January – April 2015 Faculty Webinars
All webinars are on Sundays. All are one hour. No charge.
January 18, 4 PM PST —Chris Mercogliano
Protecting Inner Wildness in Childhood
The growing domestication of contemporary childhood is cutting off the energy supply to children's essential nature, or what I call “inner wildness.” We will examine some of the major sources of domestication, along with some practical, everyday ways to ward them off.
Involved with the Albany Free School for the past 40 years, Chris is the author of a number of books about children and education, including In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness, A School Must Have a Heart, Teaching the Restless, How to Grow a School, and Making It Up as We Go Along: The Story of the Albany Free School. Chris is a member of our faculty. See Chris’ TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0fg73WnLWQ
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6077135270758703618
Webinar ID: 119-420-019
**********************************************************************
February 1, 4 PM PST—Fleurette Sweeney
From Sound to Symbol Praxis
In introducing my work I would like to engage in a conversation about the folk song-game. This particular form of social play serves not only as the foundational context for the learning community it creates, but also serves as the nexus or link that connects all subsequent study, whether engaged in by teachers or children. See my dissertation: From Sound to Symbol: The Whole Song As Curriculum; The Whole Child As Pedagogue; Observation As Methodology. (UBC 2002)
http://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/13564
Fleurette Sweeney is the Co-developer of Education Through Music (ETM) with Mary Helen Richards and staff of Richards Institute of Music Education and Research, California (1969-1991); Founder and President, Living Language Institute Foundation, Vancouver BC (1987-to present); charter member of Music EdVentures, Inc., Montana; extensive experience teaching ETM at universities throughout mid-west and western states of US/Ontario and BC, Canada (1969-2005); one of the founders of the SelfDesign Graduate Institute and a member of our faculty.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1151084584299088642
Webinar ID: 120-710-179
**********************************************************************
Feb 15, 4 PM PST—Ba Luvmour
Consciousness, Children, and Education
How do children organize their world? What does that organization reveal about the nature of human consciousness? What are the implications for education (and parenting)? Bateson, Aurobindo, and many others have carefully invited us to delve into the relationship between Mind and Nature. How is that relationship expressed in children? Exploring these questions, and any you may have, provide the field in which this webinar takes place.
Co-founder of Summa Institute in Portland, Oregon (summainstitute.org) and co-creator of Natural Learning Relationships, Ba has published five books, taught hundreds of parents and children, and led countless programs for families since 1985. Ba is also a member of our faculty. His books include Optimal Parenting: Using Natural Learning Rhythms to Nurture the Whole Child and Beyond Metaphor: Dialogue from the Realm of Self-Knowledge. summainstitute.org
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3383794677102977538
Webinar ID: 122-298-027
**********************************************************************
February 22, 4 PM PST—Anne Adams
Self-Designing through Integral Education
This webinar will engage participants in an exploration of their own educational experiences in the development and integration of their mental, emotional, physical and spiritual intelligences. The process of self-design is clarified and enhanced by the engagement of each webinar participant in the Integrality Self-Assessment. This inquiry provides an opportunity for self-reflection and lays the foundation for an integral approach to one’s education.
Anne Adams is a member of the faculty and board of the SelfDesign Graduate Institute, and an international consultant of Individual, Cultural and Organizational transformation in businesses and education. Her company, ACS, provides consulting in organizational transformation to all people in companies, specializing in large-scale cultural transformation and change, communication skills, team collaboration, leadership development, coaching and individually designed programs.
Her dissertation at the California Institute for Integral Studies was entitled Education: From Conception to Graduation, a Systematic, Integral Approach; it can be accessed here: http://www.wisdompage.com/AnneAdamsDissertation.pdf
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/771014200902646530
Webinar ID: 104-439-603
**********************************************************************
March 8, 4 PM PDT—Mali Burgess (Note: Daylight Savings Time)
The Art and Architecture of Consciousness
We will explore the ways fundamental patterns and dynamics of relationship are reflected in the foundational processes of life and the deep structures of consciousness, and how these dynamics embody the essence and beauty that simultaneously describe the most basic and most complex of living systems, from patterns embodied by the natural world to social networks, sacred structures, the subtle body, processes of consciousness, and nondual awareness.
Mali’s works as a visual artist have been shown and awarded nationally and internationally. She is the author of Still and a number of online publications. Her research has involved geometric dynamics and the psychophysiological effects of the architecture of space, engaged economics, and creative awareness and self healing. She is the founder of Iris Institute, a nonprofit organization. She has worked with children ages 2-12, is a faculty member at Energy Medicine University and is a member of our faculty. Iris Institute website: http://www.irisinstitute.net/
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5621180992859817474
Webinar ID: 108-839-475
**********************************************************************
March 22, 4 PM PDT — Renee Poindexter
Conscious Business
The growing movement of social business entrepreneurs is becoming a powerful player in the national and international economy, providing a new framework that business can do well to do good.
We will review business from an integral perspective: to include examples of “conscious capitalism,” where the reorientation of business focused solely on the pursuit of profits to one focused on core values of integrity, serving all stakeholders to include employees, suppliers, customers, investors, the community and the world at large.
Renee Poindexter is the founder of Living the Potential Network, a collaborative of social entrepreneurs interested in designing authentic learning environments. She is a former high school English teacher who discovered the significance of learning in the world of business—over 25 years in a variety of industries—including technology, healthcare, financial services, construction, advertising and public relations, executive search, coaching, and consulting. An accomplished trainer, facilitator, success coach, and organizational consultant, Renee has worked with non-profit organizations, schools, and businesses to facilitate the positive changes needed to fulfill the organizational vision. Her background in continuous improvement has assisted her in designing programs to inspire people to lead with their heads and hearts connected.
Renee is the chair of the SelfDesign Foundation’s Board of Directors, the foundation home of the SelfDesign Graduate Institute.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4169379242474681090
Webinar ID: 123-613-091
**********************************************************************
March 29, 4 PM PDT — Josette Luvmour
Introduction to Rites of Passage in Our Times
There is a resurgence of interest in Rites of Passage (ROP) in our times. What is the value of ROP for personal growth, for society, for children in education? We will explore ways to access that mystery through the use of Rites of Passage. Insights into this topic will be briefly discussed from the fields of transpersonal psychology, education, and human development. Participants will be invited to contribute to the conversation on this topic while entertaining new perspectives.
Josette Luvmour, Ph.D. is an educator in human development and a developmental consultant specializing in child development, adult development, adult transformational learning, and sustainable family relationships. She serves in the non-profit sector as Director of Family Development at Summa Academy and Professional Development at Summa Institute. Her writing has been published in ENCOUNTER: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, Paths of Learning, Journal of Adult Development, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Parenting Matters, Family Post, Holistic Education Review, Mothering Magazine, Naturopathic Doctor News. She is also the author of five books that focus on building positive relationships with children, including Natural Learning Rhythms: Discovering How and When Your Child Learns and Everyone Wins!: Cooperative Games and Activities (both with Ba Luvmour). Several of her essays are available here: http://summainstitute.org/books-articles/ Josette is also a member of our faculty.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6010368526674024194
Webinar ID: 124-639-251
**********************************************************************
April 12, 4 PM PDT—Abigail Larrison
Holistic Education and the Brain
Abigail Larrison received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University’s Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience where she focused on attention systems in the brain. She learned that we can fully develop these attentional systems in the way we teach. Ironically, attention systems do not develop by requiring sustained attention, but through much more subtle means of building connections between the frontal brain regions and the deep motor circuits. Neither can we teach morality directly; rather we must work with the subtle nature of the most ancient structures of the emotional brain. There is the popular notion that we can train the brain to become a highly functioning machine. Like a computer, we can create efficient neural processing. But the brain is not all about thinking, and even then, complexity is often preferable to efficiency. Understanding the paradoxical nature of brain development and cognition is central to our becoming transformative educators.
This webinar highlights several principles from the neurosciences that can guide our understanding of how we can nurture each individual’s thriving and how in our current practices we block the natural unfolding of higher cognitive capacities such as insight, creativity, and moral reasoning.
Abigail trained along traditional lines in Neuroscience at Rutgers with post-doctoral positions at McGill and UIC Center for Cognitive Medicine. Abigail has sought to understand the value of neuroscience as it informs life outside the laboratory. A second doctorate in Educational Leadership from UCSD focused on educational reform based on the developing brain. The growing field of Mind, Brain and Education shows how holistic models of education encourage the full development of human emotional and even spiritual health, maximizing the full potential of each individual. Abigail has additional training in alternative models of education, mind-body techniques and energetic medicine—Waldorf Education from Arcturus in Chicago, Somatic Education at University of Quebec at Montreal, Pranic Healing from the Institute of Inner Studies— and an interest in the synthesis of these fields with modern scientific findings. She is also a member of our faculty.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3899619562158079490
Webinar ID: 125-473-331
