AEPL Summer Conference 2009

The Believing Game as a Model for Thinking

YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park, Colorado

July 30--August 1, 2009

Conference Flier (Right Click to Download)

Click Here to Register

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Peter Elbow

The purpose of this conference is to explore the believing game, which Peter Elbow also calls “methodological believing,” as a way to think more clearly.

We contrast the believing game with the “doubting game” --- being skeptical, questioning, criticizing all ideas in order to uncover hidden flaws---which has come to dominate our culture's conception of good thinking. The believing game challenges the monopoly of this skeptical tradition: it represents the ability to enter into all ideas in order to uncover hidden virtues. It asks us not just to listen to all views that differ from our own and hold back from arguing with them; not just to restate them without bias (as Carl Rogers advocated); but actually to try to believe them. Believing and doubting are both necessary tools or methodologies for scrutinizing and testing ideas, but “believing” is a refreshing and underused method that can enhance our lives as well as our ideas, and that provides a powerful means of developing our thinking.

We will gather in the beautiful Colorado mountains to interact with Peter Elbow and with each other. After Elbow’s introductory plenary, he will participate in two other plenaries designed to collect and explore the richness of perspectives that you as conference registrants bring with you. Our goal is to provide a venue for each of you to enrich and deepen your understanding of the believing game and its possibilities.

Finals

Here at the end of the term,
I’m standing in my office
Before my bookshelves,
And there in disarray
Are the soldiers of learning.
Fallen among fellow warriors
And foreign company,
Scarred and bent,
They await transport
Back to the comfort
Of sliding home
Between their dusty
Companions at last.

-Laurence Musgrove

Contemplative Practices

Hi everyone,

I had an experience this summer that might be of interest to AEPL members--I attended a week-long workshop sponsored by the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society:  http://www.contemplativemind.org.  It's a wonderful organization that is devoted to infusing "contemplative practices" into classrooms and into the world.  They have a social justice arm and an academic arm--I was at their annual summer workshop for academics, which focused on specific techniques for infusing our classes with contemplative practices.  I learned about and experienced everything from Lectio Divina-style reading practices to various meditation/contemplation exercises.  I'll be sharing some of what I learned at coming AEPL events, in particular our summer 09 conference at Estes Park, and probably at future AEPL NCTE and CCCC panels and workshops.   In the meantime, you might be interested in joining the Contemplative Mind in Higher Education association--info at http://www.acmhe.org. Love to all,  Irene Papoulis

Conference Call Sunday July 27

We will be hosting a conference call at the usual time, 9pm Eastern, 6 Pacific, Sunday, July 27. Our discussion will be about the democratic and non-violent education conferences in Troy and Berkeley.

To call in, dial 218-936-6666 and use code 9936250#.

A reminder that this will be our last call for a while tomorrow
(Sunday) night at the usual time. Varda Brahms
and Theodore Timpson will be leading the call, but I invite anyone
who attended the two recent conferences in Troy and Berkeley to
help. We'll be comparing/contrasting all the conferences and trying
to see if they add up.

Also, I should note, that these calls are hardly all business--we
usually spend about the first half hour chatting and reminiscing,
just as a way of keeping in touch after the conference.

All the best to all of you!
Bruce

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Sunday, July 20, Conference Call

Greetings to you all!

This is to remind you that we will resume our conference calls tomorrow, Sunday, at the usual time, 9 pm Eastern, 6 Pacific.

Julie Nichols, Professor of English at Utah Valley State College, will be leading our discussion. To call in, dial 218-936-6666 and use code 9936250#.

I'm hoping to schedule a call for next week, the 27th, on the two recent conferences that some of us attended, on Democratic Education in Troy, NY in late June, and on Nonviolent Education (organized by Michael Nagler) in Berkeley this past weekend.

I won't be able to make another call on Sunday for several weeks after that, due to travel plans. DO feel free to use this blog to keep up the conversation! Contact Betsy DeGeorge: degeorgeb@gmail.com if you have questions about posting or commenting. And be sure to see the absolutely terrific and extensive montage of photos with musical accompaniment that Richard Ressman (Gabriele Rico's husband) posted on our website aepl.org (the full address is on Betsy's email from yesterday). It was truly wonderful to see all those faces and sights and dances again!

Hope they're matched with voices on the call tomorrow!

Yours,
Bruce

Update on EFNV conference

Hello everyone, we have trimmed down the offerings -- and the price! -- for the nonviolence conference. Here's the scoop (I will try to email the poster in better format):

EDUCATORS FOR NONVIOLENCE
~ presents ~
3rd Annual Summer Conference & Teacher Training
Teaching Hope: The Nonviolent
Classroom
July 18 – 19, 2008
Friday 6:00 – 9:00, Saturday 9:00 – 5:00
Bishop O’Dowd High School
9500 Stearns Ave, Oakland, CA
Featuring:
Dr. Michael Nagler
The Metta Center for Nonviolence Education
Azim Khamisa
The Tariq Khamisa Foundation
Plus workshops on:
“Peaceful Communications in the Classroom”
“Teaching About World Conflicts and Peaceful Options”
“Practical Tools for Teaching Nonviolence”
“Teaching Gandhi the movie”
Workshop presenters include:
Fellowship of Reconciliation, Bay Area Nonviolent Communication,
The Institute of Noetic Sciences, Pace e Bene, and others.
* Registration Fee: $75.00 (scholarships available); $20 for students
* Meals included: Friday evening and Saturday lunch
To register online go to www.efnv.org, email info@efnv.org or call 510-548-5550