Course Descriptions

Learn What People Are Saying about PassageWorks Courses

Creating Engaged Classrooms (18-22 hour course) 

(This course replaces our “Foundation Course”)

….A practical relationship-based approach to creating caring, rigorous learning communities where students excel and thrive.

This highly experiential course for k-12 educators will offer core practices and principles that foster students’ social, emotional, and academic development and support teachers to develop and sustain an intentional teaching practice. Educators will experience practical tools and strategies for creating rigorous, relationship-based learning communities that support students to excel academically, think creatively and critically, develop their leadership capacities, manage their emotions, work with others who are different from themselves, and communicate effectively.

This course will explore ways educators can:

• systematically create a caring learning community where students increase focus and motivation, develop empathy and compassion, and experience a sense of meaning and purpose;
• participate in creating a thriving culturally responsive school climate;
• integrate social, emotional and academic learning in any content area
• utilize focusing activities, silence, mindfulness, play, symbolic and creative expression, and community building in any classroom;
• support the inner lives* of students and teachers in schools;
• address stages of group development throughout the ‘learning journey’ of the school year;
• support students to effectively navigate transitions;
• develop and sustain an intentional teaching practice through the ‘teaching presence’ framework (engaging our self-observer, being present, expanding our emotional range, practicing respectful discipline, teaching with an open heart);
• reconnect with our “spark” for teaching.

*By “inner life” we refer to that essential aspect of human nature that yearns for deep connection, grapples with questions about meaning, and seeks a sense of purpose and genuine self-expression. 

Teaching Practice, Teaching Presence

This course offers teachers practices and principles for developing and sustaining an intentional teaching practice that engages students, supports learning outcomes, and improves their own experience of teaching. Together, we will explore the five dimensions of ‘Teaching Presence’ and their applications to teacher resilience and classroom practice.

The five interconnected dimensions of “teaching presence” are:

• Engaging the self-observer—the aspect of the self that can observe and witness our own behavior, practice, and triggers and make more conscious choices
• Exploring obstacles and opportunities for becoming present in the classroom
• Expanding emotional range—growing comfort with a full range of emotions in ourselves and our students
• Practicing respectful discipline—providing clear boundaries while maintaining positive relationships
• Teaching with an open heart—invoking our authenticity, compassion and care in the classroom

In this course we will explore the following practices and themes:

• The framework of teaching presence
• How developing our teaching presence impacts student learning and our job satisfaction
• How to identify and work with obstacles to teaching presence 
• The use of Deep Listening practices (dyads and council)
• The use of Reflection, silence, solitude
• The integration of creativity, symbolic expression, and play
• Working with student’s grief, loss, and transitions
• Brief introduction to School-based Rites of Passage

Transformational Leadership for Educators

~Leading from the Inside Out in an Upside Down World~

Every school is a complex and dynamic system that requires highly skilled leadership to both manage and transform. The current climate of high expectations, limited resources and stressed out staff means that these challenges have never been more daunting. As a result, educational leaders need innovative strategies, cutting edge tools and knowledgeable support to help schools grow into safe and effective learning environments for young people and the adults who educate them.
 Our program focuses on the essential elements of transformational leadership. What do we mean by that? Transformational leadership starts from the inside out, rooted in the authenticity of the leader and showing up throughout the day in all the leader’s interactions with staff, students, families, community members and district personnel.

These interactions are infused with personal values, social and emotional intelligence and cultural competence. This approach to leadership

• emphasizes the importance of every relationship;
• builds trust with stakeholders through sincerity, competence and reliability; manages conflict with clarity and compassion;
• balances empathy and decisiveness.

The resulting trust becomes the foundation for deep inquiry into the roots and branches of school dilemmas and challenges. Inquiring into the system’s complexity allows for the emergence of creative, sustainable and long-term solutions. To truly make a difference these solutions must also address the need for organizational and individual change.To engage in such transformational change, leaders must cultivate authentic presence, communication skills, cultural responsiveness, and an understanding of whole systems change.

Leading From the Inside Out introduces participants to key practices and structures that develop, enhance and sustain these competencies while creating a community of leaders who provide ongoing support to each other.