CONSULTANT WORK

¡Hola! You’ve found your way to the office door at Harmony Hearth.

From our cyber office, we offer you our consultant services:

1. Character Education. As we all know, it “takes a village” to raise a child of character: the child, his/her family, his/her school community, and his/her extended community. All these people are
key stakeholders (or “villagers”) who help determine each child’s future.
Wherever your school is along the journey of Character Education, we are here to help. Some schools are starting at the ground floor. They use a consultant to help create a Character Ed (or School Climate) Committee, and/or to work with its committee to define its mission, its goals, its
value system. These schools engage our services to lay the foundation, while ensuring a program that is attainable, stable, flexible, and has room to grow.
Some schools have a set character ed program in place (e.g., Character Counts!, Community of Caring, and others), and need help keeping the programming fresh, exciting, energized. These schools use our services to give the program a fresh coat of paint.
Other schools have some components up and running, while other components are in need of a “home makeover.” For example, routine student programming may be going great and teachers
may be on board, but assistance is needed to integrate the parent body or to train paraeducators. These schools use our services to supplement where needed, with a mindful eye towards the integration of all the said components.
Our consultant work / programming was nominated for the Maryland County Council of PTAs Partners for Education Award in 2007. Click here to read the nomination letter.
Click here for visual montages of the various stakeholders or “villagers.”
It takes a village to lay the foundation of character education and to build upon it over time.
Harmony Hearth is here to help you build
your village of character.

2. Pedagogic Challenges / Creative Programming (PC / CP). Every school has its own climate with its own leaky faucets. Some issues reach every school door (e.g., bullying). Other issues are school-specific. In both situations, some solutions work in one school yet aren’t quite right for another school. “Different strokes for different folks;” or, more appropriately, “Different tools for different schools.” There is rarely a one-size-fits-all response.
We visit, we observe, we interview, we listen, we discuss. We use the appropriate tools from our programming toolbox that we think will fix your leaks. And then we present Creative Programming Solutions to respond to your pedagogic challenges.
Example of a Creative Programming Solution: a private school that primarily services students with learning differences was grappling with the disparity between their students reputably high IQs and their generally low self-esteem. Responding programmatically to this school-specific issue, Harmony Hearth was commissioned to research and develop Brain Power! Celebrating Learning Differences. Since its inception, Brain Power! has been adapted for schools with general student populations. Hence, the Brain Power Project is a gift that keeps on giving. It reaches and teaches and validates and sensitizes an endless number of students and educators throughout the area.

We at Harmony Hearth believe that every “problem” is a challenge awaiting a creative solution.

It takes thinking outside the box--from someone who is outside the box (or building)--to respond to

Pedagogic Challenges through Creative Programming (PC / CP).

Harmony Hearth is here to help you face your challenges with

creative solutions.

3. Scriptwriting. Every school, school system, administrator has a need to create the “spin” s/he needs to effectively deliver his/her message to any size audience. Debbie Fink at Harmony Hearth has written scripts for MCs (Masters of Ceremony) of million dollar fund raising events (with 400+ attendees) and for an MC at a countywide event for principals and PTA Presidents (with 400+ attendees).
4. Directing/Producing: In addition to writing scripts for her own school programs and workshops and MCs of other events, Debbie Fink creates, directs, and produces programs for large-scale events, including a plenary for a Young Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. (for 3,000 attendees).