Location: Thetford
Training Type: Online Real Time
Total Hours: 45
Level: Introductory
Cost: $ 250
Scholarship: Yes
Maureen Elise Burford
(802) 272-5950
mburford@creativelives.org
A Framework for Wise Education® – Foundations 1 Training August 1, 2025
Do you ever feel like you're carrying the weight of your classroom and your life on your own shoulders? Between juggling work and home, navigating learning differences, and supporting positive attitudes and behaviors, today’s early educators are asked to do more than ever - often with tight resources and less time for renewal. This course is here to help.
Foundations 1 introduces a clear, comprehensive, and highly usable system for understanding and supporting the whole child: A Framework for Wise Education®, developed by educator Ellen Tadd. Based on Tadd’s pioneering discoveries in holistic human development, the Framework organizes learning and growth into seven essential categories, or factors. Each factor connects directly to an innate aspect of our human nature - our inborn capacity to be:
What may surprise you is that each of these seven developmental factors aligns with the function of our human energy system, commonly known as the chakra system. In this training, you’ll explore new strategies, tools, and environments that support healthy development in each of these seven factors. You'll gain a practical understanding of what the chakra system is and its relevance to teaching, parenting, and thriving in today’s world. Each week, you’ll explore one of the seven chakra centers in depth, discovering how its function shapes development, behavior, and learning. You’ll walk away with not only insight—but concrete tools to help children thrive, and to bring your own presence and wisdom more fully into your work.
- Child Development & Learning
- Developmentally Appropriate & Inclusive Practices
- Curriculum & Learning Environments
- Observation & Assessment
- Youth Engagement, Voice, and Choice
- Program Planning & Development
- Infant/Toddler
- Preschool/PreK
- School-Age
Foundations 1: A Framework for Wise Education® A pioneering approach to whole child teaching and learning 45 Professional Development Hours 1 Graduate credit available through SNHU Special Discount for Vermont Early Educators
Here is the Discount Code to submit at purchase: EARLYEDF25 This code is valued at $550 through August 25 and $500 from August 26 to September 15, 2025. This makes the cost $200 for early-bird registration and $250 after August 26th.
About the Facilitators
Caitlin Gagner has worked in the early childhood field for over 16 years. She has experience with a wide variety of educational settings, including a public school in Vermont and running a nature school in Montana. Caitlin has a passion for outdoor and nature-based learning, meeting children where they are, and helping them build their social-emotional capacity. Caitlin currently helps operate The Plymouth Schoolhouse—a licensed childcare center serving children from birth to age 6. Caitlin is the parent of two children under the age of three. She has experienced the benefits of applying the Framework approach firsthand, both as a parent and a teacher, and builds upon these skills with the students in her care at the Schoolhouse and her own children at home.
Maureen Burford is the Executive Director of Creative Lives and a veteran educator with 38 years of experience in the field. Trained for over a decade by her mentor Ellen Tadd, she has brought the Framework approach to more than 3,200 youth and adults across Vermont and beyond. Maureen received the Lynn von Trapp Award for Excellence in Youth Prevention Programming (2019) and holds an M.Ed. in Creative Education from UMass Amherst.