The MEHRIT Centre’s Learn Face-to-Face Seminar in Toronto

Self-regulation is now an important concept in Kindergarten education, one of the four frames of early learning in Ontario’s Full-Day Early-Learning Kindergarten curriculum. The challenge is that self-regulation means different things to different people. In this Institute Dr. Susan Hopkins, executive director of The MEHRIT Centre, will present and unpack the concept of self-regulation developed by Dr. Stuart Shanker, author of Calm Alert and Learning, and Self-Reg: How to help your child (and you) break the stress cycle and fully engage with life. The Self-Reg view is that self-regulation is not the same as self-control, self-regulated learning, meta-cognition or social/emotional learning. According to Dr. Shanker, self-regulation, which is largely about how students deal with stressors and then recover, entails the brain/body understanding and awareness that enables self-control, meta-cognition and social-emotional learning. Thus, how we support and build self-regulation in kindergarten is of crucial importance to students’ future success.

This Institute will address:

• A developmental understanding of self-regulation (the difference between self-regulation and “ good behaviour” as well as the connection between the two
• How self-regulation enables good behaviour
• The science behind the Self-Reg view of self-regulation
• The five domains of self-regulation and how stress affects children’s behaviour and learning in each domain
• How self-regulation is central to not just one, but all four frames in the FDK curriculum
• How children develop self-regulation through play
• Introduction to Shanker Self-Reg, a framework and method for understanding stress and managing tension and energy
• Practical self-Reg strategies that will enhance educators’ ability to support and build self-regulation in early childhood settings
• Co-regulation: the importance of relationships in education
• Educator stress, why it matters and how to look at it compassionately