Contingent Communication - why it is so important

The Committed Parent

Translating social neuroscience to help children raise parents they can live with and they're crazy about~

http://committedparent.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/our-greatest-human-failing/

image from

http://blog.tioki.com/why-i-do-what-i-do/?doing_wp_cron=1372524388.8061680793762207031250

HEAL & Business - So you think you are globally minded

Take this 5 question test....

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130625141721-3458678-so-you-think-you-re-globally-minded-take-this-5-question-test

The 5 questions posed in this article could have come straight from our Health Education and Active Living curriculum and resulting class discussions!  
I feel our cohort is perched to take on global-minded activity.

Thank you

* Stephen Smith          * Michal Fedeles           * Marie-France Boissonneault  

 * Celeste Snowber       * Kathryn Alexander   * Jacqueline Pizzuti Ashby

for sharing your wisdom, experience and passion over these past 2 years.  

I very much appreciate everything you have brought into the classroom and 

I am grateful to have met each one of you.

Thank you Brittany, Cara, Crystal, Danielle, James, Joane, 

Liesl, Marina, Mary, Neda, Raj, Rosie,

Christina, Jen, Laura and Michelle 

for sharing your expertise, your hearts and your smiles!

 I wish you all well!  Cheers to more satisfying adventures!!!

Presenting at the Congress of Humanities 2013..sharing a wonderful adventure

Check out Taneem's blog post about our adventure over to Victoria BC!

http://taneemtaneem.blogspot.ca/2013/05/week-91-we-did-it-csshe-conference-in.html

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, organized by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, happens over the span of a week and 75 societies meet for their conferences and other society business.  Last year it was in Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario and next year it is back to Ontario at Brock University near Niagara.  I feel very fortunate for the opportunity to participate in this event so close to home.  

http://www.ideas-idees.ca/blog/one-last-look-back-congress-2013-my-top-7-highlights

This Washington Post news article addresses a study "The Heart of the Matter" and the importance of including the humanities and social sciences with STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics...

A liberal-arts education combined with STEM disciplines could improve innovation and inventiveness among the American workforce, according to the report, but there has been a diminished focus on, and funding for, humanities and social sciences. Parents are spending less time reading to children, history and humanities teachers aren’t as well trained as STEM teachers, and civic education has declined. In 2010, about 45 percent of high school students had a basic understanding of U.S. history, the report said.
 
Stephen Kidd, executive director of the National Humanities Alliance, said humanities and STEM education should not be mutually exclusive. For example, doctors are studying literature to help them better relate to patients and produce more coherent narratives for medical histories.
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/report-humanities-social-science-education-needed-along-with-stem/2013/06/18/76076df6-d83e-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html

Thanks so much Taneem for capturing our time together so well :)

Connections: Family and School

http://cyfs.unl.edu/resources/resources_publications.php
"The power of partnerships:  How to create meaningful connections with parents"



Here's some great work from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that speaks to the worthwhile establishment of family-school relationships.  

Every little girl needs a champion! "When Your Mother Says She's Fat"

http://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/8760102/When-your-mother-says-shes-fat#comments

When Your Mother Says She's Fat

If you have time, give this article a read through and the 156+ comments.  The focus is on the growing female, although similar things can be said of boys.  Each of us have the potential to encourage holistic health for the young, developing people we are in relationship with.   

I ask myself, "Do my words and actions influence myself and others to celebrate our bodies or hide our bodies?"  I'm still pondering that answer.    

This is an excerpt from Dear Mum, a collection of letters from Australian sporting stars, musicians, models, cooks and authors revealing what they would like to say to their mothers before it's too late, or would have said if only they'd had the chance.

All royalties go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. 
Published by Random House and available now.

MUMS AND DAUGHTERS:

"I don't want Violet to believe that her

beauty is her most important asset; 

that it will define her worth in the world...

We need to show her with our words and our actions that women are good enough just the way they are."

Good news for pet owners...

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/2013/06/07/pets-heart-disease.html

This is a good follow up to our recent class discussion on our pets and how they affect our health through active living and emotional well-being.  

Embodied learning starts young...a preschool in the forest

http://www.littlenestforestpreschool.com/index.html 

Here's Catherine Cummins' blog link:  http://www.littlenestforestpreschool.com/little-nest-blog.html

 
For the families that can afford it, a preschool in the forest of Saltspring Island is starting up.  Catherine Cummins is an Early Childhood Educator and Master Herbalist.  

Finding Meaning from Living Experience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPDH8yCnlk0

Andy Goldsworthy

As I am heading into the final weeks of my amazing 2 year Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction:  Health Education and Active Living, I am reminded of the richness of my classes.
I fell in love with Andy Goldsworthy's work when Celeste Snowber shared it early on in our Embodiment and Curriculum Inquiry course.  

Finding meaning from lived experience, phenomenology, is kicked up a notch to finding meaning from living experience.  In order to do this, I have to embody the experience.  To embody anything, I need to be in touch with my mind, my body, my senses and my spirit.  Another way to imagine this is described by mindfulness - a paying attention to the event, for example listening, and amping up my focus on it.  I find it very enjoyable to centre on being here, in my body, fully aware of what my senses are taking in and how my body, my breath, my mind is responding to everything.

I did this a few months ago, walking through Costco on a busy afternoon.  What a riot to focus on what I was seeing and hearing!  Instead of floating around in a numb and robotic state, searching for everything I wanted to buy, I paid attention to the people around me, the sounds, the energy.  It was very pleasant.  It certainly made my shopping trip much more enjoyable!      

Onward and upward!!!

Biophelia...in Victoria BC!

http://communications.uvic.ca/edge/

"University of Victoria's Centre for Early Childhood Research and Policy has undertaken research to see the outcomes of attending school outdoors.
The school follows the provincially-approved kindergarten curriculum, but students spend 2.5 hours a day outside, rain or shine.
Parents are drawn to the idea of children getting away from electronic devices and back to nature, where they play and learn about birds by seeing them live, not on a screen. Others say spending a large portion of the day outside creates more active children who will learn to care more about their environment.
Educators suggest benefits ranging from improved health and fitness to improved mental and emotional child development."

I am reminded when my children were in the primary grades and I would wisk them off to Garry Point in Steveston to sit at the estuary edge of the Fraser River and Pacific Ocean to walk in the breeze.  Sometimes we would bring our sketch books, or take our bikes and bounce along the dike.  As a parent, I valued this time for my children's "learning" over the classroom setting and was willing to explain why we were late to their teachers.  No regrets!  My children are imprinted with a love of the outdoors.

Principal fires security guards to hire art teachers � and transforms elementary school

Principal fires security guards to hire art teachers � and transforms elementary school

HEAL promotion!

http://www.educ.sfu.ca/gs/studentresearch/students.html#main_content_title 

Jacqueline Pizzuti-Ashby, our HEAL graduate assistant invited us to tell our stories of our school journey.  How fun to see Jacqueline's, Taneem's and my profiles up on the SFU website!  Our cohort just wrapped up 5 semesters and we will begin our 6th and final semester May 3rd.  Great explorations, learnings and sharings in our wonderful group of diverse people!

Jacqueline's story 
http://www.educ.sfu.ca/gs/studentresearch/students/jacqueline-pizzuti-ashby.html 

Taneem's story
http://www.educ.sfu.ca/gs/studentresearch/students/taneem-botelho.html

Sherry's story
http://www.educ.sfu.ca/gs/studentresearch/students/sherry-sinclair.html

Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly — NEJM

http://www.timeoutdance.com/alzheimers.html 

"A recent study at the Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University in Bronx showed that dancing reduced the risk of dementia, a brain disorder that includes Alzheimer's disease affecting 6 to 7 million Americans over the age of 60. The result of the research led by Dr. Joseph Verghese, assistant professor of neurology, was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in June 2003 (Vol. 348,pp 2508-16)."

Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly — NEJM

"The research involved 469 men and women aged 75 and older, and the time span of 21 years that began in 1980. All participants were screened at the start to ensure that they were free of dementia. The researchers studied lifestyle of each participant to see if he or she engaged in some of the 6 cognitive activities (reading, writing, doing crossword puzzles, playing musical instruments, taking part in group discussion, and playing board games) and 11 physical activities (dancing, numerous sports, housework, and baby-sitting).

They followed the activities of each for an average of 5.1 years. Among the participants were 130 who danced frequently (3 or 4 times a week), 83 who swam frequently, 26 who bicycled frequently, and 19 who played games frequently.

The results revealed that frequent cognitive activities reduced the risk of dementia. There was no big surprise there, for other earlier studies indicated that much. The most surprising result was that, of all the physical activities, dancing was the only activity that reduced the risk of dementia.

The frequency of activities was also an important factor. For example, those who danced 4 times a week showed 76 percent less incidence of dementia than those who did only once a week or not at all. Naturally, the more you dance the greater the benefit you reap--as far as dementia is concerned."

So...have fun with your dancing and  

keep your brain healthy!!

Escape to the Morning Sun

Escape to the Morning Sun

A day without agenda, flowing with whims and whispers

No order to my day

This is mental wellness for me, today

No decision making

No attending to simmering brush fires

No start and no end time

I hear echoes of my dad, rich in retirement:

"Every day is Saturday"     

This clandestine appointment

Peacefully overtaking my soul

‘Words 2 Life’ Program Helps Children In Foster Care Express Their Pain « CBS Los Angeles

Stories...the kids are telling their stories out loud.  This piece demonstrates the power of the story, the narrative and the narrator. 

‘Words 2 Life’ Program Helps Children In Foster Care Express Their Pain « CBS Los Angeles

Ben's Friday Dance Party

2 minute tutorial...HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL

http://luannerice.net/how-to-write-a-novel/

Patient-centred care is all about relationships

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/patient-centred-care-its-about-relationships/article586685/

What the Body Knows - Dance as Embodied Inquiry Dr. Celeste Snowber

http://vimeo.com/36748902

What the Body Knows - Dance as Embodied Inquiry

Dr. Celeste Snowber

October 20, 2011

University of Alberta

Celeste shares:

"Arts based research:  What are the ethics to bringing our bodies to inquiry.  Uncover the questions beneath the questions.  Humour, human, humility, hummus...

We are bodies, we don't have bodies.  This is about being deeply human on this planet.  It's work of the heart, just not of the mind.

Using the arts for what we don't know through body data, body knowledge about the body data, body wisdom.  It is hard to be awake.  Dance to be awake. Live in the in-between. Show up for your own life.  Be present.

Practice physical acts and times of solitudes, attending deeply and honoring all of it and turning blood to ink."

<< Thank you Celeste for a fabulous, fabulous semester Fall 2012  >>

Fresh, green and homegrown

http://docakilah.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/no-garden-here-are-66-things-you-can-can-grow-at-home-in-containers/

Looks like I don't have to wait for better weather.  

Tons of ideas and experimental plantings in this article....

The Christmas tree we harvested Christmas Eve from our front yard :)

That's my sweetie getting it into the stand.  

Jim and Danielle were stellar in sawing it down, trekking it into the house, 

getting the lights on and decorating it!!

The Lives of Others | By Kathy Ullyott | University of Toronto Magazine

The Lives of Others | By Kathy Ullyott | University of Toronto Magazine

Ian Williams practices a great concept to really get into character when he writing.  I see a connection with this and the wonderful work that Celeste taught us last semester...when your body is involved with your head and heart, authenticity flows.  Oh, by the way, I've recently caught two books in the media covering the notion of finding one word to focus on for the year (instead of heavy-laden lists we carry around).  I'm going with FLOW.  Thanks Stephen - your course from last fall continues to roll through my mind and body!  Flow, flow, flow.