“Restorative Learning: From Story to Micro-Intervention, Teaching That Heals” led by Deena Kara Shaffer

Date/Time
Date(s) - 13/07/2023
All Day

In this storied and experiential session, Deena will share full-hearted wonderings and micro-interventions born out of her journey through chairing fraught academic integrity encounters, her own “failed” return to school, wobbly attempts to ‘make it’ as an edu-preneur, and a disorienting year of not getting an education book published. Emerging from these false starts and recalibrations, Deena is coming to understand *something* about what’s happening for learners, and for educators. From the tension between whether to quit or to grit it out, and the pressure for profile, in friction with the core need for psychological safety, participants will be led through a personal, professional, and collaborative session about how we can aspire to offer regenerative teaching that heals more than harms.

Deena Kara Shaffer, PhD, MEd, BEd, (Hons)BA, OCT is the Coordinator of Student Transitions and Retention in Student Wellbeing, Adjunct Faculty in the Sociology Department, and Lecturer in the Psychology Department, at X/Ryerson University. Deena is the President of the Learning Specialists Association of Canada (2nd term). A former learning strategist for students with disabilities, and a skilled certified high school teacher, Deena offers a holistic, inclusive, equity-guided, research-driven, health-promoting, kindness-forward pedagogical stance to every educational encounter. Deena is co-initiator of the Thriving in Action resilience intervention, Portage paddling program, and Mood Routes campus outdoor st/rolling initiative. Deena was the academic resilience subject matter expert for the multi-campus Thriving in the Classroom faculty toolkit. Deena holds a doctorate in nature-based pedagogy and learning strategies; is a trained yoga teacher (200 hr), restorative yoga teacher (60 hr), and mindfulness meditation teacher; is a published poet (The Grey Tote, Véhicule Press, 2013); and, is a thought leader, writer, and public speaker on learning and well-becoming. Deena is also the owner of Awakened Learning academic and leadership resilience coaching and consulting; is working on her how-to-learn book of the same name; and, looks forward to starting her Master’s of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation part-time at OCAD this fall. To keep nourished and well, Deena gardens, cooks, and savours hikes with her husband and two daughters.