Sant Bani School

	Session 1 Home > Conference 2007 > Session 1
Overview General Sessions Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Register online	All Session 1 offerings run from 9:00 to 10:10 Allan DiBiase: Just What IS Education? Can we distinguish "education" from "mis-education"? Do we know when school experiences are "educative" and when they are not? How are learning experiences part of the fabric of a whole life? What might the experiential paradigm for learning be? These and other questions will be considered in a workshop that encourages sharing of how we learn within life experiences. The purpose of this sharing and subsequent inquiry will be "to find out just what education is and what conditions have to be satisfied in order that education may be a reality and not a name or a slogan. (John Dewey from Experience and Education)." Allan DiBiase, Ed.D., teaches courses in the foundations of education and the arts as the philosophy and ethics of education. He is a specialist in the life and work of John Dewey, as well as a professional musician. He has his doctorate from Rutgers University and has special interests in Ethnomusicology, culture-based approaches to learning, and 19th century foundations of American pragmatism. Deborah Bogart: Opening the Walls For many centuries we have viewed learning as happening within the walls of the classroom. Now with the need for Global Citizens we are finding more ways to open the walls to a greater community for learning. This workshop will explain some of the ways the state of Vermont is doing this in their public schools. A great book to read before attending the workshop for a foundation of understanding is James Moffett's The Universal Schoolhouse: Spiritual Awakening Through Education. Deborah will explain the Academic Mentoring Program she started 10 years ago, called Branching Out, as well as the new program developing called School to Earth, an agricultural program that looks at sustainable ways of living in the community. Deborah Bogart has been an educator for over 39 years, teaching for Head Start, Public Schools, Waldorf schools and homeschoolers. She completed her Masters in Education focusing on changing public schools and has gone on to work for the Department of Education for the State of Vermont, as well as to design local programs for change in the Union 32 district and Montpelier schools. Deborah combines sustainability, service learning, mentorship and personal learning plans to access the community and create full circle learning. Mónica de Dios: How One Guatemalan School Broke the Mold for Bilingual Education In a bilingual pre-K through 12 school in Guatemala City, how can the children we teach help us understand what really works for them? For many years the Colegio Decroly Americano offered a bilingual English/Spanish program from 1st through 12th grade. Noticing that the students in the first three grades were struggling in the English medium classes (taught on a 50/50 basis), we introduced a new program for Pre-K and K, where 70% of the classes were taught in English. The challenge was to design a program that accommodated the children's needs, their background, and, above all, their young ages to the Made-in-America curriculum. The emphasis was on listening to the children and learning from what did and did not work, while always inviting Spirit into everything we did. There will be a slide show illustrating the program in action. Mónica graduated as a pre-school teacher at age 18 in Guatemala (part of a high school vocational program). She moved to the States and got a degree in early childhood education from Cerritos College in Norwalk, California, then worked in a Montessori early childhood school for a number of years. She moved back to Guatemala 13 years later, and got her B.A. with a major in Social Sciences and is currently working on post-graduate studies in Guatemalan History. She has worked as an early childhood educator for about 14 years, with children from age 1 ½ to 8 years old. Meg Peterson: Teaching Writing for a Better World How can we teach so people will stop killing each other? How can writing help students learn to live in a democratic and diverse society? We will engage in writing activities designed to create classroom community, enrich students' understanding of others and help students work towards promoting social justice in their lives. Meg Petersen is the Director of the Plymouth Writing Project, New Hampshire's site of the National Writing Project. She is a professor of English at Plymouth State University with a strong interest in social justice issues. She is also the mother of three sons. Priscilla Fay and Kerri Biller teach Patrice McDonough's The Peace-Full Classroom* We must be intentional as we create the culture of our classrooms. This work/playshop is an hour of possibilities that will be shared helping participants to facilitate classrooms that care. Many of the experiences and much of this hour's conversation can be implemented and shared with your learning communities tomorrow. Patrice McDonough is a passionate educator of more then thirty years. A recipent of NH's 1991 Christa McAuliffe Fellowship, Patrice has been leading work/playshops throughout the world incorporating "Operation Cooperation," a collaborative peace and conflict curriculum she developed during her sabbatical year. We must work together to overcome challenges, not people, celebrating and honoring our 99.9 % similarities and .1% differences. Patrice lives in Lancaster, NH and works as a Teacher of the Deaf and Coordinator of J.O.Y. (Joining Our Youth) *Sant Bani faculty Priscilla Fay and Kerri Biller volunteered to teach this workshop when Ms McDonough was unable to come. Priscilla and Kerri have worked with Patrice and will present her materials Todd Lewis: 10 Issues to Get Right Teaching about Islam Islam is no longer exotic and distant. It is present in our neighborhoods and on the nightly news. Students must be exposed to the pluralism of religious expression and see Islam and the other Asian religions by examining the core principles, not attending to the exotic stereotypes or issues on the periphery. Ten Things to Get Right Teaching Islam and Asian Religions will focus on key perspectives that will enable faculty and students to see similarities and look beyond stereotypes to imagine the lived reality of these faiths and the humanity of typical believers. Todd Lewis is Professor of World Religions at the College of the Holy Cross. He has given lectures and done workshops at public and private K-12 schools, colleges, and medical schools throughout the US; he has also directed summer Institutes for k-12 teachers funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.