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 is a child's work -- but this year, my teaching partner, Paula, and I switched to [...]
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 stops you. It makes you think differently. This is one of those times. Yesterday, our school [...]
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 school year. Susan outlines the four frames of ECT--protECT, connECT, collECT, and detECT-- and shows [...]
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 I worked with the other Summer Curriculum and Site Support teacher to get things ready [...]
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 also have them. I remember one of these moments for me last year. I walked [...]
By: Alison Cass Ronald,* age five, is an empathetic and hard working child. His parents have taught him love, kindness and compassion. Each day he works harder than most children in my kindergarten class. Ronald comes to school with a smile on his face—and one of heaviest backpacks in our [...]
The more that you learn about Self-Reg, the more that it seems to govern your views of everything in your life. Sometimes I'm sure that Stuart Shanker's questions of, "Why?" and "Why now?" never leave my head. And yet, no matter how much we've learned about Self-Reg, sometimes we miss [...]
Usually when I contribute a post to The MEHRIT Centre blog, I do so as a way to share reflections, celebrate a success, and discuss some possible next steps. My posts are always about what I know to be true. This doesn't mean that I don't make mistakes along the way, and [...]
It's the start of cold and flu season in Ontario. I often joked that I was "immune to getting sick," having spent so many years around kids and germs, but this year, it got me. I've been balancing more than usual this year between teaching, my work at The MEHRIT [...]
Sometimes I realize how quickly things can change. Everything is going well, until it's not. Before I took the Foundations 1 Course, I remember having many conversations with educators and administrators about students in my classroom. I often made comments, such as, "I never saw that response coming." "He/she changed [...]