Transforming the teacher-student connection though self-discovery
About the Course Series
About the Instructors
Program Location
Teachers assume many roles in the U.S. education system. As any seasoned teacher knows, there is much more going on in the classroom than the simple transference of skill sets and testing. Indeed, students frequently observe that the lasting legacies of their best teachers often have more to do with qualities that the teacher embodied—curiosity, compassion, discernment, passion, acceptance, and openness—than the specifics of the subjects they taught. These teachers are distinguished by their "realness," their love, their wakefulness, and their awareness. Through their example, they open students' eyes to the possibility of living life with passion and presence.
This four-course program is expressly designed for experienced teachers who have mastered the content they teach and traditional teaching methods and are now ready to enhance their ability to "connect" with students by focusing on interpersonal relationships. Teacher as Whole Person is open to twelve to fifteen students each year. The program consists of four 3-credit core courses coinciding with the seasons beginning with fall.
The intent of the program is to help the experienced teacher learn to develop effective relationships with themselves, one another, Earth, and the cosmos in a comfortable secure environment with other educators. Through these experiences, teachers can become more effective change agents—oases of integrity and awareness in a fragmented world.
Fall: Nurturing
Course 1: October 6–7, and November 10–11
Coming into Relationship with Self
The program begins with an invitation to the teacher participants to take stock of their lives, considering their failures and successes, stuck places, visions, resources, and disabling beliefs. The central focus will be developing a healthy relationship with oneself. In the interval between the September and November retreats, the course instructors will work with the participants on ways they can integrate self awareness/acceptance practices into their personal lives, and how they can integrate this work into self-awareness and self-acceptance in their classrooms.
Winter: Quieting
Course 2: January 12–13, and March 1–2
Coming into Relationship with Each Other
In alignment with the winter season, the second course emphasizes listening, mending, healing, and forgiving through the practice of peacemaking. The purpose of the second course is to uncover obstacles that block honest and effective communication and to experiment with and practice innovative ways of communicating that engender acceptance and peace. Between retreats, the teacher participants will continue to explore the course themes through readings, dialogue, personal practice, and direct application in the classroom.
Spring: Birthing
Course 3: April 19–20 and May 17
Coming into Relationship with the Natural World
Spring is a time of birth, when new life springs forth. The third course is an invitation to enter into a whole-bodied relationship with the natural world of soil, wind, rock, and water by forging relationships with the larger organic living world of Earth. Before, during, and after the retreats, the course instructors will help the participants deepen their relationship with the natural world through readings, explorations, and nature-based practices.
Summer: Flourishing
Course 4: June 19–22
Coming into Relationship with the Cosmos
Participants will come into a relationship with something much bigger than themselves—the cosmos—and in so doing explore in expansive and exciting ways the great questions of existence: Who am I? Why am I here? The course will center around the power of story to create meaning and the power of artistic expression to offer insight and healing.
Program Location
The "retreats" that form the centerpiece of this program will take place in Julian Woods, an intentional community nestled in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. The Penn State University Park campus and State College are within a twenty-minute drive of the community. The location was chosen to help the participants leave worldly trappings behind and experience the awe of the changing seasons.
About the Instructors
Jean Forsberg is an artist, therapist, poet, and herbalist. Chris Uhl draws from twenty years' experience in the Rain Forests and a deep interest in how we are all connected to offer students a unique perspective in biology/ecology. Jean and Chris met long ago over conversations about the connections between Einstein's quantum physics and Cezanne's abstract painting. This course was inspired by their mutual commitment to healing humans and our relationship to our habitat through education and understanding.
Tuition and Registration
Tuition for the program follows the University's standard per-credit graduate tuition schedule. For more information on tuition schedules see http://www.tuition.psu.edu/.
Registration for the series is obtained through Penn State Continuing Education. Each course will be billed per semester. Both a course enrollment form and an online graduate nondegree application are needed for registration.
For additional information, call the Penn State Continuing Education Student Services office at 814-865-3443 or toll free 800-228-1627.
