Finally it Comes Together! Self-Reg helps us understand what we already know
The more I learn about Self-Reg and the brain/body science of stress, the more I have been struck by the same thought over and over. Self-Reg explains things I’ve sort of known for years, but [...]
Why Does Play Elicit A Stress Response?
As many people know, I'm a strong advocate for play-based learning. Real, authentic, student-driven and led play. Free play. I've called this play many things over the years, including "free exploration time" and "work time" -- for play [...]
Put Those Tears Away: Notes from the first week of kindergarten
By: Heather Bredin I was standing by the fence, holding a child's hand. He was crying. Loudly. And he'd been crying loudly for the last 3 hours. "I miss my Mommy!" He choked out for the [...]
“If I Run, Will I Go To Heaven?”: Self-Reg And The Terry Fox Run
This is my 19th year of teaching. I've taught at 8 schools in our Board, and worked with hundreds of students. But sometimes, no matter what previous experiences you may have had, a child's comment [...]
Self-Reg ~ Not Just for Kids
By Lisa Cranston, EdD Just like children, adults have emotional storms and we need that feeling of safety and security found through interpersonal relationships so that we can return to calm. One time this truly [...]
Reframing Francis
By Sonia Gregory, Teaching Principal, Chief Paul Niditchie School Dr. Stuart Shanker says, “See a child differently, see a different child.” This is such a beautiful concept in Self-Reg. It seems so simple, but what [...]
A Self-Reg Look At “Preparing Kids”: Is It Time To Change The Conversation?
As we go back into the classroom this week to get ready for school, I'm doing some thinking around a phrase that I hear quite frequently in educational circles: the need to "prepare children" for the [...]
Four Areas of Focus for Growth-Promoting Relationship Building in Schools
In this vlog, Susan Hopkins applies the Energy-Centred Teaching (ECT) model that she first developed with Dr. Stuart Shanker in 2017 to offer a fresh way of thinking about priorities for the start of the [...]
How Do You Build Classes?: When Connections Matter Most
Recently, I shared my Self-Reg journey on The MEHRIT Centre Website. As I mentioned in my profile here, I now find myself seeing everything through a Self-Reg lens. I was reminded of this recently, as [...]
A Self-Reg Lens on Freedom ~ Part Three: In Pursuit of Liberty AND Freedom
In Self-Reg, we want to have it both ways: preserve Liberty as a birthright and ensure that everyone can become free. If the price of Democracy is that certain individuals, businesses, or political actors are [...]
A Self-Reg Lens of Freedom ~ Part Two: Freedom is in Peril ~ Now more than ever
Even if you feel strongly that Liberty is an inalienable right – and as we saw in Democracy is in Peril ~ Again, not everyone does – the same cannot be said for freedom: at [...]
A Self-Reg Lens on Freedom ~ Part 1: The Paradox of Democracy
The new biopic of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, On the Basis of Sex, instantly provoked a heated controversy. In the trailer for the film, the young RBG (who is suing the government for sex discrimination) stands [...]
A Self-Reg Look At The Broken Internet: Our Day Without Wifi
Yesterday started as my day often does, beginning to get materials organized for the week and setting up the classroom space prior to the start of Before Care. Soon after I started though, I noticed [...]
A Self-Reg Lens on Men’s Role in Women’s Safety
I feel like I’m wading into risky territory here, but I want to talk about the concept of safety, in terms of women’s experiences and relationships with men. There is a big-picture aspect to this [...]
A Self-Reg Lens on Democracy Part 3: Creating a Just Society
Authoritarianism feeds off the feelings of hopelessness that obdurate social problems produce. The despair that Democracy will never be able to overcome its failings; that the majority of the citizenry lack the fortitude to make [...]
A Self-Reg Lens on Democracy Part 2: We Have Met the Enemy
The first step in any Self-Reg undertaking is to understand the conceptual distinctions that we are dealing with. In this case, we might begin with the democratic versus authoritarian view of strong society. According to [...]
A Self-Reg Lens on Democracy Part 1: Democracy is in Peril ~ Again
If ever there was a time to heed Santayana’s warning, this is it. It is tempting to dismiss what is happening in the US today as an aberration. This might be true in some respects; [...]
Thoughts On Teaching While Angry
I recently read John Hoffman's wonderful blog post about Thoughts On Parenting While Angry. I was really taken by this post, as I realized that it's not just parents that have these moments. Educators can [...]
Self-Reg, Social Justice & Democracy
The Future Lies in the Hands of Self-Reg Parents, Schools, and Communities I first started thinking about social justice and democracy when I was 16 years old. I had just attended a political rally where [...]
Thoughts on Parenting While Angry
One of the biggest challenges in raising kids is learning to parent well—OK, reasonably well—when you’re angry. Raising children is inherently emotional. And that means we’re sometimes parenting under the influence of anger and its [...]