Wednesday, Oct 22, 2008

Tuesday Conference call on Education Oct 21, 2008 – What does it mean to be convinced about not having a problem? “Sitting Still”? (Part 3)

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This is a recording of the tenth Tuesday Conference Call on Education. We had 11 people on the call from the UK, Sweden, Holland, and the US.

On this call we are joined by special guest Rod Sugden. We inquire into what it means to be convinced about not having a problem?

Rod is an elementary school teacher in London and teaches a fifth grade class. Rod has been on many of the previous calls and talked about how he uses the models “It’s your choice”, “Where are we right now?” and in particular “Sitting Still”.

On the last two calls we looked at our own experiences and the significance of doing “Sitting Still” meditation. We have been finding out how important and foundational this practice is in bringing about continual development in the classroom. On this call we want to point the finger back at ourselves, and our ability to hold this position of Absolute stillness.

* Are we interested in and striving to hold a position of stillness?
* How still am I as a teacher/parent?
* How much am I manifesting not having a problem?

The culture around us is very much focused on life being a problem. So what would it mean to have an unshakable faith at your deepest level that life and the evolutionary process is fundamentally good, no matter what you happen to be experiencing? What would it mean if at a precognitive level - before thought and before any experience - that you had a deep trust, faith and conviction about not having a problem with whatever was happening? Would you go totally crazy or would you be absolutely sane?

Rod gives an example, “Say there is some distracting behaviour going on in the classroom, some kid is calling out or banging his pencil on the desk or just maybe being very stroppy for some kind of reason. It seems that basically at that point that as a teacher we can go in one of two directions. One is to stay with no problem and hold our larger perspective where you only focus on development and what is possible. The alternative is to see life as being a problem and to make a problem out of this particular distractive behaviour. It seems that we are constantly in this situation of being faced with this choice. The challenge for the class teacher is that with all the distracting behaviours that can and do go on is to not get sucked into a smaller perspective. That is why we practice “sitting still,” to be a model of not having a problem. If we are convinced about not having a problem then we will be developing as a consequence of that.”

Posted by Nick Drummond at 6:20 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008

Tuesday Conference call on Education Oct 14, 2008 – How “still” should a teacher be to teach children the value of “Sitting Still”? (Part 2)

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This is a recording of the ninth Tuesday Conference Call on Education held at 9.30pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (6:30 am EDT). On this call we had 9 people on from Australia, Sweden, Denmark and the USA.

“The children come in the morning and the first thing they say is ‘Are we going to practice sitting still today?’ They want to make sure that that is going to happen. Then I say ‘Yes’ and there is this ‘Yea!’ from the children.”

“I’ve got my 4th graders who were in my class last year who are literally taking it into their new classrooms. I’ve got a couple of them who are holding it and teaching it in their classrooms. And there are some teachers who are now getting interested who didn’t know about it before, but because the kids won’t stop talking about it and are trying to hold them to a certain standard these teachers are coming to me and asking about it.”

“Children express a hunger and recognition about Sitting Still that is really important. Just like you need food for your body, you need this time to just be, even if it is only 3 -5 minutes. During this time where do you want to choose to put your attention? We have a choice about where we want to put our attention. We can chose to be upset, we can choose to say ‘I can’t do this’, ‘I’m never going to be able to do maths’, ‘I’m going to be horrible at handwriting for the rest of my life.’ Or you can choose to put your attention on being open to whatever is going to happen and making a contribution from a meaningful place, where you choose not see yourself as being separate. Sitting still gives you the chance to practice that choice.”

On this call are joined again by special guest Jon Bertelsen. Jon guides meditation at the EnlightenNext centre in Copenhagen and is very familiar with my work and that of teachers Joan Berland and Rod Sugden. He has taken part in a number of my seminars and workshops in Copenhagen where Joan and Rod have joined in “live”. I have asked Jon to help us gain a better understanding of the purpose of meditation in a classroom setting and how we as teachers and educators can benefit from this dimension. On the call last week there was a lot of interest in hearing about the experiences that the teachers on the call had with meditation.

Last week Jon reminded us about a discovery that we had made in May that without the practice of “Sitting Still” higher development will stop, as well as creativity and a collective consciousness. Why? Because children, just like adults, reach a level of development where they settle in and become comfortable. Jon reminded us that when we started practicing “Sitting Still” with the children we are able to reconnect with a part of our self that always wants to develop.

This is a very significant topic for anyone interested in creating a classroom or school where harmony and dynamic development become the starting position rather than the goal. I hope you can join us.

These conference calls are FREE to join and open to all interested people. Send me an email and I will put you on my list. Each call is recorded as a podcast and posted on www.nordicintegral.com as well as on www.enlightennext.org/membership/

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The next Tuesday Conference Call on Education will be October 21 at 9:30pm Central European Summer Time (3:30pm EDT)
The dial in number is: 1-712-580-1100
Access Code: 811288 #

Posted by Nick Drummond at 5:39 PM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2008

Tuesday Conference call on Education Oct 7, 2008 – How “still” should a teacher be to teach children the value of “Sitting Still”?

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This is a recording of the eighth Tuesday Conference Call on Education. On this call we had 13 people on from the USA, Canada, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Australia.

In this call we are joined by special guest Jon Bertelsen who guides meditation at the EnlightenNext centre in Copenhagen. Jon is very familiar with my work and that of teachers Joan Berland and Rod Sugden. He has taken part in a number of my seminars and workshops in Copenhagen where Joan and Rod have also joined in “live”. In this call Jon will help us gain a better understanding of the purpose of meditation in a classroom setting and how we as teachers and educators can benefit from this dimension. I have found this topic to be very inexhaustible, I am always finding out something new, exciting and alive when talking about it with students and educationalists.

When I first started creating the Evolutionary Childhood Education Program I would always start by introducing to teachers and students the staircase model “It’s Your Choice!” and then the developmental scales or rubrics, like “Where are WE right now?” But when I was asked to work with really difficult classes of teenagers I realized that I had to become very real if I wanted something significant to happen. Quite spontaneously I asked the class to choose to be completely still, have no relationship to anything happening around them and to just drop everything. Within seconds everyone recognized a positive and remarkable shift in the atmosphere and attention in the room and that this was the place they and I wanted to experience again and again together.

When I visited Joan Berland in June this year I was able to film her class as we did exactly this, sat completely still, letting go of everything and where paying complete attention. They called it being awake, because those that followed the instructions where awake and paying 100% attention no matter what was happening internally or externally. They thought it was so significant that they wanted to start the “Awake” club.

For the 3 calls in October we will be looking at this theme of “Sitting Still”. "Stillness" is a very significant topic for anyone interested in creating an enlightened classroom or school, and I hope you can join us.

Posted by Nick Drummond at 4:44 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008

Tuesday Conference call on Education September 16, 2008 – Spiral Dynamics and Education

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This is a recording of the seventh Tuesday Conference Call on Education. On this call we had 12 people on from the USA, Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, and Australia.

On this call we are joined by special guest Kirk Coleman. Kirk teaches grade 6/7 on the west coast of Canada and has just finished writing his Master's thesis in education titled: “Spiral Dynamics and the work of Clare Graves: Exploring the implications for Education.”

Kirk gives an overview of the Spiral Dynamics model and looks at the implications for education based on the work of professor Claire Graves. Kirk also looks at the purpose of education when seen from a Spiral Dynamics point of view. He also looks at its application in the classroom and with staff and administration.

Kirk quotes Caleb Rosado, “Rosado states that many of the problems currently plaguing the educational system are actually the result of conflict between the differing spiral levels found in the school system. Much of the effort by educators to deal with problems such as bullying and racism are doomed because they only deal with the surface manifestations of the problems not the deeper issues of conflicting worldviews.”

How does how people view the world affect us as teachers? How do world views affect how we deal with other teachers, with students, with administration, how we teach, how we deal with the world around us?

Dealing with students: Depending on the operative value system different students will respond to learning in different ways. We need to recognize this and employ different methods of instruction that are suitable to different styles of learning. Kirk then talks about and outlines these different styles for Purple, Red, Blue, Orange, Green and Yellow..

Graves says that “Green thinking shows an almost radical almost compulsive emphasis on seeing everything from a relativistic, subjective frame of reference and they rigidly revolt and fight against notions of quantity” As an example Kirk talks about Canada’s Ministry of Education’s push for quantitative measurement of students and schools being seen in a negative light as this goes against a basic premise of Green which is that all people are equal and measuring and judging people, thus making some better than others is inherently wrong.

If you would like to read Kirk’s paper please send an email to nick.drummond@nordicintegral.com
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The next Tuesday Conference Call on Education will be Tuesday October 7
Theme: Deepening our understanding of sitting still, meditation and the Ground of Being

The dial in number is: 1-712-580-1100
Access Code: 811288 #

TIME 9:30 pm Central European Summer Time. (3:30 pm EDT)

Time of European/American call in other time zones

12:30pm — West Coast USA Time
2:30pm — Central USA Time
3:30pm — East Coast USA Time
8:30pm — UK Time
9:30pm — Continental Europe Time
10:30pm — Israeli Time
03:30am (Wednesday) — Western Australia Time
05.30am (Wednesday) — Eastern Australia Time

These calls are FREE to join and open to all interested people. You are welcome to pass this invitation on to others. This conference call will be recorded as a podcast and posted on www.nordicintegral.com as well as on www.enlightennext.org/membership/

Posted by Nick Drummond at 9:10 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008

Tuesday Conference call on Education September 9, 2008 - Creative Writing Project (Part 2)

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This is a recording of the sixth Tuesday Conference Call on Education.

On this call Uli Nagel talks further about the next step of the Creative Writing Project and her role as a facilitator to coordinate and support the project, in particular to create a password protected website that will best facilitate teachers and students to post their material and interact in a way that will further everyone’s development. It would be for teachers and children who have had some sort of contact with the teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment, with the ground of being, rubrics and staircase model.

“Basically we want to create a project in which children who have been in some way exposed to the teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment* have a way to creatively engage with each other internationally on-line about their experience in the classroom and about their visions and ideas about the future.”

(*) It could be by having a teacher who is using the models from Creating Dynamic Harmony in the Classroom - An Evolutionary Childhood Education Program, or having a teacher who is inspired by the teachings of EE, or even having been on a retreat with Andrew Cohen.

To become involved in this exciting project, please send an email to either Uli Nagel ulinagel@gmail.com or Nick Drummond.

These calls are FREE to join and open to all interested people. You are welcome to pass this invitation on to others. This conference call will be recorded as a podcast and posted on www.nordicintegral.com as well as on www.enlightennext.org/membership/

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The next Tuesday Conference Call on Education will be Tuesday September 16
The dial in number is: 1-712-580-1100
Access Code: 811288 #

Posted by Nick Drummond at 4:44 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

Wednesday, Sep 03, 2008

Tuesday Conference call on Education September 2, 2008 - Creative Writing Project (Part 1)

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This is a recording of the firth Tuesday Conference Call on Education. On this call we had 14 people on from the USA, Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The topic for this call is children and teenagers writing about a positive future / meaning and purpose / creative dynamic atmosphere / meditation / making positive choices / starting a story about a level 5 world / a website to post these stories / connecting kids

On the last two phone calls (August 12 & August 19), we have been discussing what it means to create an "atmosphere" in the classroom characterized by dynamic harmony. On this week's call, Uli Nagel, a writer and long time student of Andrew Cohen's, would like to discuss how children who are exposed to a "collective dimension of consciousness" might be able to write something incredibly positive and meaningful about the future. What might the world look like if everyone was operating from a 5, 10 or even 50? Uli contacted Joan Berland and Nick Drummond with the idea of initiating a writing competition for children and teenagers.

These calls are FREE to join and open to all interested people. You are welcome to pass this invitation on to others. The conference call will be recorded as a podcast and posted on www.nordicintegral.com as well as on www.enlightennext.org/membership/

_________________________________________________________________________________

The next Tuesday Conference Call on Education will be Tuesday September 9
The dial in number is: 1-712-580-1100
Access Code: 811288 #

TIME 8:30 pm AEST Australian/Pacific call. (6:30 am EDT, 12:30 pm CEST)

Time of the call in other time zones

3:30am — West Coast USA Time
5:30am — Central USA Time
6:30am — East Coast USA Time
11:30am — UK Time
12:30pm — Continental Europe Time
1:30pm — Israeli Time
6:30pm — Western Australia Time
8.30pm — Eastern Australia Time

Posted by Nick Drummond at 3:58 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008

Tuesday Conference call on Education August 19, 2008 - A rubric for teachers

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This is a recording of the fourth Tuesday Conference Call on Education.

On this call we had 9 people on from the USA, Australia, UK, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The topic for the call was the atmosphere in the classroom and its significance for what is possible.

As I had written about the previous call, in my work I have noticed that the quality of the atmosphere in the classroom - the relationship between the individuals - is not an accident. The atmosphere is the sum of everyone's awareness and interest. It is totally dependent on where we choose to direct our awareness and our interest, and because it is a choice, we can choose to change it from a 1 to a 5.

On this call we look at the following 1-5 rubric for teachers that Joan Berland and I started discussing several months ago.

Where Am I Right Now As a Teacher?

5. If I'm on my edge, then no matter what a child says or does, I'm totally committed to doing whatever it takes for understanding to occur. I'm committed to helping them move from a place of doubt or fear or misunderstanding into a place of possibility because I'm always in that place. From that place, I'm operating totally outside my ego. I remain focused on the biggest possible context, which is ever expanding. I am totally committed to being in this place no matter what is going on in the classroom, whether it has to do with learning, behaviour, dealing with parents, or homework. I am constantly thinking that if this doesn't work I'll try something else because I am always committed to turning it around to a place of understanding and positivity. My mottos are: "No matter what happens, I can do it", "We are here to learn", "Trust me, we can turn this around", "If you think you can, you can", and "If something is hard for you, make friends with it". This is what I do all day everyday and it feels great!

4. I am able to modify the curriculum and find ways to rethink or rephrase lessons so that the children who don't understand something can feel comfortable asking for help. I will work with them from a place of caring and compassion. I take responsibility for setting limits, motivating my students, and making learning fun. I care about connecting with everyone. I get excited when I hear about verticality and seeing what is possible from level 5. I'm open to someone coming into my classroom with the objective of helping me develop to a five and beyond.

3. I connect with a small group of students by meeting them at their level of readiness, but it's mostly those with a higher level of understanding. I know that I need to feel more positive so positive change can occur, but I can only do it if someone helps me or tells me what to do.

2. I let my moods dictate how I respond to the class on any given day. Sometimes I'm positive, sometimes I'm negative. The class lacks clear limits, so no one feels safe or secure. I am stuck in always wanting to do things a certain way and am not open to anything new. I don't feel comfortable connecting with parents.

1. I just want to make it through the day. My performance is uneven, often requiring several assistants or teachers to help in the classroom. I don't look forward to coming to school.

One of the participants offered the following more simplified version.

Teacher Levels

5. I operate from an ‘enlightened perspective’ (which is my own highest perspective) and choose to have my attention always on what will benefit the class.

4. I consistently and independently make positive choices for the class.

3. I make positive choices when prompted by my peers, colleagues or superiors.

2. I zig-zag between positive and negative choices for the class.

1. I’m lost in my own thoughts and emotions and can’t act in a way that benefits the class.
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These first calls are part of a series where Joan Berland and I enquire into how the models “It’s Your Choice!” model, 1-5 rubric developmental scales and “sitting still meditation” can be structured and introduced into a class. On each call we engage with listeners and answer questions.

These calls are FREE to join and open to all interested people. You are welcome to pass this invitation on to others. The conference call will be recorded as a podcast and posted on www.nordicintegral.com as well as on www.enlightennext.org/membership/

_________________________________________________________________________________

The next Tuesday Conference Call on Education will be Tuesday September 2
The dial in number is: 1-712-580-1100
Access Code: 811288 #

TIME 9:30 pm Central European Summer Time. (3:30 pm EDT)

Time of European/American call in other time zones

12:30pm — West Coast USA Time
2:30pm — Central USA Time
3:30pm — East Coast USA Time
8:30pm — UK Time
9:30pm — Continental Europe Time
10:30pm — Israeli Time
03:30am (Wednesday) — Western Australia Time
05.30am (Wednesday) — Eastern Australia Time

Posted by Nick Drummond at 10:52 AM |  MAKE A COMMENT  

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