More than a year pasted by since we lost John as a member of our worldwide community.
Many of you will, like me, have sad thoughts about this and wished it were different. We lost a very good friend and inspirer.
However, if we look how GT is going on, I think we should be proud!
The conference in Saskatoon was en event we all enjoyed. Everything was working out as it should, and Connie and Tim, with their team and supporters were excellent hosts.
Again I would like to express my gratitude to Connie, Tim, Michael Levis and Cam Dore, for making this possible! Without conferences like this, we cannot keep up as a community.
In this letter, I will, with her permission, give you a personal rapport from Mara Hawks, employee in Anthony McCrovitz ‘ Globe star inIndiana, who was at the conference for the first time. Besides being open‐minded and wise, she has the gift of writing, and it is amazing for me to read, how somebody, present for the very first time on an international conference, experiences GT.
Read it and enjoy! Send an email and tell us all how this inspired you!
It inspired me to underline, as we did on the conference that GT will go on, by focusing on the present and the future,we can find ways to share our history and personal stories in order to welcome new members in our community!
GTI will have a meeting again in the end of January.I will ask Anthony to use GOTO-‐ Meeting, so we can meet in cyberspace again.
We had a great meeting in Saskatoon, one early morning, where we elected some new members. Both Simone Schipper and Sylvia Fernandez became additional members of the board. The board cannot become larger anymore, so if new members are elected, some old ones have to go. This is a good way of getting newer generations engaged and over time continue GT in the future.
Elections will be held on the next conference in Greece.
It is beautiful to read,mostly on Facebook, how everybody works with GT. Please keep telling each otherabout your teaching around the globe, I think this is can inspire many of us. Please find the gentle Teaching group in Facebook and become a member. It is great to meet so many old and new faces there. And see our homepage on www.gentleteaching.yourdevsite.ca, also when you want to read about the board meetings.
The conference in Greece, September 23-‐24-‐25,is not quite in place yet. As you might remember we planned the conference on Crete, a beautiful island in the very south of the country. Some major changes are going on in this country, influenced by the big economic problems we all have read about. Angela is working really hard to make it work, but also for her the bureaucratic systems feel sometimes afraid. Angela is a working hard, I support her in the phone, and I am quite sure she will make it! We did not give up yet, but it is uphill! Be patient we will soon let you know when everything is ready. I will send a newsletter as soon as we know how everything is going to develop.
Personally I will travel to Greece January 6 and teach around 5 x 200 people in Thessaloniki, in the main land of Greece. Angela will travel with me, as board member and translator. It is very cold in this part of Greece, so maybe I will see snow there for the first time.
We will try to get a meeting with the new director of the institutions on Crete, but I am not sure this is possible. We’ll see.
Dieter is working hard on the international quality of life project, in relation to GT. My wife Anne just got some hours for this project from her boss, so she can now cooperate with the others. It will be exciting to follow the process.
Pouwel is communicating with Anthony and Mara, so in the near future we will all receive an additional definition of GT, as they will choose to write it. It is hard work, I heard, but I am sure it will be a great product!
And many others are working with teaching in many countries.
Try to write some of your experiences down, so we can share both what is good, but also what can be difficult. Cam will be very happy to receive material for the homepage, our first and upmost meeting place, but also the Gentle Teaching group on Facebook is growing, new members find their way every day. Search for Gentle Teaching on Facebook. It is easy, and you will meet many of us, with happy stories and exiting experiences from our daily life.
I wish you all a very happy New Year, and those of you celebrating Christmas, like I do, a Merry Christmas to you, and a very good holiday period to the others.
Maurits Eijgendaal
Maurits, I don’t know if you remember me but I am iCincinnati, Ohio, USA and was very close to John. He and I worked together from 1997 on in various places in Ohio. I am now President and CEO of a small Catholic community in Cininnati serving very medically fragile children and adults with Developmental Disabilities. We of course baseour care and approach to building community on John’s teachings.
I would like to get involved again in the international movement and want to keep John’s legacy alive in Ohio. When I worked for the governor of Ohio I had John tour the state and teach. As a rssult Ohio now has a programcalled positive culture which is modelled after John’s work.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Michael Rench
I have had the amazing opportunity 4 years back in CT to receive Gentle training by John McGee. I just recently heard of his loss, and am deeply saddened and blessed to have had the opportunity to hear his personal stories. I’m a staunch advocate of the principals of GT. I would LOVE to come aboard in any capacity and receive more training so I can carry out his mission. I have been working with individuals who are on the margins of their community for the past 30 years. I’m also a theater person who would love to do some motivational sessions once trained.
Please contact me at (203)982-7287 or at bandelloni@comcast.net
Cam, thank you for allowing us to add our comments. To me Dr John Mc Gee was not only my supervisor, but also an inspiration and THE person from which I learned, like all of you about Gentle Teaching, it was through his more than 30 years of working and living Gentle Teaching that all of us were inspired and learned about Gentle Teaching, how this International Community Started… with Dr. John J. McGee traveling the world and letting everyone know about how Gentle Teaching can offer so much more because it offers benefits to those learning about it and those around him or her… I won’t be able to present at the GTI Conference in Greece as I had planned, but my presentation will be provided by Nancy Nicolaus from Eitas and Mara Haws from Globestar because I trust they live by Gentle Teaching. Thank you again Cam for this opportunity to write a bit 🙂 Hugs to everyone from Puerto Rico! Sept. 17, 2014 Sylvia Fernández-Colorado, Ph.D.