Nordic Integral Education

Evolutionary Educators

All postcast material is now being uploaded on the new Evolutionary Educator community site.

The Tuesday Conference calls on Evolutionary Childhood Education will be posted in the file called LIBRARY. To listen or download the calls you will be asked to sign up and create an account.

The first on-line course about Creating Dynamic Development and Harmony in the Classroom - An Evolutionary Childhood Education Program, will also be posted here on the new Evolutionary Educator site.

Tuesday Conference Calls on Education

Here are links to podcasts from the first 9 Tuesday Conference Calls on Education. The next call is October 21. The theme is: “Sitting still”

10. Tuesday Conference call on Education October 21 - What does it mean to be convinced about not having a problem? “Sitting Still”? (Part 3) (67 min)

9. Tuesday Conference Call on Education October 14 - How “still” should a teacher be to teach students the value of “Sitting Still” (Part 2) (61 min)

8. Tuesday Conference Call on Education October 7 - How “still” should a teacher be to teach students the value of “Sitting Still” (Part 1) (71 min)

7. Tuesday Conference Call on Education September 16 - Spiral Dynamics and Education (73 min)

6. Tuesday Conference Call on Education September 9 - Creative Writing Project (Part 2) (49 min)

5. Tuesday Conference Call on Education September 2 - Creative Writing Project (Part 1) (59 min)

4. Tuesday Conference Call on Education August 19 - A Rubric for Teachers (63 min)

3. Tuesday Conference Call on Education August 12 - Atmosphere in the Classroom (79 min)

2. Tuesday Conference Call on Education July 29 - Intro Part 2 (76 min)

1. Tuesday Conference Call on Education July 22 - Intro Part 1 (59 min)

Spiral Dynamics and the work of Clare Graves: Exploring the Implications for Education

I received an email recently from Kirk Coleman requesting help for his Master’s thesis in education. Kirk lives on the west coast of Canada and teaches grade 6/7. The focus of his research is to explore the implications for education related the model Spiral Dynamics and to the work of Claire Graves. He recently sent me a draft and we decided to do this first series. I have just posted our talk as a 10 part podcast series on Spiral Dynamics and education.

To our knowledge there are only a few academic papers written about Spiral Dynamics and education so this is a great contribution to the field.

I have also invited Kirk as a special guest on the Tuesday Conference Call on Education.

Tuesday Conferance Call on Education July 29

Here is the link to the mp3 recording of the second Tuesday Conference Calls on education.

During the week Joan Berland and I have received many emails from people expressing their gratitude as well sharing their interests in what we are pioneering and telling about their own work. We have some very interesting calls in store!!! On this call Rod Sugden, who teaches a 3^rd grade class in London talkes about his amazing results. Joan, Rod and I have been in regular contact with each other during the last 3-4 months. Rod has been using these models for about 3 months and has started to see some exciting results which he writes about in the email below, which I received yesterday. We have invited Rod to speak about these results on the call tomorrow. He was the first to introduce the “sitting still” meditation in his class and develop a rubric for it. So this next call will continue where we left off talking about the significance of “sitting still” meditation.

EMAIL FROM ROD

Hi Nick, I wanted to write to you and let you know my latest thoughts on using the rubrics and say another big thank you for all your hard and dedicated work in pursuing their manifestation in the classroom!

Firstly, in looking back over the 3 month period that I have used them, I would say that while about 2/3rds of the class have stayed at the same level, about 1/3^rd of my class has moved up! This has had the overall effect of the whole class moving forwards. I’ve broken these improvements down into what I consider 3 significant areas: -

1. Listening
2. Focus
3. Motivation

Looking more closely at each one I’ve noticed:

1. Children’s listening has improved collectively and individually. The class can now go for longer periods of time listening attentively without becoming distracted. Individually, during class teaching, kids have more eye contact and better ‘body language’. That is, they are engaging with what is being taught without getting distracted. Also, children are listening to each other better. This happens in partner as well as class dialogue.

2. During individual or independent exercises children are more focused on the work at hand. They are more one pointed and independently engaged with the work set.

3. In terms of motivation: children are more quickly following instructions, there are more positive contributions to dialogue, greater quantity of work is being produced and tasks are being completed better. In all these areas my class, as a whole, has improved!

Another positive aspect of using the rubrics is that they add meaning and purpose to the learning environment. The models are all about being an awake individual who is making positive choices. Many children do find these qualities appealing and this motivates them to perform well in the classroom!

The other unique aspect of these models is that they can help to awaken children to a collective field or awareness that is bigger than their own. When this arises children experience for themselves a different way that they can be together, which is totally positive and creative. Thanks again, Nick. Best Wishes, Rod Sugden

——

The next Tuesday Conference Call on Education will be Tuesday August 12

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

START: 9.00 pm Central European Summer Time (3.00 pm Eastern Daylight Time USA).

Time of European/American call in other time zones

12:00am — West Coast USA Time
2:00pm — Central USA Time
3:00pm — East Coast USA Time
8:00pm — UK Time
9:00pm — Continental Europe Time
10:00pm — Israeli Time
03:00am (Wednesday) — Western Australia Time
05.00am (Wednesday) — Eastern Australia Time

An example of Global consciousness - Ryans Well

Here is an inspirational video clip of a young kid, Ryan, expressing a high level of consciousness. Rather than seeing him as a unique exception, what might be possible if this level of consciousnesses became the norm?

This is the inspirational tale of a small boy’s mission to help those less fortunate than himself. Ryan was just six years old when he learnt that not everybody in the world has access to clean water. Desperate to help, he worked day and night to save enough money for a well to be dug in drought-stricken Uganda. His ambition soon grew and his altruistic nature dragged schoolmates and ultimately most of Canada with him. An uplifting and wonderfully touching story that reminds us all that we can change the world if we really believe.

A true survivor: Mitch Chuvalo

Thank you Mike Farely for sending me this inspirational video clip. It is about a teacher, Mitch Chuvalo, who teaches at University of Toronto Schools (a Gr.7-12 school). Mike teaches Gr.7, 8, 9 Geography at the same school.

Here is the link: http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/boxing/clips/5295/

A true survivor: Mitch Chuvalo

Broadcast Date: Nov. 2, 2001, CBC Canada

Mitch Chuvalo has lived in the shadow of his famous father his entire life. Not only that but he deals with the loss of his three brothers and his mother every day. Yet despite bearing so dark a burden and a seemingly haunted name, Mitch Chuvalo is a survivor. In this CBC Television clip, The National spends a day with Chuvalo, to find out how he’s making a difference as a teacher and a coach at Toronto’s Western Tech high school.

As Chuvalo walks the halls of Western Tech, he reminisces about his childhood; a childhood playing sports and games with his younger siblings. He misses his brothers dearly, but says working with kids fills the void. “Being around young people…I think is someway compensation for not having my three brothers,” explains Mitch. “I wish everybody could feel the joy that I feel everyday in working with young people and watching them grow and succeed.”

A Kids Universe

I recently heard about this picture published in the New York Times. I think it summarizes a lot about the state the world is in - not least how our kids see themselves and their place in the scheme of things! You could say they see themselves as being at the center of the Universe as well as being somewhat separate from everyone else in it.

(c) Ron Barret, New York Times, July 20, 2008

Example of a high school teacher introducing verticality (ie higher values)

Here is an example of how teenagers at a high school in the Bronx are being inspired to think outside of the box regarding who they are and who they can be. They are being inspired by Barack Obama’s campaign for president. I get a sense that their teacher catalysed this by his focus on vertical development, getting these kids, with different racial backgrounds, to start breaking though to a not so insignificant degree their cultural conditioning and supposedly inherent values about who they are and how they are supposed to live. Using the Spiral Dynamics language, this teacher could definitely be an example of Second Tier.

“I don’t have to settle for less. I don’t have to follow the perspective of being a black man in America in the South Bronx, of being in a gang and killing people. I don’t have to be an entertainer to make money. I don’t have to sell drugs to make money. I can do something in my government. I could be a politician. I could be president of the United States! If he can do it I can do it too! I can actually do something to change the country.”

First Tuesday Conferance Call on Education July 22

Here is the link to the mp3 recording of the first of my ongoing Tuesday Conference Calls on education.

I’m sure that these calls are going to be a real success. We had 12 people on from the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Sweden, Norway, and France.

On the first 4 calls in July and August Nick will be speaking with Joan Berland. Joan is a third grade school teacher in New York with 25 years experience. She has been working closely with Nick since August 2007 and her pioneering work in using the “It’s Your Choice!” model, 1-5 rubric developmental scales and “sitting still meditation” has been featured on the Nordic Integral and EnlightenNext websites. On these calls Joan and Nick will be giving an introduction to these models, the perspective behind them, how they have been used, and some of the amazing results. Together they will also enquire into how Joan can optimally structure her program for the coming school year. On each call they will also be engaging with listeners and answering questions.

Tuesday Conference Calls on Education

Starting in July Nick Drummond from Nordic Integral Education will be hosting monthly conference calls inquiring into the role and future of education at this critical time in our history.

Important themes on the calls will be: What does it mean to be a teacher/leader in our time in history? What role can education play as a vehicle for catalyzing development at the level of consciousness and culture both in and outside of a classroom?

On these calls Nick will be presenting his own work, highlighting cutting edge case studies from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, USA, Australia and the UK, interviewing special guests, as well as engaging with listeners and answering questions.

On the first 4 calls in July and August Nick will be speaking with Joan Berland. Joan is a third grade school teacher in New York with 25 years experience. She has been working closely with Nick since August 2007 and her pioneering work in using the “It’s Your Choice!” model, 1-5 rubric developmental scales and “sitting still meditation” has been featured on the Nordic Integral and EnlightenNext websites. On these calls Joan and Nick will be giving an introduction to these models, the perspective behind them, how they have been used, and some of the amazing results. Together they will also enquire into how Joan can optimally structure her program for the coming school year. On each call they will also be engaging with listeners and answering questions.

These calls are FREE to join and open to all interested people. They will also be recorded as podcasts and posted on www.nordicintegral.com as well as on www.enlightennext.org/membership/

Details and updates will be posted on www.nordicintegral.com and on www.enlightennext.org/membership/

[The use of a calling card is suggested to significantly reduce your cost. Expect the calls to last one hour in duration.]

For all the calls the dial in number is: + 1 -712-580-1100
Access Code: 811288 #

September - December
Starting in September the calls will be in the following order:

European / American call:

The first and third Tuesday of every month. (October 7 & 21, November 4 & 18, December 2 & 16) 9.30 pm CEST. (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 in Oct) - 05:30am (in Nov & Dec) — Western Australia Time
06.30am (Wednesday in Oct) - 7.30am (in Nov & Dec) — Eastern Australia Time

The second Tuesday of every month. (October 14, November 11, December 9)
9.30 pm Eastern Australian Time.

Time of Australian/Pacific call in other time zones

3:30am — West Coast USA Time (2:30am in Nov & Dec)
5:30am — Central USA Time (4:30am in Nov and Dec)
6:30am — East Coast USA Time (5:30am in Nov & Dec)
11:30am — UK Time (10:30am in Nov & Dec)
12:30pm — Continental Europe Time (11:30am in Nov & Dec)
1:30pm — Israeli Time  (12:30 pm in Nov & Dec)
6:30pm — Western Australia Time (7:30 pm in Nov & Dec)
9.30pm — Eastern Australia Time