Instructors: Meg Rondenet and Sally Albright Green

CEUS: 5

“Who looks outside dreams; Who looks inside awakes”  ~ Carl Jung 

The demands placed on educators today has created conditions that make “self-care” a hot topic in educational circles. There is a clearly a need for educators and administrators to prioritize  self-care practices to address the increases in job-related burnout and as a means to better manage stress. But, is “self-care” something we resort to out of sheer exhaustion, using it as a temporary reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure? Brianna Wiest says in her blog, “True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.” So, how does one  begin this conversation within their own life and begin to build that kind of life? In his book, Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer emphasizes the importance of learning to recognize and listen to our own  inner teacher. “The more familiar we are with our inner terrain, the more sure-footed our teaching—and living—becomes”.

In this workshop we will examine these issues and more as we engage in a  deeper conversation about the current state of educator well being. Join us for a day of shared exploration and renewal as we learn and practice techniques to examine the powerful (and often unexamined) landscape within. Our hope is to spark a new conversation to explore what meaningful self care is and why it is essential to the current educational conversation.

*Includes one hour for lunch (on your own).

Recommended Reading:
Onward, Elena Aguilar
The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer
Five Dimensions of Engaged Teaching, Laura Weaver and Mark Wilding

About the Instructors:
Meg earned her Masters in Social Work in 2005 and has worked as a school social for the past fourteen years. She was an early champion in working to  prioritize meaningful social emotional learning as an essential component of the school day, stressing its importance as the foundation for all other learning. Meg worked as a member of her district’s first social emotional learning committee and in partnership with Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (Casel). Meg has described herself as a compassion warrior and passionate advocate for teacher well being. Meg attributes her mindfulness in schools program as being the catalyst for advocating for practices that recognize “the inner life of the teacher”.

Sally has spent the last fourteen years teaching 8th grade ELA in a large suburban middle school.   During her tenure in the classroom, she has served on a district wide ELA common assessment writing committee, lent teacher voice to district level strategic curriculum and instruction committee work, and piloted numerous reading and writing curriculums in the midst of the shift to the CCSS.   This year she has become a Teaching and Learning Coach as a way to broaden her ability to support teachers on the front line. She also has a personal mindfulness practice and experience training and practicing with all ages. She holds a BA in English/Communications, an MEd in Curriculum and Instruction and she is a Certified Teacher Evaluator in the state of Illinois.