods, from a spiritual perspective, for strengthening students' connection to Nature as part of the educational process. Most of the workshop will be experiential and focus on applying the concepts in the participant's professional situation.

B2 Peter Laurence & Diana Denton: Preparing Students for Global Leadership:  Spirituality, Diversity, and Communication: The presenters have designed a one-day intensive on-campus program that provides training in listening, self-reflection, small-group dynamics and dialogue facilitation.  Communicating across differences is a critical skill for those who plan to participate in and to lead dialogue groups in today’s pluralistic world.  This workshop will offer opportunities for interactive practice and dialogue.

B3 Rina Cohen: Dealing with Fear: Spiritual Perspectives: This workshop will include a guided meditation on exploring our habitual patterns in relation to fear, followed by journal writing, partner sharing and whole group discussion. Citations from leading spiritual teachers and authors will be presented at appropriate moments during the workshop for audience reactions and discussion of specific themes.

B4 Session Cancelled

B5 Gary Babiuk: Schools as Sacred Places: Our schools are expected to do too much extracurricularly. These “sideshows of education” distract students and teachers. We need to transform our schools into “scared spaces”, exclusively dedicated to in-depth learning. This presentation will explore how we can “unclutter” our curriculum time and slow down the process of education so that students can integrate their intellectual and physical learning with their heart and soul.

B6 Cynthia Burnett: Holistic Approaches to Creative Problem Solving: This workshop will explore creative problem solving from a holistic perspective. By the end of the session, participants will be able to apply several new creativity tools to help them be more effective problem solvers in their personal and professional lives.

B7 Heather Morton: Making a Difference: Yoga and You: The practice of Hatha-yoga is an Indian system that teaches ethics, morals, breathing, physical postures and meditation. The teaching and learning of Yoga at school can make a positive difference in the lives of both students and educators. Using power-points, this presentation will explore ‘Yoga’ as a means of empowerment, self-development and nurture.

B8 Isabella Colalillo Kates: Creativity as a Spiritual Principle in Self Transformation: In this workshop, we will discuss principles of creativity and their connection to spiritual intelligence. Through creative activities, we will experience ways in which personal creativity connects our human imagination to intuition (which has been called the imagination of the soul) so that we may learn to forge a more soulful sense of self and unveil the deeper purpose of our life and work.

B9 Session Cancelled.

B10 Judith Gabor: Leading From the Heart: Becoming the Leaders and the Nurturers of Leaders Who Lead from the Heart: The 2000s political leaders and leaders of the world's centres of learning at the preschool, primary, secondary and university levels are the incubators of the leaders of the future. This challenging time requires an unprecedented agility of mind, body and spirit.  This workshop focuses on becoming the dynamic, healthy and heart centered leaders who will guide and nurture the leaders of tomorrow by their own lived life of balance, joy and sense of hope.

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1:00 pm – 2:00 pm    Keynote – Mary Gordon: Six Strands of Connection

SESSIONS C1 – C11
2:30 pm – 3:45 pm

C1 Marni Binder: “I see the universe, I see the world”: Nurturing Spiritual Literacy in the Elementary Classroom: This interactive workshop provides the opportunity to explore the significance of nurturing spiritual literacy. Sharing our own inner landscapes provides the conduit to understanding the necessity of providing an authentic and meaningful learning environment. Exploring spiritual literacy through the connections between inner speech, writing and drawing, will allow participants to enter a realm not recognized, or discussed in mainstream education.

C2 Diana Denton: The Contemplative Leader: Towards a Transformative Practice: In this workshop session we emphasize the intuitive and imaginative, and the ethical and contemplative dimensions of leadership as we explore how to empower students to develop ethical and moral sensibility, cultivating a recognition of interdependence and a re-connection with the natural and social world.

C3 Scott Mullins: The Prospects for Using Intuition as a Tool in Holistic Education: Defined variously in philosophy, psychology, and world wisdom traditions, intuition is cited as a tool to be used in holistic learning. Its inclusion their can seem daunting for its apparent erroneousness, yet uplifting because of a perceived sense of possibility. Practical study of intuition requires suspending thought willingly.

C4 Karen Bishop: Working With Spiritual Presence of Young People: The Empowering Spiritual Leadership: This workshop presents the practitioner's experience of working with the spirituality of young people in the educational setting-post 16. This workshop will include practical interactive explorations utilizing multi-dimensional perspectives to enable participants to offer the tools of the living beauty of the Imagination in their learning environments empowering young people's spiritual experience and awareness, the workshop seeks to provide deepening experiences of true significance, acknowledging the Divine right of each unique individual to discover their spiritual paths.

C5 Selia Karsten: Exploring Leadership: Encouraging learners to become wise leaders is one of the missions in teaching from the heart. This is an experiential workshop where participants will be sharing and discussing stories and teaching strategies based on themes of leadership as expressed by notable leaders and writers.

C6 Atsuhiko Yoshida, Yoshiko Koketsu & Motoko Saneto: Response to the International Collaboration for Holistic Education from Japan: We hope to provide an opportunity for cross-cultural dialogue to promote collaboration towards holistic education. A. Yoshida will share some experiences in Japan Holistic Education Society; Y. Koketsu has a presentation on seasonal festivals held in a Waldorf School in Kyoto; and M. Saneto has a presentation on holistic-caring in nursing education.

C7 Helene Dunkelblau & Ed Dunkelblau: Teaching to the Head and Heart: Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom: James Comer said that “No significant learning occurs without significant relationship.” In this interactive workshop, we will examine the necessity of addressing the social-emotional and character-building needs of students within the context of the teacher-student relationship in the K through post-secondary classroom.

C8 Warren Trimble: Paradigms and Prisons: Translations & Transformations – My Hero’s Journey From “At-Risk” Youth to Teacher/Learner in a Jail Setting: We come to know and bring understanding to our lives by storying them. My own Hero’s Journey, the path from egoic self toward universal self, can be understood as the resultant translations and transformations.

C9 Farzaneh Peterson: Teading the Spiritual Path With Practical Feet: Reflection on the Spiritual Journey of Roger White Academy: At the heart of the relationship of the theory and practice of holistic education is the period of reflection and evaluation of what is done and how best it could be improved.  Based on the experience of Roger white Academy, this paper evaluates the practice of holistic education in a small school, without prototype or international affiliation.

C10 Vicki Kelly: To See, To Know, To Shape, To Show: Art as a Way to Embody Knowing: This workshop presents an in-depth-narrative inquiry into how the artistic process facilitates holistic learning. It examines the embodied experience and personal knowledge of transformation of artist/educators. It explores how the arts become a catalyst, cathartic element, and crucible for holistic learning and transformation. We explore the arts as spiritual practice.

C11 Grace Feuerverger: Teaching, Learning and Other Miracles: A Spiritual Journey: This presentation is based on Grace Feuerverger's new book “Teaching, Learning and Other Miracles" which explores teaching and learning in schools as a sacred life journey, a quest toward liberation. In an era of narrow agendas of ‘efficiency’ and ‘control’ in schools, this book dares to suggest that education is and always will be about uplifting of the human spirit.

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SESSIONS D1 – D11
4:00 pm – 5:15 pm

D1 Larry Nusbaum: Inner Wisdom: Tools for Remembering Your Way: Our bodies and minds have an inner wisdom that can heal and guide us. In this experiential workshop we will explore stories of how inner wisdom naturally appears in our lives and sample imagination tools that access and develop this vital resource.  Tools include: storytelling, imagery, inner questions, writing, drawing, music and poetry.

D2 Session Cancelled

D3 Bob London & Sam Crowell: Transformative Approaches to Teacher Education: We will explore a variety of processes, guidelines and strategies that we believe facilitate transformation in teacher training, including methods of processing, ongoing reflective assignments, methods for creating meaning, connecting with Nature, and integrating the arts. Our ideas are based on over 9 years of collaborative work.

D4 Carlo Ricci: Healing From the Wounds of Schooling: We will share how schools have wounded us and others and discuss ways that we and others have and can heal from these wounds. As well, we will explore alternatives to mainstream schooling and explore Holt’s definition of education as living.

D5 Linda Rhinehart Neas: Contemplative Education Within Critical Literacy: Teaching with Spirit: Does critical literacy have a role in the emerging pedagogy of contemplative education? This presentation will show the connections between critical literacy and contemplative education. From the perception that, "Literacy is life," (Morrell, 2003) both critical literacy and contemplative education look at literacy as a way of being, not simply as learning how to read and write.

D6 Rubye Braye: Spirit-led Leadership: What do you do after you have been led to complete a task, have received a call, or have seen a vision? Many of us do nothing. Yet, our families, communities, and organizations need us. Come prepared to understand what to do with your message.

D7 Winnie Hunsberger & Shelley van Benschop: Spiritual Unfoldment and the Reggio Emilia Approach: The Reggio Emilia Approach to early childhood education is grounded in a philosophy that sees children as powerful knowers and inquirers. We relate our individual and shared journeys in coming to understand this approach as a holistic method of education and one which supports the spiritual unfoldment of young children.

D8 Eimear O’Neill: Circles of Transformation: Rekindling Indigenous Spirit:This workshop explores leadership practices that develop out of learning circles and other flat structures. When spirituality is revisioned in a participatory way as having a diversity of manifestations and ways of knowing, then spiritual leadership is never from above (as it is in hierarchies). Instead, leadership from a participatory spirituality perspective is emergent, flexible, shared and open to the deeper needs of the community. Spiritual leaders express those deeper community and human needs for this time. This workshop will use participants’ images, stories and lived experiences to explore this understanding and its implications for education and spiritual practices.

D9 Wendy Agnew & Catrina von Radecki: The Shores of Serendip: 'The Shores of Serendip' explores our capacity to act with elegance, audacity, and enigmatic "luck."  In this workshop you will glean details of arts-based, eco-research as articulations of fortune; experience your own creative rhythms through dynamic and collaborative interaction; and share personal methods and musings via inspired narrative.

D10 Melanie Whitman: Connecting With Ourselves and Children: See how it is possible, using the principles of NonViolent Communication, to increase our capacity for empathy, transforming conflicts, judgements, demands and punishments into opportunities for deep connection where we listen and express ourselves from our heart.  We will role-play using real situations from our everyday lives and create and use tools you can take home.

D11 Vanessa Compton: Labyrinth Practice in the Educational Setting: The pavement labyrinth is seeing increased use in institutional settings, including public schools and hospitals, for the purpose of walking meditation, life transitioning, problem solving, and conflict resolution. This workshop surveys the theory, practices and results in educational settings for children K-12, then we’ll learn to create temporary labyrinths.

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Sunday, October 28, 2007

SESSIONS E1 – E10
8:30 am – 9:45 am

E1 Barbara Brooks: Educating for a Culture of Peace Through Holistic Education: A Case Study of the Robert Muller School of Fairview, Texas (a private elementary school): Based on my doctoral research; how the Robert Muller School of Fairview’s holistic/eclectic ‘Model of  School Development’ attempts to construct a culture of peace and non-violence through 1) an integrated peace/global/ecological curriculum that emphasizes whole-person perspective, 2) the World Core Curriculum for Global Education Synthesis , their foundational educational framework.

E2 Christopher Reynolds: A Gathering of Orphans: Keeping a Foot in Two Worlds: This is a caring for the caretakers.  We will consider 4 ways of keeping a foot in two worlds.  One world is the connection to community or visible world.  The other world is the invisible world.  The invisible will be imagined in 4 ways: as symptom, as creative edge, as dream/vision, and as sensual experience of spirit.  Each section will feature a short description of the invisible being invoked, the playing of a song that puts that description in motion, and an invitation to share with those gathered.

E3 Cheryl Brightman: Learning to Love Who I Am: We look at behavioural patterns, attitudes, beliefs, feelings and experiences that support a positive lifestyles and those that do not. In interactive workshops, participants experience how they affect life and how life affects them. Tools are given to transform negatives into positives. It is transformational!

E4 Darrell Dobson: Archetypal Teacher Reflectivity: An Experiential Workshop: Reflecting on the archetypal images that inform and guide our teaching can contribute to new ways to understand and enact ourselves as teachers. The workshop follows what I call the four phases of transformative learning (creation, analysis, integration, action) as participants engage in experiential activities that promote archetypal teacher reflectivity.

E5 Helene Dunkelblau & Carolyn Cooper: The Discurseive Mediatation: A Tool for Self-Inquiry in Education: The Discursive Meditation comes out of the Western spiritual tradition. It consists of an inner dialogue between the everyday consciousness and the part of oneself that has deeper understanding and insight.  Participants learn its structure and participate in a meditation focused on personal issues they are working on as educators.

E6 Kathryn Humphrey & Kathleen Brunetta: Reading Soul in Biography: Self-Knowledge and Education: As holistic educators we have to know who we are, see our strengths, reckon with our weaknesses and understand our role in guiding the future through our work. With biography exercises, using reflection and meditation, participants will create a visual colour chart of their outer and then inner life journey where patterns and habits can become visible and inform deeper self- knowledge. This workshop will be both introspective and interactive.

E7 Sandra Roberts: Keeping with the New Kids: Raising Your Own Vibration: Our world is changing but are we keeping up in education? The new children in our classrooms come to us with a higher vibration and process information at a faster pace. How can we help them to bring out their gifts unless we meet them at their level? Learn ways to increase your own personal vibration, centre yourself, tune in to subtle energies with the assistance of the devic realm, call on angelic intervention, and use basic vibrational healing techniques in the classroom.

E8 Jack Miller: Holistic Curriculum: This workshop will focus on the basic principles of holistic education: balance, inclusion and connection.  Teaching strategies that foster holistic learning and making connections will be presented. A holistic approach to accountability will also be discussed.  The workshop is based on the most recent updated edition of Jack's book The Holistic Curriculum.

E9 Brent Cameron: Nuturing Genius through Natural Learning: In my multimedia presentation and workshop I intend to introduce a discovery of self hidden by our current thinking and education. This rediscovery shifts our thinking into a fourth stage of human development, one of rediscovering our original world view and understanding it for the first time.

E10 Rick Jarow: Creating the Work You Love: Vision Vocation and Value: In this richly experiential workshop, Rick Jarow explores the honoring of your life's calling instead of settling for a job. You are taken through a step-by-step process for building a self-sustaining career that resonates with your deepest levels of integrity, passion and purpose. Jarow works with a meditative format that applies internal exercises to issues that are central to successfully establishing aligned work in the world.  Beginning with an examination of abundance and scarcity and moving through an exploration of your family history around work, you will discern your true priorities, open your creative visions, and begin to align them with your whole being.

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SESSIONS F1 – F11
10:00 am – 11:15 am

F1 Chet Sisk: Evaluation Results on Chet W. Sisk’s New Method of Personal Transformation and its Public Policy Implications: Chet W. Sisk has developed a successful, duplicatable method for personal transformation that uses a unique combination of sub-conscience suggestion, contemporary technology, distance learning tools and a 3 day intensive. It has been evaluated by the University of Northern Colorado School of Psychology. He will share their findings and its potential impact on social policy.

F2 Session Cancelled

F3 Ocean Robbins: Our Stories, Our Values: This workshop will create an opportunity for real moments of connection as participants are invited to explore and share some of the defining moments of our lives, and what has made us who we are today.  We will also look at how our life histories have shaped how we see the world, what we love and are committed to, and the gifts that are ours to give.

F4 David Reid Marr & Sam Crowell: The Emergent Curriculum: What Happens When Curriculum Disappears: This session will explore, through presentation, demonstration, and interaction, how the concept of  “emergence” holds possibility for holistic educators. Our goal is to share how a deeper understanding of this concept can play a key role in our understanding of holistic curriculum.

F5 Geoffrey Soloway: Clowning, Mindfulness and Teacher Renewal: Clowning and Mindfulness share many underlying principles.  This workshop will introduce Mindfulness-Based Wellness Education (MBWE), a personal and professional development program for educators.   Participants will be introduced to theory and research on MBWE after two years running at OISE/UT, and explore the relationship between mindfulness, clowning & teaching as a source of renewal.

F6 Linda Cameron & Kimberly Bezaire: Play Matters in Wholehearted Leadership!: “One whose work is truly play is one of nature’s favoured few.” - Winston Churchill. What does it mean for education to be ‘wonder-full’ and ‘play-full’?  What is the role and value of play, not just in the lives of children, but for everyone?  In this session, we will wrestle with provocative questions relating to the context and importance of play in changing and challenging times.

F7 Jacqueline Wislesky: We are all Leaders – We are all Learners: Integrating improvisational theatre with connecting and communicating with ones implicit awareness, Jacqueline creates an embracing space in which participants notice into the ‘something more’ within ourselves. A guided process, participants have told Jacqueline that they “never knew they had a core essence before.” Or that the “belly laughter was something they forgot to do.”

F8 Diane Devenyi & Millie Robinson: Fearless Mastery: Proof that Video Games Can be Holistic,Educational and FUN: This workshop explores ways in which holistic education can be expressed in various ways. Imagine a holistic system of learning that is disguised as a literacy program that is further disguised as a video game. We call it Fearless Mastery and invite you to a modern, hands-on experience of some very old wisdom.

F9 Gillian Stevens & Sandra Roberts: Mining for Gold: Educational Alchemy: Educational alchemy is an ongoing process of recognizing the inner gold in ourselves and others (even when it is not clearly visible to themselves) and supporting us and them in the transmutation from lead to gold.  Join us in an experiential journey as we traverse the levels of consciousness from the root to the crown. Learn how to apply the principles of educational alchemy yourself!

F10 Jia Luo: Theorizing the Knowledge of Peace and Research in Educational Action through Tibetan Ethos: Cultural research based on conceptualizing the peace theory; Essential research to establish peace theory; Research on modern education; Theorizing the peace knowledge and educational action research through Tibetan ethos; Giving birth to the peace philosophy and education in the future

F11 Marisa Ferrera: Holistic Education: From Theory to Practice: How can you provide a ‘wholistic’ learning environment for your students?  Participants in this interactive workshop will learn and experience simple and effective strategies that can be implemented in any classroom. A list of resources will also be made available.

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12:30 pm – 1:00 pm      CONFERENCE CLOSING

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