Beyond Knowledge and Skills: Teaching Who We Are

Small Farms Online Course Instructor’s Retreat

We come together as online course instructors, but the skills, gifts, and roles that come through us to serve the world are countless and ever evolving.  We are instructors, yes, but may also be farmers, parents, fire-builders, chefs, artists, lawn mowers, peace-makers, dancers or any of hundreds of other roles.

In this genuine Retreat, facilitators Violet Stone and Jamillah El Bey will guide us through a spacious exploration into the complexities of our identities, values and gifts. Drawing perspectives from the work of globally respected educators Paulo Freire, Audrey Lord and Parker Palmer, we will look more closely at ‘who’ we bring to our educational work and our vocations in general. We will reflect on where we are shining and where we might be hiding in our vocational and professional roles. We’ll draw our day to a close by wondering into new ways we might integrate our gifts and strengths to enliven, nourish and sustain ourselves and the communities we touch, both in the online courses we teach and the many other ways we serve the world.