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The Five Star Program™ – A Step-by-Step Teacher’s Guide to Innovative Classroom Strategies that Awaken Students’ Unique Potential is available on Createspace and Amazon

   I would like to share with you great news. My book, The Five Star Program™ – A Step-by-Step Teacher’s Guide to Innovative Classroom Strategies that Awaken Students’ Unique Potential is available on Createspace and Amazon. Soon it will be available in your local bookstores. I would love you to read it and let me know what you think. Here is some background material for those of you who do not know what the program is about.
 
 My work with children is inspired by luminaries that you may be familiar with, Rudolf Steiner and Maria Montessori, and one that you may never have heard about – Janusz Korczak from Poland.
When we first learn about Janusz Korczak, here in the US, we look for books about him. The first one we normally read is his beautiful biography written by Betty Lifton, The King of Children. And if we have time, we reach for When I am Little Again and The Child’s Right to Respect. These were written by Korczak in 1920s and were translated by by E.P. Kulawiec in 1992. Since I speak Polish, I also read Korczak’s How to Love a Child. While reading these books I became acutely aware of the chasm between what Korczak described as ideal environment for children to grow in and what I was meeting in everyday life. For years I was looking for ways to bridge that chasm and one day, I figured out one way to help children gain a voice in their learning process, both in their classrooms and at home while doing homework. It is called the Five Star Program™ and it has been around for over 10 years. Our volunteers and I bring it to schools, universities, afterschool programs, camps and homes. We bring it anyplace where adults will listen and will allow a child to take some responsibility for their learning. And now the Five Star Program™ is available in a book form.
 
The book introduces the ideas in a simple, step-by-step way so you can try it for yourself.  Of course, there is no substitute for attending a workshop but the book provides the basic principles. 
 
You can learn more about the Five Star Program™ on my website at:
 
To order the book, you can pick it up from my home office, or go to:
or
 
Let me know what you think and let others know – teachers, parents and anybody who needs to calm her/his mind, focus better and learn with ease.
peace, mariola
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New AERO Conference Information!

This has been a turning point week for the upcoming AERO Conference, August 3-7 in Portland, OR. Below are a few of the announcements, along with a way to get a 10% discount or win free conference fees! You can still use the $50 deposit to hold the current price.

You can see a partial list of workshops here. 

 

AERO Childcare to be Mini-School

We pleased to announce that the childcare at the AERO conference will be directed again by Village Free School's Jessica Graves. Jessica plans to run it as a sort of mini-Village Free School, with some of its students participating. This will be complete with a democratic meeting that conference participants can observe. This program will only cost $100 for the whole conference and is open to any children 12 and under. The number may be limited so sign up soon!

 

Grauer Announced as Keynoter

We're very excited to tell you that Stuart Grauer, founder of the Grauer School in San Diego and author of Fearless Teaching will be a keynoter at the AERO conference. Grauer's book has been a best seller on Amazon in several categories. He has traveled all over the world to see unusual schools and unusual teaching situations. He is a widely praised story-teller and his talk will be about how to get story telling back into teaching. Grauer will join Yong Zhao and Peter Gray as keynoters at the conference.  

 

AERO Conference 10% discount for Two Days

To celebrate all of this news we are offering a coupon for a 10% discount for the conference for the next two days. It will even apply to the low income andstudent rates. Now is the time to register. Don't expect this offer to be repeated. As we have said, as the conference fills up the rate will increase. The coupon code is aerocon10. To use it paste it in at checkout to the coupon code box.

 

New AERO T Shirts for This Week's Registrants

We are in the process of making new AERO T-shirts. This week all new registrants will get a free AERO T shirt. Eventually they will be available to everyone. We'll let you know.

 

AERO Conference Sweepstakes

AERO will be giving away three free registrations to the AERO conference. This will go to three of our applicants. We are asking all those interested to publicize the conference on their list serves, forums and social media along with a few sentences on why you want to attend. Send us links so we can confirm this. We will then pick three winners. If you've already registered we can reimburse you or you could bring someone else!

We are asking those interested to send out a link to our conference. If you have a network of people you can contact, here's a short message you can send them:

Every year the Alternative Education Resource Organization hosts one of the most important gatherings of learner-centered educators. It is called the AERO Conference and this year it will be from August 3-7 in Portland, OR. It is always relatively inexpensive. This year it will feature keynoters such as Yong Zhao and Peter Gray,  TED-like mini-talks on the first day, over 40 workshops, new documentaries, Agile Learner Center training, the Education JAM, and school visits, among other things.
 
The registration fee right now is $275, $200 for students. But for our network we have permission for you all to register at the $225 low-income rate for this week. If you’ve never been to an AERO conference, this is the year to go!

You can see the conference flyer here.

 

 

Two Important Groups Announce Events at AERO Conference!

Agile Learning Centers Training

At this year's conference, facilitators from the Agile Learning Centers Network will be offering a series of special workshops. The ALC model is an exciting and innovative approach which is catching fire around the country and around the world. 


In addition to their annual ALF Summer intensive training, the ALC Network will be offering a 3-day Mini Training right after the AERO Conference in Portland. Save $200 by signing up for both the AERO Conference and theALC Mini-Training. Learn more here!

 

The 2016 Education Transformation JAM
Former AERO keynoter Shilpa Jain has been co-organizing YES! Leadership JAMs all over the world for many years. She is the Executive Director of YES!JAMs bring together personal, interpersonal and systemic transformation, and create profound spaces for learning, unlearning, connecting, healing, growing and collaborating. Each JAM has about thirty participants — in this case, a diverse, multigenerational group engaged with transforming education in all ways. The Jam will be starting three days in advance of the AERO Conference in a retreat center just outside Portland. To find out more about the JAM, and apply to be a part of it, go here.

You can reserve a hotel room here or you can call toll free 1 855 642 6271 . 

Get more info or register here!

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Paid Internship for Certified Mentor of Holistic Education

Paid Internship for Certified Mentor of Holistic Education

 

Originateve Holistic Education Designs is offering a paid internship toward Certification of Mentor of Holistic Education and Regenerative Practices.

We are looking for a talented, energetic, and patient future mentor to fill a very special position as a live-in assistant to an adult with special needs and storyteller at various early learning centers. This position has three components:

(Due to the intimate role of Live-In Aide, this position is only available to female candidates.)

 

1. The selected Candidate will complete coursework toward the Certified Mentor Program through Originateve.  The CMP is divided up into three course sections.  Tuition for each section completed during the Intern Position will be covered by a scholarship.  (Tuition for each section amounts to $600 ea. Or $1800 for the complete certification.)  Each section is composed of online reading, writing and discussion as well as 180 hours of practical hours with Originateve Certified Mentor Guides.  Candidate will also attend Originateve meetings and various events as additional support.

 

2. The Candidate will serve as a Roommate/ Live-in Aide to an adult with special needs.

The requirements for the position of Roommate/Live in Aide are as follows.

The work requires between 12 and 14 contact hours a week.  There are a few tasks which must be completed most days, such as evening companionship and schedule management. Others occur once a week, such as menu planning and grocery shopping. Candidate must provide the friendship of a roommate and the guidance of an aide. The parents of the adult will be partners in your success.  The unit is a two-bedroom apartment close to the light-rail in West Denver.  It is bright, modern, colorful, and has management on site during normal work hours. The compensation includes full rent and utilities, internet and parking.  7 hours weekly will be credited to the candidate’s CMP practical hours for the work related to the Live-in Aide position. 

 

3. The Candidate will also serve as a paid instructor to an Early Childhood Enrichment Program in Story and Music at various Early Learning Centers.  The ability to play guitar and/ or piano is highly preferred but not required.  This position is approximately 8 contact hours a week.  Intern will be paid $10/hour for training hours and $15/ hour for classes where the Candidate leads the class.  (Ideally this would occur after one month).  All Early Learning contact hours will be applied toward the practical hours requirement for the Certified Mentor Program. 

 

Due to the nature of the duties surrounding this internship package, Candidate must have reliable transportation both to get between Early Learning Centers and assist their Roommate with some regular transportation assistance.

For further information and/or to obtain an application for this position send a letter of inquiry and resume to ronaldoverde@originateve.org .

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IDEC Crowdfunding Campaign

In 1993 the inaugural meeting of what became the International Democratic Education Conference was held in Israel. Since then there has been a meeting of the IDEC virtually every year to nurture the fledgling movement. They have met, in England, Austria, Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand, United States, India, Germany, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Korea. These meetings have sometimes been important for the development of democratic education in the places where they were held. There are now more that 200 democratic schools in the world and the number is beginning to grow fast.

But it is crucial that we continue the tradition of supporting low-income and third world schools and individuals who want to participate in the IDEC. This is often the difference between having democratic schools in these countries and not having them. We do not want this to become an elitist movement. As it is there are democratic schools in many struggling area such as Uganda, Thailand, Nepal, Bolivia, and Ukraine.

This year's IDEC will be in Scandinavia for the first time, In Finland in June. In order to facilitate the participation of developing world and low-income schools and individuals we have organized a crowd funding campaign to raise funds for their travel and expenses. The IDEC will donate the conference fees.

Of course, these days travel is not cheap, so please give generously as soon as possible, as visa's from these countries often take a long time, sometimes involving many late night calls (to far different time zones) to embassies stalling approval.

Thanks so much for your help!

Go to the IDEC Crowdfunding Campaign HERE