SUMMER 2008 --- HDI
THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE WILL BE SPONSORING THE EQUITY AND EMPOWERMENT CONFERENCE AT HOTCHKISS SCHOOL, JUNE 19-21. Pleas check back on this site for NEWS OF OUR SUMMER 2008 CONFERENCE AT CATE SCHOOL.
Summer 2008 --- ISGP
The Independent School Gender Project,
The Human Development Institute, & The Hotchkiss School
are pleased to invite you to join us for a very special conference.
Save the Date
The Independent School Gender Project Conference
The Hotchkiss School
June 19-21, 2008
Sowing the Seeds of Change
Ourselves, Our Sisters, Our World
If you would like to receive an invitation to the conference please send contact information to ISGP@hotchkiss.org
Nancy Gaynor and Nancy Bird, Conference Chairs
FOR FREQUENTLY UPDATED INFORMATION ON THE CONFERENCE, INCLUDING SCHEDULE, DIRECTIONS TO HOTCHKISS, AND OTHER DETAILS, PLEASE CLICK ON HOTCHKISS.
A SAMPLING OF PAST HDI CONFERENCES:
SUMMER, 2005
The Seventeenth Annual
Human Development Institute
TOPIC FOR 2005:
Boundaries, Education, and Skills:
Responding to Addictive and Obsessive Behavior in our Students
June 28 –July 1, 2005 Cate School, Carpinteria, CA
When people think of addictive behaviors, they immediately think of alcohol and drug dependency. As educators, however, we know that many other addictive and obsessive behaviors impede healthy growth and development in adolescents -- dieting, exercise, bingeing and purging, the Internet, cutting, consumerism, gambling, and others.
? Why do young people turn to addictive and compulsive behaviors?
? What skills do students need to effectively navigate the stresses and distresses in contemporary life?
? What is the connection between adolescent neurobiology and addiction?
? What role can schools play in supporting nonuse and effective intervention?
? How can schools and families work together to foster healthier lifestyles, positive choices, and risk-taking alternatives to developing adolescents?
Schools have had modest success in addressing these issues and many parents feel powerless to instruct, control, or protect their children. Please join us as we explore together how Human Development curriculums and a partnership between parents and schools can address these serious issues. Topics covered will include:
?q Current use of alcohol, street drugs and prescription drugs among our students
?q Eating, diet, and exercise disorders
?q Competition, bullying, and violence in our schools and culture
?q Intoxication, Sexuality, and Decision Making
?q The technological culture of instant gratification
?q Intervention, positive risk-taking, and boundaries
THE CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AT CATE SCHOOL IN CARPINTERIA, CALIFORNIA BEGINNING WITH REGISTRATION AT 11:00 ON TUESDAY, JUNE 28, AND ENDING
Download the registration (Word document)
Download the registration (pdf)
The Sixteenth Annual
TOPIC FOR 2004:
In times of stress and uncertainty, people draw on many different coping skills to help them through difficult challenges. Students today sometimes turn to addictive or self-medicating strategies that impede healthy growth and development -- negative behaviors of risk taking and avoidance, alcohol and drug dependency, eating disorders, self-mutilation, or violence. Cynicism, depression, and resignation increasingly replace normal adolescent idealism. Parents and educators are often feeling powerless to intervene and offer positive alternatives at a time when young people need us most.
Please join us as we explore how human development curriculums, peer educators, and a partnership between parents and schools can create more effective curriculums and policies that address these important topics:
·
Significant Hopes And Fears Of Students What are the dynamics of adolescence in today's world? How are students coping with the realities of busy lives and families, college pressures, the media, privilege, technology, advertising, and a breakdown in community and personal connections?
·
Emotional Intelligence How can we teach self-awareness, empathy, social responsibility, impulse control, and delay of gratification? What do we need to know about adolescent brain development?
·
Addictive And Self-Destructive Coping Responses What are the dynamics of adolescent addictive and compulsive behavior? How can schools and families counter addictive behaviors, self-destructive coping skills, isolation, and depression?
·
Providing Alternatives What skills and coping strategies can help young people navigate modern stresses and distresses? How can schools and families work together to foster healthier lifestyles, positive choices, and risk-taking alternatives for developing adolescents?
·
Teaching Optimism, Resiliency, And Connection How can human development curriculums address the narcissism, cynicism, escapism, and isolation that shield so many of our students from the anxiety and ambiguities of growing up in today's world?
Equity and Empowerment:
Female Voices in Independent Schools
2004
The Independent School Gender Project
June 24, 25, 26 The Hotchkiss School Lakeville, Connecticut
On June 24, 25, 26, 2004, seventy-five schools will be invited to come together at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut to consider the results of the Independent School Gender Project. Since 1995, this important study has been engaged in research and discussion related to the experience of girls and women in independent schools. The conference will present this research and invite schools to actively address the issues raised by this data. Internationally renowned speakers, Rev. Paula Laurence Wehmiller, Jean Kilbourne, and Peggy MacIntosh,will challenge us to look at ourselves through the eyes of the girls and women in our schools. Workshops will share specific curricular and programmatic strategies for change as well as suggestions that can evaluate and enhance established programs.
The focus of this conference will be the questions and issues related to women and girls highlighted by this research.
Participating schools will be asked to engage in a pre-conference exchange of ideas and send an administrative/faculty/student team to the conference. Trustees and parents may join their school team for a small additional fee. This conference will provide an exciting opportunity for adults and students to begin this important conversation, celebrate our strengths and many voices, and share strategies for change.
If your school is interested in receiving an invitation to this conference, please contact Carol W. Hotchkiss at carol@durangoinstitute.com
The Fifteenth Annual
Human Development Institute
TOPIC FOR 2003:
Resetting the Moral Compass in the Aftermath of 9/11
June 18 -21, 2003 Cate School, Carpinteria, CA
Adolescents in 2003 were born into a world that appeared to be relatively safe and secure. In our current world, however, frightening and unpredictable acts of violence and terrorism have shaken that sense of security. While many people throughout the world live a daily life that includes random violence and intimidation, the loss of over 5,000 people in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 brought that reality and fear home to all in the United States. Suicide bombings, hostage kidnappings, school shootings, pointless sniper killings, and the threat of all-out war have made the world feel unsafe, incomprehensible, and out of control to our students. Confused and uncertain, they often lack effective coping skills.. These threats are in direct conflict with co-existing pressures of entitlement, adolescent risk-taking, high achievement expectations, and a lack of clear moral expectations and adult role models. Many students are responding by acting out, taking extraordinary risks, running away, and self-medicating. Unprecedented numbers are being diagnosed with eating disorders, self-destructive behaviors, substance abuse, depression, mania, and anxiety.
How can we help adolescents to feel safe and trusting in an unpredictable world where familiar structures and moral compasses have been violated? How can schools and parents work together to provide security and example at a time that challenges us all? The presence of mentoring adults and the opportunity to have these important conversations have never been more critical.
You are invited to attend a four-day conference designed to explore how schools can develop curriculum and conversations to address the effects of violence and uncertainty on today’s adolescents.
Topics covered in this year's conference will include:
THE CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD AT CATE SCHOOL IN CARPINTERIA, CALIFORNIA BEGINNING AT 11:00 ON WED. JUNE 18 AND ENDING AT 3:00 PM ON SAT. JUNE 21.