Hello, Outschool families.  My name is Christine Harkness.  Little people call me Ms. Chris and my young adult learners call me Ms. or Dr. Harkness.  I have been a brick and mortar teacher for more than 28 years.  I also have a private practice working directly with children in their homes, running a summer camp, and teaching professional development to school districts in my area.  I am passionate about many things.  However, the two things I love to teach most are social/emotional concepts and math.  Helping learners to better understand their internal emotional experiences is one of the most powerful and impactful learning opportunities I can provide.  I love teaching about self-regulation, social skills, flexible thinking, and emotional processes like self-reflection and mindfulness.  My classes will sometimes pull these concepts out and address them specifically.  Other times, I will pair the social/emotional lessons with great literature.  

Exploring a character's emotions and motives is a safe and comfortable means for analyzing what can be uncomfortable feelings in ourselves.  Using the third person perspective allows us to look at how a character is feeling and all the "whys" that go with that, assumptions, opinions, personal beliefs, just to name a few.  We can have safe, rich conversations around fictional characters that lead softly into self-reflective processes.  I have watched many light-bulb moments in my students over the years, using this type of instructional format.  These are the teaching moments I live for.

I also love to have fun and be silly as a way of engaging my learners.  There will definitely be times when I have underwear on my head or some other form of foolishness.  Laughter is also a good form of self-care.

My credentials:
~B.S. Economics (1994)
~M.A. Literacy (1999)
~PhD. Infant and Early Childhood Development (2020)
~Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Instructor since 2010
~Breath, Body, and Mind Coach-Level 2
~DIR/Floortime Expert Level Therapist

In my teaching, I believe in authentic engagement.  Humans are born curious.  It is a teacher's role to facilitate and foster that curiosity and wonder.  Every person who joins my class, teachers and learners, has value to add to the group learning.  While I always have a lesson plan in mind, I love the organic nature of bringing together many people and creating something new.  We are better than the sum of our parts.

I love to travel within the U.S. and abroad.  It has always been important to me that my own children think globaly.  Since the time they were little, I have ensured that they know, think about, and experience as much of the world as possible.

I hope you will let your learner enroll in some of my classes.  I look forward to meeting ze and having a meaningful learning experience together.