Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Lentil Quinoa Loaf


Lentil Quinoa Loaf - From joyoushealth.ca  Joy McCarthy

Ingredients:
3/4 cup dry lentils
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red pepper finely chopped
2 tbsp organic coconut oil (I used virgin olive oil)

1/2 cup pecans or almonds, roughly chopped (I toasted these and put on the top)
2 eggs
slightly beaten (vegan option: 2 tbsp of plain chia, soaked for a couple of minutes with 2 tbsp of water).
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (I added in the oil from the jar)
1 cup fresh parsley or cilantro, minced
2 tbsp curry powder

Method: 
Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium pot bring lentils and 2.5 cups of water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 25 minutes or less. In a separate small pot, bring quinoa and 1 cup of water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 12-15 minutes until fully cooked.
Sauté onion, mushrooms and red peppers in about 2 tbsp organic coconut oil for about 5 minutes, until tender. In a large bowl, combine the cooked lentils and quinoa, add all the remaining ingredients including the cooked vegetables, eggs, oats, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herbs and curry powder, combine fully. Transfer to a loaf pan, press down until even and cook for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve on a bed of beautiful greens with a homemade chutney... EnJOY!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Read My Hips - ScienceNOW

Read My Hips - ScienceNOW

Check out today's ScienceNOW post by Emily Underwood.
This article seems like a good follow up to our Embodiment in Curriculum and Instruction course.
And how excellent it is to be in touch with our bodies and to listen to the wisdom they have to say!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

WARM CIRCLES


Rich and full
And brimming over
Abandoned abundance
Rushing, tumbling
Generous excess
Spills out all around me
And into my body
Covering my mind
With a comforting wrap
Absorbing the nurture
The value and the respect
Hungrily eating
The stretched out invitation
To come to a table
Laden with riches
Treasure and jewels
Dripping in cream and wine
And deliciousness
 Dishes prepared from
Tear-stained hearts
Fully alive to the joy
And sorrow, the non-ness
And rawness
Welcoming me into the glow
Of warmth and hum
Away from my dark isolation
Brittle and parched
And saying "Come, come,
Stay awhile.  Stay as long as
You like.
This great expanse is
Yours to live in, to love in,
To die in, to move in,
Stay.  Stay here."

Golden Lane...Abbotsford BC Nov 5, 2013



A golden lane
To walk within
A blue sky
As my cover
The arching trees
Beckon me
To come and 
Be one

To swim in
Their grandeur
And flow with the wind
Spinning and twisting
And falling to rest

Such beauty in death
You've given your all
Your whole self
Lies golden and brown
Fallen to the ground
Brilliant with teardrops
Reflecting the light

You were beautiful 
In plenty, fluttering en masse
You are ravishing in death
Holding me captive
At your courage
And poise
And humility to become
One with the others
Taking your place
Under the wide open canopy

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Uzbekistan fabric 19th century

Pattern so soothing
Hidden in plain sight
Upon sitting and gazing
The seam appears
Now I begin to measure
And compare
To see what the repair
Or addition of fabric
Is all about

The beauty and comfort
Has washed secondary
No longer flowing
In my body
I am not rapt
In it's fabric
No longer it's captive

My mind creates a story
From long ago -
Did a tear happen
At a lavish party
As the cloth adorned
An ornate piece of dark burl
A guest stricken ill
Grasping at the table cover
Crashing the feast to the floor
Moaning and crying out
An invited doctor quickly attending

Or did the author of the piece
Only secure part of the working fabric
And waited for the next
Delivery, an intermittent affair
Decided the seam will be less prominent
Then the glaring narrow width
Carefully placing the embroidery stitches
The asymmetry gnawing inside

Knowing a choice is needed
And learning to
Let expections fall
Finding a path of peace
Off the raging roadway
Of perfection
Embracing fully
With a wet kiss
The limits
The fences
And celebrate what is
Mining out and
Shining a light
On the collected
Beauty
Eyes disciplined
To not narrow
And dart
A participant of judgement
Of rating less and better
An airless space, full of death
Never satisfied, forever rest-less
Hold fast to the Life in hand
Breath expansion
Strength relaxing
In the company of it's flaws

Sunday, September 23, 2012

BC 6 Elementary School pilot...Self regulation....based on recent neuroscience

http://www.vancouversun.com/mobile/news/vancouver/schools+promote+student+self+discipline/7287707/story.html

Teaching children to self-regulate is key to this pilot.  This means raising the child's awareness of how they are interacting with their environment, managing their emotions and bodies and learning how to bring themselves to calmness.  My hope is this isn't viewed as a classroom management tool, but rather as empowering children for the rest of their lives.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Attending A Silent Retreat - this is on my bucket list

 



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-kinosian/the-sound-of-silent-retre_b_99685.html

I surely want to experience a silent retreat.  I wonder about gathering a few people together and putting our own on.  I would love to go to Ireland and silently listen within ancient walls, contemplating, reflecting and discovering.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Invitation to a walk in silence

Buntzen Lake BC - SFU HEAL Cohort

What a fabulous way to begin our 2nd year!!  This was a new place for me to discover, yet a replica of many spots of our beautiful West Coast.  The 15 of us trekked along together, in silence.  The hour carved out a space for me to reflect, wonder, wander and best of all, to be.  To just be in this living forest.  At the beach, we took out our notebooks and wrote whatever came to mind.  The invitation to write, "When I walk in silence I notice..." was a starting point.  

My writing begins with the patch of huckleberry bushes as tall as basketball players, the golden sunlit path and then I remember I am in the middle of the 31st season of my first son's short 42 days life.  I flow along the river of my heart, thoroughly taken with the experience of the invitation to walk in silence.  Here's a portion of my writing, toward the end of my piece:

The green water covers the resting rocks
That edge the lake
A dreamy feel, a moving scene,
A mystery unrevealed
Hidden darkness recessed
Among the shafts of bright
Hiding under the light

Like the obvious that stares at you
Hiding the unspoken, the unnoticed
A deepness camouflaged by activity
No beckoning or signs on how to enter
Rather once I slow, a passage seems to appear
As clear as evaporating mist 


Sunday, July 15, 2012

Undergrads May Fail Critical-Thinking Test, but Academia Is Failing Them

Undergrads May Fail Critical-Thinking Test, but Academia Is Failing Them

Sunday, 29 April 2012 00:00 By Margaret Austin Smith, Truthout | Op-Ed 











<<  Thought this was an interesting follow up to the 2012 Summer Institute and our study this semester on Imaginative Education >> 

21st Century Learning - Dr. Peggy Patterson


21st Century Learning
presented by Dr. Peggy Patterson, 
University of Calgary, Faculty of Education
July 14, 2012

Dr. Patterson, known to her students as “Peggy”, passionately shared her thoughts on learning tools for the 21st century using the 5 C’s:  Creativity; Collaboration; Communication; Global Citizens and Critical Thinking.  Patterson summed up her study based on 15 years of student data, with the goal of discovering what enhances the learning experience.  A Venn diagram intersected what learners wanted, how students learned and the role of leaders.   Students, like the majority of people, admire a leader that is honest, forward-looking, competent and inspiring.  I agree with Patterson’s statement that it's most important for the leader’s words and deeds to match.     
One of the things I took away from Saturday's talk was how important interactions are between students and how they impact the students’ school experience.  If students are living at home or commute to school, they may have less opportunity to build relationships on campus.  Proximity to school also plays a big part in the student’s connection to the school.  Patterson quoted some students asking for the creation of a “small community, not a big city” in order for the students to get to know one another, build friendships and find support with their studies.  The larger campus can be impersonal, students can get “lost”, lose their motivation and possibly quit.  The smaller independent schools can provide more connections so the student can feel they do matter and are not just a number.  
Patterson looked at students’ preferences in instruction venues:  classroom; online; classroom with online supports.  2/3 of the students preferred the classroom with online supports because of the amount of information provided, quality of instruction, interactions with professor.  When asked what they valued most in their learning experience, the answers were similar - written assignments, classroom instruction and  participation in discussions.
The built environment plays a huge role in helping the student be successful.  Kurt Lewin (1936) came up with: Behavior is a function of the interaction between a Person and the Environment B=f(PxE).  The building layout directly sets the behaviors of the students in how they move around the campus, form habits and relationships.
Patterson queried the audience to reflect on a physical place where they felt connected to SFU and to frame the thought with, “Where would you want your grad photo taken?”  The answers had the common threads of places where people could gather, be near food and stay for a while.  This reaches back to the desire for connection, relationships and friendships.  Patterson pointed out how important it is for the institution to look at the campus ecology and for leaders to provide areas for connection, in order for students to succeed in their studies.  Overall, Patterson encouraged SFU to focus on learning, not teaching.  Schools that focus on learning put the student at the centre.  This increases the chance for students’ success, which translates into success for the school.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Social Domain

I like the addition of the Social Domain to the Psychomotor, Cognitive and Affective Domains as it gives more representation to the field I work in.

  This is part of a teaching module from Cy Leise, Professor of Psychology and Director of Human services at Bellevue University, Nebraska, USA.

Found this via a video from an associate professor at Bellevue University, Nebraska, USA Artz, Pat. (2010, April 13). Beyond the cognitive domain: integrating social and affective domains [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwiXjp7_aIY posted on a wiki constructed as part of the Instructional Strategies course in the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program at Vancouver Community College http://motivate3250.wikispaces.com/2.+Learning+Environment+and+Motivation 

http://www.processeducation.org/ijpe/   This International Journal of Process Education is dedicated to transforming higher education.

Lots of great information!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Free Neuroscience Course from Annenberg Learner >> Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections

Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections

Awesome looking course designed for K–12 teachers, other educators, researchers, and adult learners.

 ** FREE RESOURCE **

 http://www.learner.org/courses/neuroscience/

One of the authors is here http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~immordin/
We feel therefore we learn: the relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education - Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Antonio Damasio
  
http://www.learner.org/courses/neuroscience/about/about.html

Course Goals

Exciting new developments in the field of neuroscience are leading to a new understanding of how the brain works that is beginning to transform how we teach in the classroom. Teachers are aware of these developments and are hungry for information that they can apply to their practice. One of the central goals of Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections is to help teachers learn to use research to create their own solutions to their particular classroom challenges. Another important goal is to provide new and useful metaphors that we all can use to describe teaching and learning and that are grounded in modern neuroscience. Through this course, teachers learn to think critically about the field of Mind, Brain, and Education and thus learn to be informed consumers of information about brain science, better able to separate science from myth and misinterpretation.

Course Audience

Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections was designed for K–12 teachers, other educators, researchers, and adult learners who want to learn more about current issues in education. College or graduate students—especially those considering careers in education—will find this course useful. We welcome their use of these materials.

Course Components

Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections is a self-contained distance-learning course distributed free of charge on the Web. The course is designed by Kurt Fischer, director of the Mind, Brain, and Education Program at Harvard University Graduate School of Education; Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, assistant professor of education at the Rossier School of Education and assistant professor of psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California; and Matthew H. Schneps, George E. Burch Fellow in Theoretic Medicine and Affiliated Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution and director of the Laboratory for Visual Learning at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
The multimedia course consists of six units, with an introduction and a conclusion. Each unit contains many integrated videos and sidebars of additional information, as well as a list of resources. The website provides access to all the course components, plus additional materials, which include:
  • Two Interactive Lab Activities
  • Visuals: A Compilation of Images Used in the Units
  • A Course Guide
  • A Glossary
  • Three Site-wide Search Features: Traditional, Visual (Dynamic Content Map), and by "Top Teaching Issues"
  • Teacher Talk: A Moderated Discussion List

How to Use This Course

The materials are designed for various uses. Some individuals may want to learn about a single topic and study parts of one unit on their own. Some may want to join facilitator-led groups, such as professional development workshops or in-service sessions. Information on how to use these materials to facilitate a professional development workshop is available in the PDF downloadable Course Guide. Graduate credit is available to those who choose it.
Each unit of the course is composed of text with integrated videos, visuals, and sidebars. However, each component of the course is also designed to stand alone. You do not need to use all of the materials or access them in any particular order. If you are interested in a particular topic, you can jump in at your point of interest. Users can search the site for topics of interest in three ways: a traditional key word search, a visual search engine (Dynamic Content Map), and by "Top Teaching Issues." Users are also encouraged to "chat" with other participants by utilizing the Teacher Talk section of the site. For the fullest experience with all the components, use the Course Guide to set learning goals and to explore your understanding of the course concepts.
Neuroscience & the Classroom: Making Connections is available beginning in the fall of 2011. You may watch the videos free on demand via broadband streaming at www.learner.org, with Course Guides available as downloadable PDFs on this website, or you may purchase DVDs and Course Guides from the Annenberg Learner online catalog.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

July 21 - 22 Surrey Fusion Fest





http://www.surrey.ca/fusionfestival/9242.aspx

This festival will run on the last weekend of this semester, 11:00 am to 10:00 pm each day.  A party right at our front door in Holland Park!  Admission is free.  It looks like a wonderful band line up and about 30 cultural pavilions...food, music, outdoors...what's not to like??? 


Keynote by Dr. Kieran Egan on Oct 19, 2012 in Port Coquitlam

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6j0IIz-Im8kRK9uXeN3x9py1Oy5JUox8T_8xZDyrqcx0JMs9Wb1TrGyGoqlZB5QTD2E8iopBMg5PPuS6j0Bt8AzQbB2IE_lYM6xndwhmYJ_aasMZHBy9x-niMDqbaLUxPE6v429imRog/s1600/Engaging+Imagination+Conference.jpg

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

http://imaginefunlearning.blogspot.ca


I came across this great blog that has a lot of real-life classroom examples of Egan's imaginative teaching material in practice.  

The author says ..... "My name is Jonathan Sclater. I am an elementary school teacher in Canada. I recently completed a Master of Education degree from Simon Fraser University in the Imaginative Education Theory.... I have been fortunate to start working with Faye Brownlie, a well known educator and author, in a teacher network series for educators in the lower mainland of BC. I continue to look for ways to refine my work and push my understanding further by collaborating with other teachers and working on projects that go far beyond my individual classroom."

Healing effects of music


Something we haven't touched much on in our class so far is the power of music as a healer or as an aid to healing.  This webpage touches on some neat ideas.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Dog Waste Diversion

People loving life, animals and nature = biophilia.....and this can equal nearly 500 tonnes of dog waste in Metro Vancouver!!!  It is deposited in regional parks every year, and a million plastic bags end up in the waste stream. A new project in regional parks however, is providing new, eco-friendly improvements in dog waste disposal.  Where does your doggie waste go to?  This video reports doggie waste is not a fertilizer and does not break down quickly.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Premier Announces Date for Family Day



Monday, May 28, 2012, I had the honor to speak on behalf of BC Association of Family Resource Programs and congratulate the BC Government on their announcement of BC Family Day, February 11, 2013.  This is a great day to celebrate families, the foundation of our communities!!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Ohio Dr recommends one hour of outdoor play each day

http://ecochildsplay.com/2010/10/04/ohio-doctor-prescribes-outside-time-for-children/

Pediatrician, Dr. Wendy Anderson-Willis at Nationwide Children's Hospital, says it's the right of the child to play outdoors and it's the job of the adults to create a world where this is possible.  Anderson-Willis prescribes at least one hour each day to play outside.  She also advises to eat five fruits and vegetables a day, drink mostly water and cut back on screen time.  

I think if more doctors prescribed outside time for their patients, parents may actually take this recommendation seriously. In fact, school’s would have to honor the prescription in the same manner they do ADD drugs like ritalin.
 

As part of its efforts to get children outside, the Ohio Leave No Child Inside Coalition applauded Dr. Wendy Anderson-Willis in a rally last week. The Columbus Dispatch reports:
The Ohio coalition yesterday also recognized Dr. Wendy Anderson-Willis, a pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, for her efforts that include giving many of her patients prescriptions to play outside for at least an hour each day and her involvement in the Walk with a Doc program.
“I think it’s the right of every child to play outside and it’s the job of the adults to create a world where this is possible,” Anderson-Willis said.
In addition to playing outside, her advice to patients and their parents: eat five fruits and vegetables a day; drink mostly water; and cut back on screen time.
I think if more doctors prescribed outside time for their patients, parents may actually take this recommendation seriously.  In fact, school’s would have to honor the prescription in the same manner they do ADD drugs like ritalin.
As part of its efforts to get children outside, the Ohio Leave No Child Inside Coalition applauded Dr. Wendy Anderson-Willis in a rally last week. The Columbus Dispatch reports:
The Ohio coalition yesterday also recognized Dr. Wendy Anderson-Willis, a pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, for her efforts that include giving many of her patients prescriptions to play outside for at least an hour each day and her involvement in the Walk with a Doc program.
“I think it’s the right of every child to play outside and it’s the job of the adults to create a world where this is possible,” Anderson-Willis said.
In addition to playing outside, her advice to patients and their parents: eat five fruits and vegetables a day; drink mostly water; and cut back on screen time.
I think if more doctors prescribed outside time for their patients, parents may actually take this recommendation seriously.  In fact, school’s would have to honor the prescription in the same manner they do ADD drugs like ritalin.

Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows School District team with other partners to provide the Environmental School Project



Environmental School Project - 
a very inspiring story begins in 2008

Regardless of the weather, be it dry and somewhat comfortable or below freezing with snow floating down, the School District 42 students, ranging in age from four to 12, would have been outdoors, as they have been the majority of the school year.

Clayton Maitland, coordinator and administrator of the Environmental School Project, believes the program is the only one of its kind in Canada.

The unique experiment in public education has school lessons delivered in parks, at picnic tables, alongside streams, under tarps and tents, in gardens, libraries, restaurants, fitness centres, and even municipal council chambers, when they're available.

According to the program's website (es.sd42. ca), "The theory and practice of the project is supported by Place-Based, Imaginative and Ecological Education. Learning and teaching will be experiential, in context, and through activities that engage the mind, body, and heart."

Maitland himself didn't find his passion for learning in school, but rather, outside the confines of school walls.  "Mostly, my mom taught me about the natural world and outside," he said.
Looking into the needs of students, Maitland said "experience" usually tops the list.  "A lot of primary experiences that are holistic in nature, are missing," he said. "They sit in rows, they sit in desks, and they have a box, and they have the school, and the school itself creates that metaphor."
Maitland said the natural world offers "a totally broader, deeper sense to learning."

Like any other school, classes start at 8: 30 a.m. and run until 2: 20 p.m., five days a week.
"We have the potential to do what we want with that Monday through Friday," Maitland said. "We have that opportunity to put learning in context."

In any activity, the basic components of education, such as reading, writing, mathematics, and science, can be mixed together, so they interact with all subject areas, Maitland explained.  "A cedar stump that's 100 years old or 1,000 years old, you can dig deep into the histories of what's going on through that whole time period, so that stump itself becomes reading, math, history for humanities everything mixed together," Maitland said.

Some of the activities this year have included studying the anatomies of salmon, human bodies, and trees, and the three are compared to discover the similarities and differences.

"All breathe, all need water, and they think and eat in different ways," Maitland said. "There are different systems in the salmon, the human, and the tree that all work together."

Students of varying ages are mixed depending on the activity, Maitland noted.

The school's progress is being monitored by Simon Fraser University researchers, who obtained a $1-million federal grant for that purpose.

Read more: http://www.mrtimes.com/news/Kids+classroom+moves+outdoors/5983609/story.html#ixzz1w0HCsWxd

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Richard Louv interview on Outside Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFqBl0OuZrk

I'll start our discussion on Nurturing Children's Biophilia with this clip next Friday :)  I think I want to buy Louv's two books!!

The Nature Principle - Field Guide - Richard Louv

The Nature Principle - Field Guide - Richard Louv

What a wonderful website!  Louv wrote "The Last Child in the Woods" in 2005.  His latest book focuses on adults and nature-deficient disorder (his coined word).

Monday, May 14, 2012

Future of Children ..... Resource from Princeton University


There are webcasts, blog, journal articles and media information.  It is USA based and offers quite a variety of diverse research studies.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Cincinnatti and Northern Kentucky ready to improve Gr 3 reading scores by 2020

http://www.coshoctontribune.com/usatoday/article/38834577?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s
Mar 18, 2012

Here's a few snippets from this news article:

NEWPORT, Ky. (WTW) — More than 70 organizations in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are teaming up on a national effort to improve third-grade reading levels.
The eight-year initiative includes seven counties and 19 school districts. It's one of the broadest such efforts ever undertaken, organizers said.
Its goal is to have 100 percent of children in this region reading successfully by the end of third grade by 2020....
"We all believe that kindergarten readiness and third grade reading are the single most important factors to getting a child to graduate from high school," said Robert Reifsnyder, president and CEO of United Way.  We really feel that it's absolutely critical to build community will around the importance of getting kids prepared for kindergarten and getting them to know how critical reading is and build reading skills," he said. "Those skills stay with you for the rest of your life. And if you don't have them early, you get behind early."
Greg Landsman, executive director of the Strive Partnership...said the grade-level reading campaign "will create perhaps the most robust talent pipeline in the country, unlocking the limitless potential of each and every child in our region."
To meet the goal of 100 percent third-grade reading proficiency, the coalition will:
— target disadvantaged students and high-need schools
— work regionally in three areas: kindergarten readiness, attendance, and summer learning
— expand volunteer efforts such as tutoring
— create a stronger focus in schools and communities on reading and attendance
— align funding with programs that work.
The plan is in its early stages. Details on exactly how it will work, how much it will cost and how it will be funded are being finalized. The full plan will be rolled out this summer.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

The Whole Child Award...first time awarded in Canada

Byrne Creek Secondary School in South Burnaby, BC received the ASCD Whole Child Award today, a first for Canada.  40% of the 1250 students have English as a first language.  Some of the students have lived in refugee camps and not had the opportunity to attend school yet.
 
The educators meet weekly to collaborate and brainstorm innovative solutions.  The one that piqued my interest, is "the "Village of Attachment" where staff, families and community members create a web of support around the most vulnerable students."  For years, Dr. Gordon Neufeld has preached attachment as a way to protect and strengthen families raising young children.  How heartening to see this approach in action for children and teens that have witnessed war, famine and more.
 
http://www.ascd.org/news-media/Press-Room/News-Releases/Byrne-Creek-Secondary-School-2012-Vision-in-Action-ASCD-Whole-Child-Award-Winner.aspx

Monday, March 12, 2012

High school teacher blogger from Calgary...Educational Leadership Matters


I like this post, especially the animated clip regarding Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

Link to the Fostering Resiliency Presentation

http://www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/EarlyYears/Presentations.asp

Here are the presentations from UBC's Early Years Conference 2012 held this February in Vancouver.  There are links on a variety of topics here.

 This is the direct link to the presentation I participated in.  The Federation of Community Socials Services of BC conducted the APP (Applied Promising Practices) 2-year research project and examined how families and parents 'make a shift' towards health.  
The project data shows that Family Resource Programs are useful, valid and successful partners in the array of family services required in our communities.  
Focusing on prevention, FRP practitioners foster resilience through instrumental help giving and intentional relationship-building.  Families feel equipped to navigate periods of sensitivity.  Families increase their social capital and protective factors, reducing risk.



I have the Literature Review, 70 page roll up and the 11 page Talking Points if anyone is interested.  


D5 Fostering Resilience: Lessons from Canada’s Family Resource Programs
Janice MacAulay, Sherry Sinclair and Christine Colbert





"YOU CAN DO IT!"

Thinking of everyone as we head into the home stretch of EDUC 816 Developing Educational Programs and Practices for Diverse Educational Settings!

I was texting with my daughter this morning, wishing each other a great day, and the phrase from the Adam Sandler movies, "YOU CAN DO IT!" flashed in my head.  I love the brain-dead comedy, hidden messages and humility of his movies.  Here's a quick YouTube clip of Rob Scheneider's famous line.... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ2HcRl4wSk


Sunday, March 11, 2012

TEDx at SFU Nov 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SqpgMEozlo&feature=digest_fri


SIAT School of Interactive Arts and Technology

Seeing as we are in the Design portion of our degree, it was neat to hear parts of this video speak to the design aspect of the SIAT program and hear commonalities.
I don't know if there is any relationship between SIAT and Education, but I wonder if our HEAL cohort might contribute to the next TEDx in November??


Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Joy and Delight

unknown
This picture is imported from Castles, Crowns and Cottages Blogspot

       I love the look of pure delight!!
      This blog is full of beautiful images.

Bonding and Attachment in Maltreated Children



Bonding and Attachment in Maltreated Children 
Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD
 

Click on Read More and a 10 page pdf file will appear.
Bruce Perry succinctly defines attachment and the consequences of emotional neglect in childhood.

The site www.ChildTrauma.org is full of info and resources. 
 

Monday, February 20, 2012

TEDxBuffalo - Stacey Watson - Rebooting Education in Our Urban Core


DROP-IN NATION is based in Buffalo New York and is nearly a decade old.  
It uses Holistic Education Curriculum  designed for Drop-out Recovery.

7,000 students drop-out everyday in the USA.

73% students attending DROP-IN NATION go on to College, job training or employment.

The major informers of DROP-IN NATION are:
Holistic Education:  Our children are people
Circular Reasoning:  Our children are complex
W.E.B. DuBois:  Theory of Double Consiousness
Jean Baudrillard: Theory of Cultural Industrialization
Relevance
Flexibility
Focus on Reading and Thinking
Love - without this, nothing else matters

It's almost 20 minutes long.  Check out 12:30 and Euro-centric and Circular Reasoning.  The idea that they survive and someone loves them is what everything else is based on.  There are even Yoga classes!

 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

New Health Reference Sites


Answers to your health questions ... a Telus sponsored website addressing everything from diabetes to mental health to bone and joint.  I'm curious, from your expertise area, how you feel about the accuracy of the information and what you think about it being sponsored by a corporation?

BC also has the:
--> #8-1-1 HealthLink line http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/contact.stm 
--> #2-1-1 Community information line http://bc211.ca/index.html .  
Do you find people and families in your circles are using these supports?  Are these programs designed well?  Easy to use?

It's supports like this that I share with the Family Places (Family Resource Programs or FRP) where I work.  Many of our families are computer savvy and have access to the internet.  They feel confident navigating through a well designed website and are curious about new information.  When they arrive at Family Place, the parents are quick to share what they've learned with the other parents.  The families self-select if they use the information or not.  Overall, I am glad these three sources of information are readily available to the families of BC. 

Monday, January 23, 2012

MaJenDome

MaJenDome
is a movement that recent author, Elvin Freytes, wants to spread around the world.  His book, Hello My Little One, It's Me Your Father, invites fathers to read daily to their child, while still in the womb.  This piggybacks on research regarding how newborn children recognize and prefer their mother's voice over other voices.  This book is a great tool to encourage both parents to bond with their child before birth, the underpinnings of a secure foundation for the child to grow within.  It will be interesting to see how this idea catches on!  

Monday, January 16, 2012

Where My Journey Leads

As I've embarked on my MEd journey, some people ask me if I know what I'm going to do with my degree or if I have a plan once I'm done.  To be honest, I don't have that nailed down right now :)  With that in mind, I've appreciated articles found on  http://www.keithferrazzi.com/   This is a part of a series that you can buy.  I've not, but I like the reflection and strategy Keith uses to explore, weaving in multi-layers.  I like looking for emerging patterns.  This exercise isn't rocket science, but I've wondered where our journeys will take us and where each of us will be in the months following September 2013. 

Onward and upward - further in and farther up.  


Click where it says "Click Here" :) and a pdf appears that has Interview Yourself to Invent Your Future Career.

Interview Yourself to Invent Your Future Career
Keith Ferrazzi

Finding your passion, discovering your strengths, and most of all MAKING IT HAPPEN is not as easy as it sounds.
Keith Ferrazzi developed this series of questions to help friends and clients create a future vision for their career. For each question, you don’t need sentences – just make a list.
Tip: Find a quiet place and give yourself an hour to work through the lists.
 
Once you’re finished, search for reoccurring themes and intersections. Circle things that stand out to you. Is a future vision emerging? Create a long-term goal – in the next lesson, you’ll be ripping it apart with trusted friends and colleagues, so don’t worry about whether it’s “right.” It’s just a step in the process.
 
1. What are your dream jobs? List every profession you’ve ever dreamed or thought of having.
You wanted to be a fireman? Write it down! Pharmacist? Great! Put it on the list. The idea here is to brainstorm – don’t limit yourself by what you feel is “possible.” You will start to see patterns among the jobs you list here and similar traits between them. That’s the real value, so the more inputs you have here the better.
 
2. What are you good at? List your strengths.
This step should be easy, since if you’re working through Course III and just spent time evaluating your strengths. But with this list, think more expansively than you might have so far – we’re brainstorming, so list everything. Are you good at cooking? Explaining things to people? Are you great at keeping your house organized? Are you a great manager?
 
3. What are you not so good at? List your weaknesses.
We all have weaknesses, or things that are NOT our strengths. This exercise will help prepare you to choose a soft skill gap to work on in Course III Lesson 5. Be honest here – you will find that often these align with unhappiness. Think about times when you’re unhappy: do you hate doing paperwork? Maybe it’s because you’re not very good at administrative tasks. Are you uncomfortable in social situations? Maybe “being social” isn’t a strength of yours. BE HONEST in this exercise. And ask your family, friends and colleagues for their insights.
 
4. What makes you happy? List every little thing that’s ever made you happy in your life.
Happiness is one of the most important things in life. Who doesn’t want to live a happy life? If you want to find your passion – something that will allow you to be great – then it must also make you happy. Think about every little thing that you’ve ever done that makes you happy - spending time with your kids, tearing apart a computer and putting it back together, running miles and miles until you can’t run anymore. Your list of “happy things” will help you figure out first what it is you DON’T want to do; then, you work with this list to identify a career that incorporates one or more of these things in a big way.
 
5. What companies and/or people you want to work for? List them!
Have you always wanted to work for a particular company? Or how about that woman you’ve read about in the WSJ and respect so much. Make a list of all these companies and people. This will help guide your search after you’ve made all your other lists. This is one of the first steps in crafting your Relationship Action Plan. Don’t forget to do this one – it will guide you into action.
Get started and make your lists!

Interview Yourself to Invent Your Future Career
Keith Ferrazzi