FOUNDATIONS
Relational Engagement combines deep academic and applied learning, expert faculty, and action-based research. Highlights include:
- Workshops on the formation and progression of relationships through the prisms of improvisation and relational psychology.
- Individualized mentoring to facilitate the synthesis of the elements of the program with participants’ personal strengths, visions, values and professional realities.
- Examination of the impact of ideas, texts and values on relationships based on the pedagogy and philosophy of Havruta.
- Ongoing action-based research designed to enable cohort participants to test and evaluate the application of their learnings.
- Intensive work around character development in the educators’ quest for authenticity and integrity.
- Participant contribution to a special edition journal that will be published upon completion of the program.
- Intimate cohort experience with 19 educators from a wide diversity of backgrounds and experiences.
PROGRAM FACULTY
Past faculty includes:
- Dr. Erica Brown
- Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld
- Dr. Elie Holzer
- Rae Janvey
- Stephen Markowitz
- Arna Poupko Fisher
- Dr. Assael Romanelli
- Dr. Bernie Steinberg
- Shuki Taylor
Seminars
This Circle, designed for educators immersed in relational work, is a year-long cohort experience designed to develop through learning and experimentation, a richer paradigm of relationship building within Jewish educational frameworks. The program includes three in-person gatherings, as follows:
Seminar 1: The Commonplaces of Relational Learning
July 28 – August 1, 2019 – Tarrytown, NY
This seminar introduces the three commonplaces of relational learning: Character, Self and Other, and Thirdness. Primarily, it focuses on various aspects of character development in relational encounters through the disciplines of psychology and the philosophy of Chavruta.
Seminar 2: Co-construction of Meaning
February 9-13, 2020 – San Diego, CA
Growth and development happen when navigating – and even embracing – conflicts. Through an exploration of the elements that make up relational work, including the encounters with risks, perceptions of belonging, and heightened stakes, this seminar investigates the process of – and potential within – relationships that focus on thought partnerships and the co-construction of meaning.
Seminar 3: The Emergence of Relational Communities
July 12-16, 2020 – Chicago, IL
This seminar explores how individual relational encounters slowly enable the emergence of thought communities: deliberately crafted communities bound by a mutual sense of meaning, belonging and purpose. Stemming from the educator herself, relational communities help develop a new paradigm of growth and education.
Eligibility
M² Circles: Relational Learning is open to educators deeply engaged in the theory and practice of relational learning and engagement and with at least eight years of relevant field experience. The current cohort is now closed.
Cost
Tuition for M² Circles: Relational Learning is $1,800 + a $180 registration fee. Tuition covers all programmatic costs, double occupancy accommodations, domestic airfare for all three gatherings, and food. Cost does not cover travel to/from airports or additional airline and other fees. Single occupancy accommodation is available at an extra charge.