Dear Colleague,

The past couple of school years has been like no others! I honor your commitment to supporting the students and families you serve, while balancing your own personal wellbeing and the wellbeing of your family. Your flexibility and resilience in teaching on and offline is a gift to our youth and communities.

Now it is time to uplift your own energy! My commitment to you is through a highly interactive and engaging course designed to revitalize spirit in both students and educators. Through exploring the 5 Strategies of the Virtues Project, we will learn simple, proven practices and tools to bring joy, meaning, and purpose back teaching and learning. The restorative practices framework honors the needs of the Whole Child and the Whole Adult: the spirits of both students and educators are front and center. It has social and emotional character development at its foundation and is trauma and culturally responsive. It is personal, professional and organizational transformation, equipping you with the skills, tools and strategies to apply in all aspects of your life in and out of the classroom.

Educators can earn 3 university credits for recertification and salary advancement from Shepherd University for only $198.00 and 3 hours. Click on this link Shepherd EDPD-Registration to access the registration form to submit to Shepherd. Part 1 can be completed in its entirety in this 3 hour workshop completed in one day!

Below are the details for the Registration Information:

CRN#:41568   Subject: EDPD    Course#: 699   Section: 64   Cr Hrs: 3    Title:  Heart of Education Part 1

Part 1 is the prerequisite for part 2 where we will do deeper into objective 4 Restorative Justice and objective 5 Offer Companioning as a counseling strategy.

Goals/Objectives: As a result of actively participating in this course you will understand how to:

1. Balance academic rigor and accountability with supporting the needs of the Whole Child
2. Use language to build trust and increase hope, engagement and well-being
3. Recognize teachable moments to strengthen resiliency, purpose, and a growth mindset
4. Utilize virtues based boundaries and Restorative Justice in culturally respectful and responsive ways to create safer schools and end the school to prison pipeline
5. Apply a 7 step counseling technique to listen with compassionate curiosity to empower others to find clarity and create their own solutions
6. Increase joy, meaning and purpose through the arts, service learning and by creating a culture of mutual respect and appreciation.

Course Materials:

• Handout packet and PowerPoint
• Padlet of Resources
• darafeldman.com and www.virtuesmatter.org
• Sample Virtues Cards App from iTunes or Google Play www.virtuesmatter.org/app
• Free PDF and audio of The Heart of Education: Bringing Joy, Meaning and Purpose Back to Teaching and Learning by Dara Feldman https://www.virtuesmatter.com/the-heart-of-education-book

Course Expectations: Educators will actively participate online and

• Do daily virtues pick for at least 7 days and reflect using the journal feature (not to be turned in)
• Read or listen to chapters 5 and 6 of The Heart of Education (associated with Speaking the Language of Virtues and Recognizing Teachable Moments)
• Listen to the podcast “Safe and Caring Schools” by Linda Kavelin Popov
• Optional: Explore the different resources on darafeldman.com

Assignment to be turned in: Write a reflection showing the language you usually say to acknowledge/thank, and guide/correct and then how you would use virtues language instead.

Have at least 5 examples for each category

Example:

• Give at least 2 virtues acknowledgments verbally or written and write a paragraph reflect on how they were received.

Please reach out to me with any questions you may have.  301-529-1302.  dara@virtuesmatter.org

I look forward to being with you on this journey back to joy in the classroom!

With love, gratitude, and enthusiasm,

Dara