46th Westtown Seminar
on Teaching—Seminar Program

Opening Session "Westtown 2008" . begins. Its members come together, take a look at the year just completed, share reflections, discoveries, struggles, hopes, a look back, a look at the present, a look to the future. Perspectives... The journey continues. David Mallery and the Seminar Participants.

Fran Norris Scoble: Is School Good for Our Souls?

Leaving the path to find our path: Is School good for our souls? Our careers begin in hope and idealism. We are drawn to teaching and the work of schools in order to make a difference, to pass something on. What sustains the "pilgrim" on the journey? This session will begin with reflections from a diary of days in school woven with poetry to focus our discussion in three ways: 1) to recognize the questions our life and work seek to answer: 2) to examine the connectedness between our deepest selves and the work we do, and 3) to awaken passion and compassion -the natural language of the soul.

Michael Thompson: Understanding Family Styles

Contrary to pop psychology, we did not all come from dysfunctional families. The vast majority of families are doing a loving and good-enough job with their children. At the same time, normal families differ on a number of dimensions, and children from these various families come to school with very different assumptions and values. In this interactive talk we will look at our own families, we will examine how the style of our family of origin still affects the way we teach and the expectations that we bring to bear on children.

Both parents and teachers are exposed in their relationship to one another. Parents are vulnerable because they are trapped by their love and their anxieties. In addition their amateur parenting-and isn't every parent an amateur?-is on display to the teacher through their child. Teachers are vulnerable in the relationship because theirs is an intrinsically difficult profession often devalued by society, and many of them chose teaching because they were interested in working with children, not parents. Dr. Thompson discusses the fears that both parents and teachers bring to every encounter between them and he proposes solutions that can help both parties get past these barriers in order to create an effective working relationship on behalf of children.

•Michael Thompson and the Seminar Participants.

Michael Thompson: "Dealing With Difficult Parents."

The vast majority of parents want to form a helpful alliance with their child's teacher. However, a small minority, for reasons of narcissism, ambition, anxiety or mental disturbance, act in troubling ways. Teachers need to be prepared to deal with such parents. Using case examples and role plays, Dr. Thompson will help "arm" teachers to deal with difficult parents so that they can better enjoy the majority.

Session Plans to be Announced

Group II meets for its session in the Gymnasium.

Group III meets for its session in the Gymnasium.

Westtown 2007 meets with The Rev. Paula Lawrence Wehmiller, writer, teacher, artist, consultant, visiting presence in schools around the world. She is the author of A Gathering of Gifts, ( 2002), published by Church Publishing Company. Her session is entitled: Sojourning in Schools - Stranger Within the Gate.

School as a Repertory Theatre Company. What each has in common with the other, in their best intentions and achievements. Developing and capitalizing on each person's strengths, minimizing or working to improve each person's weaknesses. Collaboration for a purpose beyond individual fighting for the spotlight. You're Hamlet Monday, Rosencrantz Tuesday. We will work with exercises for training actors and rehearsing theatre companies to explore the theatre-school metaphor.

—Victor Miller and the Seminar Participants.

Competition and Cooperation-Ways of moving toward a desired objective...Options in dealing with conflicts...Discovering, celebrating individual strengths in a group focused on a task that engages it.

—Victor Miller and the Seminar Participants.

Plans for today to be worked out during the previous days by the seminar participants: Explorations and activities and conversations of special interest to individuals and combinations of people. Options will be developing all week, but they can be really pursued today, morning, afternoon and early evening.

Then about ten minutes after the choir and the seminar participants finish their time together in The Meeting House, we adjourn to The Cabin for screening of Casablanca (1943) and join the company of Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet.

"Louie, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.. "