Parenting for Peace: Fwd: Join us at Working with Girls on Wednesday, May 20th in Portland, ME

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Fwd: Join us at Working with Girls on Wednesday, May 20th in Portland, ME

You're invited to…
Working with Girls: A Training in Facilitation and Group Dynamics
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Facilitating group work with girls can be as challenging as it is rewarding. While building the group into a safe space, nurturing girls' voices, and helping them speak to their experiences takes effort and time – and it can be difficult and messy we also know that providing girls with the space and supports they need to connect, challenge and talk about their world is essential to girls' healthy development.

That's why we're offering a special training on Wednesday, May 20^th from 9a-4p in Portland, Maine. The training, Working with Girls: A Training in Facilitation and Group Dynamics, is an opportunity for you to learn concrete strategies for:
¨       Appreciating girls' differences and standing with girls
¨       Becoming self-aware as a facilitator and group member
¨       Observing, listening and tracking a group's voice and growth
¨       Practicing the 3 levels of listening
¨       Recognizing & handling resistance
Participants will also have the opportunity to practice facilitation techniques and look at group case studies.

Our trainer is Lael Couper Jepson, the owner and principal of SheChanges, a coaching and consulting firm based in Portland,Maine. She is a professionally educated and seasoned practitioner of organization development as well as a certified coach.
This workshop is designed for teachers, guidance counselors, school administrators, health service and social service providers, parents, and anyone else who wants to learn more effective approaches to bringing out the best in girls!

Join us for this groundbreaking training and find out how we can all create a better world for girls.

Find out more about Working with Girls

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Registration fee is $95 if received by May 13th; $110 afterward. A 15% discount is available for groups of 3 or more people from the same agency who register together. For more information on the training please visit our website (www.hghw.org), contact Hardy Girls Healthy Women (207) 861-8131 or info@hghw.org.
Register online now

Or

Download the flyer

We hope to see you on May 20^th.

Sincerely,

Megan Williams, Executive Director
Hardy Girls Healthy Women, Inc.
PO Box 821 / 14 Common Street
Waterville, ME 04903-0821
207/861.8131 (tel) / 207/615.0514 (fax)
megan@hghw.org / www.hghw.org

No comments:

Post a Comment

Books for Teachers

Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools For Empowering Young Children, by Louise Derman-Sparks (1989), Washington, DC: NAEYC - includes both philosophical and theoretical overview and specific activities to use in a preschool setting.
Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice (new edition in 2007) - a fabulous source book, although appropriate for the oldest children. includes both philosophical and theoretical overview and specific activities to use for adults and older children
That's Not Fair : A Teacher's Guide to Activsim with Young Children (2000) by Ann Pelo and Fran Davidson. Redleaf Press.
Writing for a Change : Boosting Literacy and Learning Through Social Action. This book is a collaboration between the National Writing Project (USA) and the Centre for Social Action (UK). The first half of the book describes a variety of experiences engaging in social action in the classroom. The second half provides specific models and activities to use. The book emphasizes creative and critical problem solving skills.

What is Peace Education?

There are many dimensions to peaceful parenting, educating and living. Ghandi's famous words "Be the Change you Seek in the World" implore us to balance our work for a peaceful world with efforts toward finding inner peace. Yoga, meditation, writing love letters (instead of hate mail), sitting in silence, looking for the best in others -- these are peaceful practices that occur in our everyday lives and promote a peaceful existance. These are important practices - and easy ones for me to overlook. Yet they are not the only pieces. We also need collective action, creative problem solving and smart conflict resolution.

There seem to be 5 basic elements to peace education with young children:

1) Teaching children to calm themselves and develop a sense of inner peace, including teaching kids how to "cool off" when they are angry.

2) Teaching children a more expansive vocabulary around emotions and group process. There are many resources to promote social and emotional intelligence, and this learning helps kids develop empathy and to care about community.

3) Teaching children about social justice and diversity -- promoting anti-bias education and providing kids with information about "isms" (both historical and current) and tactics for challenging and resisting the status quo.

4) Providing children/community members with clear strategies for solving conflicts that allow all community members to maintain thier integrity and inclusion in the group. These strategies are non-violent and focus on win-win solutions. Confict is understood as normal, healthy and providing opportunities for growth and learning.

5) Education about peacemakers, peace movements and the possibilities of non-violence in social change. This moves the arena out of "skill building" and into content -- learning about the world of peace and peacemaking in a historical and global context.

Parenting for Peace

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Fwd: Join us at Working with Girls on Wednesday, May 20th in Portland, ME

No comments:

No Child Left Inside

Harvard Educational Review on Peace - Internet References

Books for Teachers

Interesting Reads

What is Peace Education?

Blog Archive

Service, Leadership, Building Community

Social and Emotional Learning

Booklists and Bibliographies - Children's Books

Diversity and Social Justice

Marketing Violence & Stereotypes to Children