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IDEAS, NEWS AND RESOURCES | September 2018
We hope you enjoy receiving our newsletter which includes constructionist ideas and practices as well as news and resources from the Taos Institute.
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Brief Encounters with The Taos Institute
September 2018
This month we welcome Lindsey Godwin, PhD, a Taos Institute Associate and Academic Director of the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative inquiry at Champlain College, as she shares with us a look at the event that could change the way we educate our youth around the world.
On June 25-28, 2018, the second Festival of Positive Education plus Appreciative Inquiry Summit, otherwise known as the
World Positive Education Accelerator
(WPEA), took place in Fort Worth, Texas. We welcomed o
ver 850 participants from more than 30 countries who
spanned the entire stakeholder spectrum for education, from teachers, to students, to administrators, to parents, to policy-makers, to researchers, to business leaders, to passionate life-long learners. Many Taos Associates participated, from participants to co-facilitators, and will continue to be a part of this initiative.
Ken Gergen once wrote in Relational Being: Beyond Self and Community, that "generative ideas emerge from joint thinking, from significant conversations, and from sustained, shared struggles to achieve new insights by partners in thought." The WPEA truly embodied the social constructionist spirit echoed in Ken's words, as it was the generative realization of
over two years of joint thinking, conversations, and sustained shared work by many around the world. From our steering committee meeting held at Champlain College in September 2017 that involved over 100 people from 15 countries, to working to ensure that we had delegations from around the world able to participate, to inviting different perspectives to present, to designing the AI summit process (which invites collective co-construction of the future by its very design), the WPEA was a true expression of global social construction.
Day one of the WPEA was a day of "discovery" and a festival of learning. It was filled with world-class speakers, interactive workshops, and insights from around the globe with leading scholars and practitioners including Martin Seligman, Sir Anthony Seldon, Angela Duckworth, Lea Waters, Geelong Grammar School, Universidad Tecmilenio, University of Buckingham, and many others.
Filled with rich insights from Positive Education practices around the world, the next three days were designed as a full Appreciative Inquiry Summit, where we invited participants to move through the 4-D phases of Discovery, Dream, Design and Delivery to help them turn their inspiration into actions, co-constructing the future of education together.
(continued....)
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Taos Institute Events and Gatherings
The Many Ways to Get Involved...So many exciting learning opportunities coming up...We hope you take a look here...
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The Taos Institute Silver Jubilee
Exploring 25 Years of Innovation in Social Construction around the World
A Conference and a Celebration!
November 8 - 10, 2018
(Pre-conference Nov. 7-8)
Registration prices increase on October 1st, so register now.
Cancun, Mexico
Join in as together, WE:
- Celebrate the Taos Institute's Silver Anniversary
- Explore 25 years of innovation in social construction theory and practice
- Learn along side creative practitioners from more than 20 countries
- Meet colleagues and friends from around the world
- Welcome a new generation of scholars and practitioners
- Create opportunities for dialogue, sharing practices, performance and fun!
We hope you will join us and bring others with you who are new to social construction and relational practice - student, colleague, co-worker, friend!
Let's co-create the future and engage with the next generation!
Hotel rooms must be booked by September 21st to receive the reduced rate for reservation.
The hotel we've chosen in Cancun is in the top 4 of the best hotels/resorts in that area. We received a wonderful reduced room rate for our group to enjoy this exceptional
all-inclusive resort.
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Taos Workshops
- Designing Crazy Patchworks: Co-creating collaborative research with Celiane Camargo Borges and Jasmina
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Social Construction, Relational Theory and Transformative Practices, with Sheila McNamee and Harlene Anderson
Taos Online Courses
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NEW
- An Inquiry into Relational Leading Practice,
an 8-week online course,
with Ginny Belden-Charles
- Social Construction: Premises and Promises - a 6-week online course, with Celiane Camargo-Borges
Friends of the Taos Institute Workshops and Events
- The Tenth Performing the World (PTW) Conference
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A Dialogue with the Author - a free 1.5 hour webinar
Friday, Sept. 21, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM US Eastern Time
(register at the link below)
with William Madsen, Ph.D.
Family-Centered Services Project
For many public sector agencies operating in a broader context of pervasive organizational cultures of urgency, blame and defensive practice, implementation of new practice models presents many challenges. Traditional roll-out efforts are often met with suspicion and "resistance." This "Dialogue with the Author" will offer participants a shared context for some of the challenges of large scale implementation of new practice models along with some of the promises of poststructural approaches and then engage you in a series of questions designed to elicit some of your own struggles and responses to implementation challenges in over-stressed, under-resourced public sector contexts. We'll collectively explore questions such as:
- How do you engage organizations mired in a culture of urgency, blame and defensive practice to consider new ways of working?
- What are some concrete steps towards building an organizational culture of reflection, appreciation and shared learning that supports new ways of working?
- How can we in a consulting role support the development of an internal infrastructure that can sustain such an organizational culture?
The article that serves as the foundation for this dialogue highlights a collaborative consultation approach that integrates Appreciative Inquiry to engage "reluctant" agency participants, training and ongoing coaching with practice leaders and supervisors, and leadership development based on Margaret Wheatley's distinction between hero and host approaches to leadership in order to support institutional structures and organizational cultures that support more respectful and responsive ways of interacting with families served.
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Pre-Registration is Required:
You are invited to register for our Dialogue with the Author using a Zoom meeting platform.
When: Sep 21, 2018 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting at:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/f42464e460f74a797c24e00bf0acd2b8
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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Author Bio
William Madsen, Ph.D. is the founder and director of the Family-Centered Services Project. He provides international training and consultation regarding collaborative approaches to working with youth and families and assists community and government programs develop institutional practices and organizational cultures that support more respectful and responsive ways of serving families. Bill is known for his relaxed, clear, and inspiring teaching style and for the ways in which his teaching embodies the spirit of collaborative approaches. He has written numerous articles and is the author of Collaborative Therapy with Multi-Stressed Families (2nd Edition) and Collaborative Helping: A Strengths Framework for Home-Based Services.
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6-week Online Course with
Ken and Mary Gergen
EXPLORING RELATIONAL THEORY AND PRACTICES
- MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5 TO DECEMBER 10, 2018
About the Presenters:
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Kenneth J. Gergen, Research Professor in Psychology, Swarthmore College; President of the Taos Institute; Internationally known author, noted for his work on social constructionist and relational theory.
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Mary Gergen
, Professor Emerita, Psychology & Women's Studies; Penn State University, Brandywine; Author and editor of works in social construction, feminist theory, and arts-based inquiry.
About the Course:
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Relational theory now provides cutting edge ideas relevant to practices across the professions. The major theoretical shift is from the traditional focus on individuals to the relational processes that are co-produced. This 6-week online course introduces common premises and orienting ideas central to relational theory. The course consists of six modules with online conference meetings, readings, videos and online dialogues.
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Weekly live calls, readings, videos, activities, learning partner conversations, online learning platform with weekly commenting.
- Week 1 Monday, Nov. 5 - Module 1: Relational Theory: Why Now?
- Week 2 - Mon. Nov. 12 - Module 2: The Mind as Relationship
- Week 3 - Mon. Nov. 19 - Module 3: Multi-being: Ourselves with Others
- Week 4 - Mon. Nov 26 - Module 4: Dialogue: In Theory and Practice
- Week 5 - Mon. Dec. 3 - Module 5: Putting Relational Theory to Work
- Week 6 - Mon. Dec. 10 - Module 6: Relational Ethics in Action
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The Taos Institute's International
Diploma in Social Construction and Professional Practice
for a March 1st start date
Pursue Your Dreams
- Earn a diploma for pursuing a project that excites you - writing a book, studying a topic, learning about new practices, engaging in action research, developing a website, creating a video, and more...
Travel with a Thought Companion
- Enjoy the company of a PhD scholar-practitioner in your pursuits, stimulating reflection and creativity.
Choose Venues for Learning
- Select from a range of on-line courses, or conference experiences relevant to your pursuits.
Join a Creative Community
- Participate in a global network of engaged scholars and practitioners.
Earn a Diploma of Distinction
- Become the recipient of a diploma from the Taos Institute, a non-profit, global organization, offering meaningful education experiences for over 25 years.
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World Appreciative Inquiry Conference
Nice, France, March 19 - 22, 2019
Generating Constructive Conversations for the Common Good
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NEW Book - First Appreciative Inquiry Book for Kids!
STAN AND THE FOUR FANTASTIC POWERS
by Shira Levy, Marge Schiller, Sarah Schiller, Max Schiller
Illustrator: Stefanie Rudolph
AVAILABLE NOW!! It is best to order from our website, as Amazon is saying the book is not available, and it
IS AVAILABLE.
Calling all teachers...A great book for classrooms! With the start of school happening now, consider adapting this book for your classroom to explore with your students the power of Appreciative Inquiry, the positive question, and collaborative change.
Meet the main character, Stan, and hear all about his adventures with Appreciative Inquiry. The book translates the research and application of appreciative inquiry into a book for and about children. The authors and illustrator are an intergenerational team, comprised of an Appreciative Inquiry expert, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, two middle school students, and an artist! Their journey in co-authoring this first ever children's book is truly a remarkable experience.
This book is great for children of all ages. Works well in a classroom to help students explore how their own strengths, combined with the strengths of others, creates opportunities for positive collaborations to happen that make the world a better place.
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WorldShare Books includes publications in English, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, Arabic, and even Farci.
Donate to the Peggy Penn WorldShare Books Fund
This fund helps to cover the expenses of offering these online books free of charge to anyone in the world.
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Paths to Positive Aging: Dog Days with a Bone and Other Essays
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by Mary and Ken Gergen
Mary and Ken Gergen are devoted to the cause of reinventing aging. To focus on the gains of aging is to realize that the later years are among the richest and most rewarding of one's life. In their dedication to this reconstruction, the Gergens publish the Positive Aging Newsletter, an electronic newsletter, available in seven languages (
www.positiveaging.net).
In this book, the Gergens share ideas and experiences designed to inspire others as they age.
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Communicating Possibilities:
A Brief Introduction to the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM)
by Ilene Wasserman and Beth Fisher-Yoshida
Communicating Possibilities is an introduction to the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM), a practical theory which at its roots, is an approach to looking at our social interactions. In the process of stepping back to look at our interactions and how we construct our social worlds, we open possibilities of alternative paths and outcomes. CMM offers tools and frameworks to use so when we pause and notice what we are making together and how, we open up spaces to make better choices with more desirable relationships each turn of the way.
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Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM): A Research Manual
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by Natasha A Rascon and Stephen Littlejohn
Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM): A Research Manual invites those who are interested, intrigued, or invested in CMM to explore the theory as method. Through conversations, Rascon and Littlejohn discussed the many research possibilities and created a manual that offers several frameworks for practical research. The manual provides contexts for applying CMM tools and models as well as many examples from researchers and professionals. Those who have been introduced to CMM and are interested in discovering possibilities for their research and practical interests at any level should enjoy the offerings of this book.
For more information
→
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By focusing on the positive aspects of aging, and the availability of resources, skills, and resiliencies, research not only brings useful insights into the realm of practice but creates hope and empowers action among older people. By moving beyond practices of repair and prevention, to emphasize growth-enhancing activities, practitioners also contribute more effectively to the societal reconstruction of aging.
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Join the Taos Institute NING Online Community website
Participate in online conversations, share resources, ask questions, connect with others doing similar work. Also, we feature special events on this community website.
Join in many different forums, groups and conversations:
1. Taos Institute Europe
2. Collaborative Governance
3. Relational Learning
4. Relational Research
5. Taos Latin America
6. Intergenerativity and Innovation
and many more at:
http://taoslearning.ning.com/
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Welcome (Bienvenidos) to the International Journal of Collaborative Practices. The Journal brings together members of a growing international community of practitioners, scholars, educators, researchers, and consultants interested in postmodern collaborative practices.
Sponsored by Taos Institute and Houston Galveston Institute
I
ssue 7- Available Now in English and Spanish -
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You can help to make a difference...
In a world needing more opportunities for collaborative, appreciative and dialogic practices, you can make a difference by supporting the Taos Institute's efforts to bring about more promising futures.
Help us to continue our work in:
- Creating and Expanding Collaborative Practices Globally
- Promoting Dialogic Means for Reducing Conflict
- Providing Degree and Diploma Opportunities for Practitioners
- Offering Cutting Edge Publications in Multiple Languages: Free or at Low Cost
- Generating Resources for Positive Aging
- Creating Global Forums and Conferences for Constructing New Futures
- Creating scholarship programs for students in need
Given the current global context into which we are moving, we feel the work in which we are engaged is more important than ever. We hope you can join with us as we continue to develop resources to aid the global community in co-creating more viable futures.
The Taos Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and all donations are tax deductible in the US.
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The Taos Institute's mission is to bring together scholars and practitioners concerned with the social processes essential for the construction of reason, knowledge, and human value.
We are committed to exploring, developing and disseminating ideas and practices that promote creative, appreciative and collaborative processes in families, communities and organizations around the world through a social constructionist lens.
We look forward to your participation in the dialogue.
Keep up with our updates!
Dawn Dole, Executive Director
The Taos Institute
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