Education

Comment

Comment by PamKM on September 7, 2009 at 10:30pm

Do you know of a leader education who might be interested in learning how to apply the power of social networks to accelerate compassion in education? If so, please invite him/her to the full-day CAN Open Space event at the Seattle Center on Saturday, October 17, 2009. (We'll post the invitation later this week.)

Why? The Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education that's affiliated with Simon Fraser University in BC will join us to build relationships and explore possible collaborations in our in our region. (The DLC is also hosting the Vancouver Peace Summit at the end of this month with the Dalai Lama, several Nobel Prize winners, Eckhart Tolle and other luminaries.)

I suspect there are more than a few Seeds of Compassion stakeholders in education who are waiting on the sidelines to hear clear ideas to take action that will produce measurable results for incorporating compassion in education. If you know individuals and/or organizations who fit this description, they should attend Open Space.

For example, someone who thinks that Social and Emotional Learning standards are important might convene a group during Open Space to brainstorm ideas to implement the standards. During Open Space you can propose any topic that interests you!

If you would like to engage the education community during Open Space, please contact me at pamkm@comcast.net. CAN is on solid ground now and ready to move past its start-up phase. Thanks for your patience!

Comment by Kenny Ramer on September 4, 2009 at 9:04pm

After reading through many of the comments and the notes, I would like to offer my thoughts on what compassion and it's core structure look like to me...

Compassion is an element that is missing within side of the bowl we are living within, the essential element of compassion isn't being instilled within those of the general populations...We have created a world which doesn't support the idea or the possibility.

Compassion is an unseen essential human element and if it is not instilled within the human soul during the first seven years of life as a fully felt emotion that soul won't fully develop during his or her's next seven year cycle, and this 7 year cycle continues into adulthood, all the way to our own ultimate departure.

If by luck we somehow grow ourselves healthy with the help of a strong inner family, whom knows this essense of love and care we have a much better chance to fully feel and fully experience All of what the human expereince has to offer...

In my opinion very few of us ever get to a place where we can know this expereince directly. It lives as a wish and a prayer for a someday to occur.

To me Compassion is a way of being and my actions demonstrate and reflect that possibility. How one educates oneself regarding these elemental elements is a very personal challenge for each and every living soul on this planet.

The problem we face is that this element of compassion is very real to those whom are conscious of it,
what we have are lots of unconscious people within high places of authority whom aren't actually having this expereince of compassion within themselves...
They are lobbying for something else entirely.

As an example, I believe the Striking Teachers here aren't as compassionate as they could be, they could demand smaller classes and demand hiring additional teachers but that is not what they are asking?

If they were we wouldn't be in the situation we find ourselves within so many different domains of human concern.

It is a wrongheaded assumption to expect one to do something in a compassionate way when they themselves haven't ever expereinced it themself.

However, If we collectively surround ourselves here within this shroud and invite similar minds within our local communities and bring this knowledge to those communities those whom resonate with these ideas of compassionate action will be drawn to it naturally .....

I look forward to that possibility!!!

Thank You for the opportunity to voice my opinion and thoughts.

Comment by PamKM on August 22, 2009 at 12:19pm

Hello - I moved the following notes from the home page to this area so we can add info about the upcoming Open Space event on October 17, 2009. Please plan to attend to help define the collective future of CAN. CAN is making great progress that will be announced soon. Thanks for your patience.

1/15/09 Meeting Notes

Meeting participants: Andrea Cohen, Honora Hanley, Andy Himes, Charles Kouns, Kim Longmore-Peterson, Roberto Maestas, Raj Manhas, Rana Manhas, Yaffa Maritz, Lora-Ellen McKinney, Susan Partnow

Notes:

Introduction: Members discussed each person's interest in the this group and the topic of 'how to bring compassion into our daily lives as adults impacting children.'

Identified group purpose: To build a compassion education movement.

Identified goal: One year from today, what is one change we can make happen in this area (see above)?

Plan: Call for a meeting (in one to two months) of educators, administrators, and any & all interested in nurturing compassion in children.
-----gather information about what people are doing currently
------ what people hope to do/want to do/ plan to do
------ build network of existing resources
------build network of community of people working in this arena
-------cast a wide net (e.g., tap into network of people via Seeds of Compassion email list).

Comment by PamKM on August 22, 2009 at 11:30am

Hello - To clean up the CAN Home Page design so there's a consistent naming convention that doesn't confuse new users, we are changing the group names to generic terms such as Communications, Education, etc. Please contact pamkm@comast.net if you have any concerns. Thanks!

Comment by Sura Hart on May 15, 2009 at 8:57am

The question, What would a school look like with compassion at its core? is one that has held my attention for many years. My book, The Compassionate Classroom, offers a blueprint, drawn from my study & experience of compassionate classrooms and schools. Learning structures and processes that foster compassion in schools is the core curriculum for a 5-day Teach for Life! Educators Institute, at Harmony Hill 7/21-26. More info: www.trainforlifecommunication.com.

Comment by Ashley Cooper on April 2, 2009 at 4:57pm

Where's the best place to post notes from the meeting last night? I'll put them here for nowCAN Education 4-1-09.doc

Comment by Jon Ramer on February 15, 2009 at 11:17am

I have been working with a great resource for Youth. Visit Tel-A-Vision and check out the video on the home page.

Comment by Charlie on January 24, 2009 at 8:01pm

I would like us to consider at some point a discussion about where compassion exists and could exist within the public school structure. My feeling is that most who are involved would say it can exist in the moment, especially between a teacher and a student, but that is not the structure itself. What would it look like to design a school setting with compassion at its core?