20 Opps Educational Workshop (Columbia U.)

The Educational Workshop on
20 Opportunities to
Transform Yourself
While Teaching

The 1 hour workshop Part 1 of 5 given at Columbia U.
Taken from actual experiences that honor spirituality in education.

Based on John Bickart's book, 20 Opportunities to Transform Yourself While Teaching ...
a series of practical, personal exercises in the form of wake up calls and anecdotal illustrations that show how to teach yourself to become your own transformational consultant on a daily basis.

20 Opportunities Quick Guide

1. Opportunity ...     Picture a bad situation getting better.
2. Opportunity ...     Expect something good.
3. Opportunity ...     Close, then open your hand.
4. Opportunity ...     Look at a color and see if it looks good.
5. Opportunity ...     Open your mind by accessing a tough viewpoint.
6. Opportunity ...     Lean until you step forward.
7. Opportunity ...     Listen for the next idea in your life.
8. Opportunity ...     Give an hour as a labor of love.
9. Opportunity ...     Stare at a color, then look for an afterimage.
10. Opportunity ... Use a problem to fuel a change or a learning experience.
11. Opportunity ... Read each part of your day as if it is a part of your life.
12. Opportunity ... Use a pain to practice alternatively moving toward and away.
13. Opportunity ... Return to the here and now by turning attention away from space and time.
14. Opportunity ... Ask your higher self, "Is that really a problem?"
15. Opportunity ... Be both a noun - an object - and a verb - that which you are doing.
16. Opportunity ... Don't believe in separateness which leads to ownership which leads to greed.
17. Opportunity ... Encourage yourself with your back to the mirror, then do it facing yourself.
18. Opportunity ... Observe something with your senses, then simply replay it.
19. Opportunity ... Look into the sky and reflect on the whole of all stars converging in your eye.
20. Opportunity ... Conceive of a goal, then BELIEVE, then plan.

The '20 Opps' Workshop

Participate in 20 interactive examples of moments in teaching where the teacher can have a transformative experience. Each is a practical example where you experience an opportunity to model truly transformative learning for students. The activities of the workshop anticipate that each participant will be able to perform the following.

Intuitive Teaching where the teacher is open to new ideas while telling.
Teacher / Student Reversal where the teacher is open to learning from the student by active listening.
True Learning Modeling where the teacher experiences true gratitude for the student, becoming a model of the highest form of a true teacher.

Workshop Description

The Teacher's Bill of Rights

The 1 hour workshop Part 1 of 5 given at Columbia U.

'20 Opps' Workshop Presentations

Part 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

Part 2 of 5 - "Reawakening Your Love of Teaching"
Opportunity #5. Points of View
Opportunity #6. Vulnerability
Opportunity #7. The Unseen
Opportunity #8. Fun

Part 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

Part 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

Part 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

Part 1 of 5 - "Reclaiming Your Spirituality" was prepared for "Cultivating the Spiritual Core: An Interactive Learning Summit", Teachers College of Columbia U. in NYC (Nov. 2021).
Part 2 of 5 - "Reawakening Your Love of Teaching" was prepared for "AWAKENED SCHOOLS: The Spiritual Core in Whole Child Education", live conference, Teachers College of Columbia U. in NYC (Oct. 2022).
Part 3 of 5 - "Recovering Your Childhood in Adulthood" was prepared for "Awakened Campus Summit", Teachers College of Columbia U. in NYC (April 2022).
Each part is 1 hour. The entire workshop is 6 hours.
Part 5 of 5 - "The Believing Brain" was prepared for "AWAKENED SCHOOLS: The Spiritual Core in Whole Child Education", live conference, Teachers College of Columbia U. in NYC (Oct. 2022).

© COPYRIGHT 1987-2024. John Bickart, Inc.