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 * HOLISTIC EDUCATION : TEACHING TO BOTH SIDES OF THE BRAIN & **** NURTURING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE – ** ** Independent Study  ** ** Independent Studies may only be done by approved students: **** The assumption is that you will work on your own at your own pace with minimal supervision and oversight by the instructor. **** You should contact the instructor if you have questions or as directed during the course. ** ** Be sure that you have permission BEFORE starting this course or you may not get credit for the course. **

** If you have not yet registered for this course please send an email to **** Buffalo State SUNY Email **

** Ask for an Individual course Registration for EDU 534 as an Independent Study. ** ** You must send a registration to SUNY to get Credit for the Course. **

**Since this is an independent study you are responsible for sending payment for this course as directed in the attached invoice!**  **If you have any questions: Contact your instructor:** ** EDU534 Independent Instructor **   Since this is an independent study you are in charge. I have designed a road map and a suggested syllabus but at the end of the day you will be in charge of making sure that this course was relevant and appropriate for you. So, as you go along you may request changes to the schedule, the readings and the assignments to make them more meaningful for you. It will be my job at the end of your course work as an Independent student to determine that you have met the requirements for a class in holistic education and teaching to both sides of the brain. So, please be in touch as directed in the Independent Study course on the wiki and as you have questions, ideas or issues you need me to be involved.

= COURSE GOAL  = The goal of this course is to present strategies for promoting emotional literacy in schools. Research in brain- based learning suggests that emotional health is fundamental to effective learning. The course will provide knowledge and skills about creating a curriculum that teaches emotional competency. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence describes such competencies and includes the five characteristics and abilities: self awareness, mood management, self-motivation, empathy and managing relationships. You should plan 40 to 60 hours to complete the assignments and readings, depending on the speed that you work it is designed to be completed in about 10 sessions. You may work as fast or take as long as you wish but must complete the course in the semester in which you start it or get permission to carry it over to the next semester.

** COURSE OBJECTIVES  ** ** Teachers enrolled in this course will develop the following competencies **
 * Will learn to create a classroom environment where students become aware of their emotions and feelings.


 * Will become aware of and understand social and emotional development of students and key into their emotional needs at varying stages of development.


 * Will be able to organize classroom experiences that help students manage their moods so they are relevant to the current situation and react appropriately.

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 * Will be able to apply to arrange classroom experiences that help students focus on goals and intrinsic motivators.
 * Will be able to develop and use focus groups to help students understand emotional issues and develop strategies for coping with them..


 * Will develop skills to teach students conflict resolution and peer mediation strategies


 * Use and teach effective problem solving and communication skills

= OUTLINE OF INSTRUCTION  =

** Required readings: ** Nicols, H. & Baum, S. (2003) Staying in STEPP: A Guide for helping adolescents manage stress. Available here (Chapters, 3 16, Appendices A-F)
 * Goleman, D. (1995). //Emotional Intelligence//. New York: Bantam Books - You should plan on borrowing this book from a Library and reading it cover to cover. It provides the foundation for this course.
 * Films: //Dead Poets Society//, //Breakfast Club, October Sky - You may have to rent or borrow these films. //
 * Selected readings from the internet and identified articles may be used to supplement.

Course Activities
This online Independent course will use internet contact and discussion, role playing, case study scenarios and field observations to convey information and provide practice in understanding and applying concepts. Students will be expected to design, implement, and reflect upon focus group sessions using at least four different strategies described in the course. In addition, students will be required to keep a ME Book that traces the development of their understandings of course content. ** Evaluation ** : Students in this course will be evaluated based on their performance on the following assignments: The purpose of this assignment is to put into practice the elements of the course. You are to conduct class meetings or group focus sessions with your students helping them to develop their emotional intelligence. Use the format in the text. You can alter the sessions in the text to fit your classes. Ideas from resources in the course can also be adapted. We expect at least one film study; one multi-voting; and one role play among the strategies you will use with your students. Describe what happened after each session. Include students’ responses and your reaction to their responses. Also include insights you have about your class from these sessions. The films, lectures, class discussions and readings from the class should teach us something about ourselves as well as our students. This assignment is designed to help you identify these insights by having your complete the projects listed below and collect them in a reflective journal, the ME Book. For each task, you are to reflect upon and analyze in terms of the course content how a particular topic relates to you, personally. Include what you discovered about yourself from the activity and how this understanding can be beneficial to you in your personal life and how it might impact your work with your students. This is similar to a double entry journal where the first part of the assignment is cognitive and the second (followed by the / in the assignment) is an analysis of your response and your insight. Me Book entries follow the schedule of assignments. ** Grading ** : Grades for this course will be based upon straight percentages of the total points for the course (i.e. 90% of total = 'A'; 80% of total = 'B', etc.). ** Schedule of Topics: - TBD - To be determined by the Independent Study Student. **
 * ** Field experience: Focus group session design, implementation, and evaluation (50%) **
 * ** ME Book (50%) **
 * ** Session ** || ** Date ** || ** Topics & Activities ** || ** Assignments ** ||
 * 1 || TBD || ** Goals: ** Overview:
 * course objectives and requirements;
 * schedule and class format;
 * Individual goal setting;

** What is emotional intelligence? **

Read Chapter 1
 * Emotional components of success
 * “The Emotional Brain discussion”
 * Identification of issues
 * Stress and kids
 * How to conduct group focus sessions and class meetings || Introduction

** Develop a class meeting or focus group session to introduce students to Emotional Intelligence. ** ** (1 of 5) ** || Watch Film: The Dead Poets Society (Stress and Expectations). Me Book: Write a letter to Mr. Keating as a follow up to film and complete activity #1 in Me Book.
 * 2 & 3 || TBD || ** Stress Management **
 * What are my stressors?
 * How is stress manifested?
 * How **can we manage stress?**
 * ** Identifying Stress in Youngsters ** || Chapter 2

** Develop a class meeting or focus group session to introduce students to Elements of Stress that you have just read about. ** ** (2 of 5) ** || Me Book Activities: Complete 2 & 3 This includes the expectations matrix and a discussion of the poem Captain of my soul ||
 * 4 || TBD || == Stress cont. /Expectations  ==
 * Understanding Strengths, Talents, Ethics, Personality, Passions
 * Staying in alignment
 * Burnout Cycle
 * Creative Outlet/Walden experience Open the file that you will find here. Follow directions to include this in your ME Book.
 * [[file:Walden Experience.docx]]
 * [[file:Walden Experience.pdf]] || Chapter 3

This is nearly the half way point of the course. As you work on your independent study remember that you are in charge. If this is not going as you thought it might be, or if you would like a different focus please contact your instructor to discuss alternative assignments. At this point in the course we should talk. Please email me to schedule a conference call. We can meet using skype or facetime or the phone but we must have an appointment. My email is hjnicols@yahoo.com
 * ** Session ** || ** Date ** || ** Topics & Activities ** || ** Assignments ** ||
 * 5 & 6 || TBD || Time Management & Goal setting
 * Setting priorities
 * Time Quadrant

. || Chapter 4 Me Book Activities .4.5,6 What’s on my plate? Personal quadrant A dream turned into a goal ** Develop a class meeting or focus group session to introduce students to the Tim Quadrant. ** ** (3 if 5) ** ||
 * 7 & 8 || TBD || ** Communication Skills ** :
 * Styles
 * I statements

** Relationships ** image management (Film study) Watch at least the first 20 minutes of Breakfast Club (Until confrontation w/ Dick & Criminal ends w/ door slamming) You may want to watch the entire film. || Chapter 5
 * Social and emotional development recognizing emotions, empathy, style, relationships,

ME Book: Activity #67,8,9,10

** Develop a class meeting or focus group session to introduce students to “I” Messages. ** ** (4 of 5) ** || Me Book: Activity 12
 * 9 || TBD || Creating a Peaceable School Climate
 * Conflict resolution
 * Anger Management
 * Preventing Bullying Behavior || .Chapter 6

** Develop a class meeting or focus group session to introduce students Conflict Resolution, Anger management or ** ** Preventing Bullying ** ** (5 of 5) ** || ** Creative strategies for healthy development ** ** Pulling it altogether ** || Chapter 7 Watch October Sky Me book activities #13 ||
 * 10 || TBD || ** Coping with Change **

** EXTRA CREDIT ** media type="custom" key="24509780" width="130" height="130" ** Do My Teacher Think I stink? **
 * Write a short paragraph of what you would have done as the teacher responding to this circumstance. **
 * and another short paragraph as the principal responding to the complaints for the m=parents.' **

** Assignments to be turned in to Instructor by email: ** Open this template word document:  and then save it on your hard drive with a name using this format: EDU534YourlastnameFirst.doc so Hank's document would be EDU534NicolsHenry.doc

** When you send it cut and paste your work into the body of a __single__ email. ** ** DO NOT SEND attachments with your email. ** ** Please do not include photos in your document. **

If you have any questions…..I am as close as your email! hjnicols@yahoo.com hank