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First, Restore Yourself:
an experiential course in transformation
Course Description

Intended audience: Teachers, Post-Secondary Students, Administrators, Managers.
Instructor: John Bickart, Ph.D.
Prerequisites: none
Web Page: https://www.johnbickart.org/
Recommended Reading: 20 Opportunities to Transform Yourself While Teaching

Course Description

Think with your Heart

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"Take this course to experience 20 restorative practices

that transform you. Do this first, then help others." - John

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Participants can expect to:

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  • Experience how to recognize a restorative practice in mundane moments through each of the "20 Opportunities to Transform Yourself While Teaching".

  • Heal Adverse Childhood Experiences.

  • Transform deceptively simple moments in teaching into skills to resolve conflict.

  • Walk the walk of indigenous restorative practices.

  • Gain insight into incarcerated individuals.

  • Connect in true community, as you have always been doing.

  • Realize that you have always been creating relationship.

  • Practice opportunities to model truly transformative life learning for students.

 

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​​These restorative practices are experiential! 

They operate under the assumption that you do not change when you learn with your head only - you change when you, yourself go through an experience!

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If you take this course, get ready to perform the stuff of miracles - the simple, yet elusive act of being happy - having fun - getting back to the childlike ability of seeing joy in situations where you might have lost yourself. Do this for yourself - restore yourself - only then will you be most able to help others.

John Bickart_20 Opportunities to Transfo
Introduction to 20 Opportunities to Transform Yourself While Teaching

Here is a sample from the course - Introduction 

Learning Format

 

These five sessions in five weeks each have four restorative practices (thus, the 20 Opportunities). They come from a series of workshops given between 2019 and 2025 to:

- The International Institute for Restorative Practices, IIRP World Conference (2023, 2025)

- The Collaborative for Spirituality in Education, Teachers College of Columbia U. in NYC (2019, 2023, 2024)
- Holistic Teaching and Learning Center, Southern Oregon U. in Ashland, OR (2021, 2024)

- Cultivating the Spiritual Core: An Interactive Learning Summit, Teachers College of Columbia U. in NYC (2021, 2022).

- INSS (International Network for the Study of Spirituality), St. Johns U. in the UK (2021)

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All can be found in the book by John Bickart, 20 Opportunities to Transform Yourself  While Teaching.

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  1. BOOK

    Each week, read four opportunities. Each opportunity is divided into two parts: a "Wake Up Call" and a "Story". The Wake Up Calls are the 20 restorative practices. They are quite simple, but quite deep. They come from the indigenous wisdom of the ages. The Stories are 20 vignettes that underscore the power of the Wake Up Calls.

  2. VIDEO WORKBOOK
    Each week, watch the four opportunities on video that you read about in the book. Each video takes about 5 minutes.

  3. PRACTICE
    Each week practice each of the four assignments that are recommended for the four opportunities. Assignments range from 5 minutes to 1/2 hour. Write down a note from each experience so that you can refer to it in the zoom session.

  4. ZOOM SESSIONS

    Each week attend a 90-minute zoom session to share, support, or be supported in your experiences.
     

5 Course Sessions in 5 Weeks
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​Session 1 of 5 - "Reclaiming Your Spirituality"
Opportunity #1. First, Change Yourself
Opportunity #2. The True Teacher
Opportunity #3. Intuitive Teaching
Opportunity #4. The Test of Awakening​
 
Session 2 of 5 - "Reawakening Your Love of Teaching"
Opportunity #5. Points of View
Opportunity #6. Vulnerability
Opportunity #7. The Unseen
Opportunity #8. Fun​
 
Session 3 of 5 - "Recovering Your Childhood in Adulthood" 
Opportunity #9. Reawakening the child in the adult
Opportunity#10. Heart Thought
Opportunity #11. Teach Yourself
Opportunity #12. Moving Toward and Away​
 
Session 4 of 5 - "Revitalizing Your Ability to Lead" 
Opportunity #13. Learn to Return
Opportunity #14. The Servant Leader
Opportunity #15. Language Reduces Experience 
Opportunity #16. Separateness is a Subtle Deception of Physical Life​
 
Session 5 of 5 - "The Believing Brain: Reaffirming Your Belief in Change" 
Opportunity #17. Naming, Categorizing, Labeling
Opportunity #18. The Senses as a Gateway to Observation
Opportunity #19. Holistic versus The Divided Self
Opportunity #20. The Role of Belief

Conclusion to 20 Opportunities to Transform Yourself While Teaching

Conclusion to 20 Opportunities to Transform Yourself While Teaching

Here is another sample from the course - Conclusion 

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