Episode 227 – This episode is all about social stress and young children. Allen Croxall, President of Tools For Life, shares how his team has adapted and developed their trauma-informed materials for the early years classroom. Drawing on 9 core concepts, the Tools For Life Early Years Resource, provides parents and educators with a tool that can meet young children where they are in their socio-emotional development.
Resources – Tools For Life Early Years Resource
The child starts to understand they have the power to leave the situation that could get them into some kind of difficulty with their friends and just to go over and sit down in this Calm Down Zone or this Cozy Corner and get relaxed and then come back into the collaboration that’s happening within the playroom itself.
Allan, welcome to the Preschool Podcast!
Thank you very much!
We’re delighted to have Allen back to the Preschool Podcast. He’s joined us before as a guest and he’s doing so many amazing things with the Tools For Life. He’s the president at Tools For Life, based here in Canada. And we’re delighted to have Allen Croxall on the show to tell us a bit more about what’s been going on at Tools For Life, how they’re servicing the early years sector and how they’ve adapted some of their social-emotional tools and training for the COVID-19 world we’re living in right now. Great to have you back, Allen.
Let’s start off learning a bit more about you. For listeners who maybe weren’t able to join us for the last podcast you were on, perhaps you can tell folks a bit about who you are and why you started Tools For Life.
Very good, certainly. I’m a former educator and university professor and have always been very interested in what is going on in the minds of the children in our classrooms. And I was able to bump into an organization – a nonprofit organization – many years ago in this area, in the Kitchener-Waterloo area [of Ontario, Canada], who had created a resource that could be used inside the classroom to work with social-emotional learning.
And the agency was very focused on child behavior and issues with child behavior. And several years later, their mandate changed. So, we were able to move ahead with Tools For Life and to bring it more into the education sector, which is what we’ve done.
Tools For Life is a phenomenal resource to allow teachers and children in the classroom environment to start to understand what their feelings are about and how they are dealing with their feelings, how they’re recognizing their own feelings and the feelings of others and, as a result of that, learn many, many steps so that they can, using the strategies that we offer and the specific tools that we offer, start building a sense of resilience and increase and improve the relationships they have with themselves, with children around them and even within their family.
So, Tools For Life is an interesting resource because it is based on research – very, very solid research – where we understand that when children get an understanding of what social-emotional learning is about, they actually can start to change their lives and start to survive and to thrive at the same time.
And as a result of the work we’ve been doing, our resources currently run from ages two-and-a-half – which is our early years resource – up to the end of grade eight. And we have products for the home and we have products for parenting workshops that many of our childcare centers are acquiring because they are offering services now to the parents above and beyond what happens with the children in their playrooms.
Very cool. And I understand that more recently you’ve been working more and more with early years programs, whereas, sort of going back to the earlier days of Tools For Life, it was more sort of school-age children. Tell us a little bit more about your approach there and I guess what you’ve learned and your experiences working with more childcare programs over the more recent years of Tools For Life.
Well, it’s a fascinating little story because it’s kind of a story of luck. Because one of the early-childhood education coordinators at Fanshawe College – her name is Janet Foster – contacted us in December 2018 and said she would like to purchase one of our kindergarten kits, the full day kindergarten kits that we had then. And she looked at that, contacted me a couple of days later and she said, “Could we meet on January 3rd,” which is what we did.
So, my colleague Victor and I went into the meeting. And Janet was very positive about what she saw in the resource but she thought it could be better written, I suppose, and created for children who were two-and-a-half years of age to four. And she and her colleague, Jan Blaxall, who is also a former professor of early-childhood education and an author of the ELECT [Early Learning for Every Child Today] document, decided that they would like to rewrite the program so that it would make more sense for childcare.
We were thrilled at that prospect. So, they have become our childcare specialists and they are trainers for us, working with childcare centers, etc. And it’s a very different approach. It’s totally based on the document, How Does Learning Happen? by the Ministry of Education in Ontario. And it emphasizes the four pillars of belonging, of engagement, of expression and of well-being.
And it’s really kind of an interesting approach because what happens is, it is a trauma-informed resource. And it allows the children to start to learn how to, through a series of creative activities, engage so that they can explore their feelings, the feelings of others around them and to learn some sense of control.
It’s a remarkable resource based on this pioneering research document. And it’s built around nine concepts that we offer for these children. And I’ll just list them if that’s okay with you, Ron?
The first one is, “building a culture of belonging”. The second one is, “communication and connection”. The third one is, “self-esteem”. The fourth one is, “all feelings are okay”. Concept five is, “identifying feelings of others”.
Concept six is, “body clues – how to understand yours and the body clues of others”. Concept seven is, “how to calm down”. Concept eight is, “friendly words for others”. And finally, “the tools”, which is based on our problem-solving traffic light that we have when we teach the children how to start to identify how they may resolve some of the issues that they’re experiencing.
So, with these children we have found in the playrooms, in particular, their social stress is very high in play-based programs. And you get a bunch of children coming together and many of them are wondering, “Well, who’s going to be included and who’s going to be excluded,” for instance. And they have concerns about that. They need to understand where they fit.
They need to understand who will lead. And, “If someone is leading, am I expected to follow or who do we follow?” Who will control the resources and the toys? Big issue. So, how do we understand how that happens within the playroom?
And finally, the conflicts create a high level of distress because there’s little ability to distance themselves. And because they’re put together with a group of other children, it really is learning how to cope and how to figure out how you’re going to resolve the issues.
So, that’s why we have these nine concepts that are emphasizing how this child can start to understand, in a more enhanced way, how to deal with their emotions.
I think all our early-childhood educators out there that are listening are probably very familiar with the social stress in the classroom, from how many biting incident reports they’ve filled out in their toddler classrooms.
And parents who get to get those reports. So, how do you go about taking these nine concepts and applying them in a classroom?
Well, it’s interesting that we have a bunch of resources that we build into what we call the Tools For Life Early Years Resource, which is a kit. And the kit comes with a manual, first of all, for the educator that is about, I don’t know, 275 pages long. And what we have done at the end of this manual is this How Does Learning Happen? document I spoke about, we have actually included that in the back of this manual so that the resource is there, the research is there to support the educators.
And inside this resource kit also come a whole series of different things. We offer a parachute, for instance, that can be used in the classroom; a series of puppets; there are posters; there’s a beach ball with the “feelings faces”; there are “feelings wheels”. There are a whole pile of resources that are included in the kit that the educators can use.
One of the things about Tools For Life that’s different than most others is that, first of all, we’re not prescriptive. So, you don’t have to start on [concept] one and then go to two and go to three, from a concept point, if you start where the need is.
And if you start where the need is, we ask the educator to review the manual that we have provided and look through the concept and see what’s being offered there. We kind of recommend it’s like a recipe – read it three or four times so that you understand what you’re going to be doing with it. And then take the content from that concept and then apply it to what you normally do in your day.
So, Tools For Life is not there to replace what’s happening. It’s there to augment what’s happening in the classroom. So, it’s there to help that educator realize there may be some other cool ways to do things. And that’s why the resource is built in the structure that it is. And it has all of the different resources.
But one of the things that we have found is the most powerful, from grade kindergarten right through to grade eight and now also in our early years resource, is the thing in early years that we call the Cozy Corner. And the Cozy Corner is a small area in the playroom where the children can go to get comfort, to sit with an educator, to sit with themselves and just look at the resources, maybe do some coloring or blow some bubbles or whatever.
But the Cozy Corner and the Calm Down Zones, as we call it in our school age materials, become a space for the child self identifies, “I’m stressed. I have to get up and walk over there because I need to get away from this for the time being, two or three minutes sort of thing,” so that the child starts to understand they have the power to leave the situation that could get them into some kind of difficulty with their friends and just to go over and sit down in this Calm Down Zone or this Cozy Corner and get relaxed and then come back into the collaboration that’s happening within the playroom itself.
We have found this to be very, very effective. And we find that the teachers… at first, some teachers are a little reticent in doing this. But once they start to see how this happens with the children, it becomes the major thing within the classroom environment that allows the children to calm down and to become more forthright within the organization that they’re involved with, maybe at the sand table or whatever.
So, we also invite the educators to have the children help them create this corner. Some of them have sheer curtains hanging around, special little fairy lights. They would have pillows, cushions, all kinds of things. So, it becomes a very cozy place for the child to go.
And sometimes they would go with a buddy and that’s allowed. And the educator, of course, keeping an eye on what’s going on in the situation. The children calm down and they come back into what it is they were working on. They all have work to do and they want to get back to it.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Probably could apply that for adults, as well, in our houses!
It’s true! In Mississippi, where we have some educators using Tools For Life in one of the schools down there, the principal set up part of the principal’s office as a Calm Down Zone for the educators. And it’s really interesting – they come in and they sit in this little corner and they just have a place where they can just kind of shake their heads and say, “So, what do I do now? And how do I get this moving again?”
And it’s really, really interesting because they just come in on their own when they feel they need the time and they can sit there and start to think about what their next steps can be. It’s marvelous. We all need that.
It’s interesting because it’s kind of like a structure that encourages you to calm down, think, reflect on your thoughts and what you’re feeling. So, it’s kind of like you’re applying mindfulness, which normally maybe you wouldn’t if you didn’t have that readily available to you. So, I kind of say it jokingly but it totally makes sense that that you would do that for an educator, as well. I mean, everybody’s got stress, especially in 2020.
Speaking of which, what have you had to do differently at Tools For Life to adapt to the global pandemic? I know you traditionally do quite a bit of your training in person, for example. So, what have you been seeing and doing differently this year?
Well, the virus has really forced us to rethink our methodology. We have a very active training model that we use that involves… it’s not sort of preaching at the front of people. It really is involved in doing things. So, it’s really training that’s received by activity.
And we have learned how to, with Zoom [online video conferencing], do that still. And so we’re very, very pleased that we can offer our training now online using Zoom technology. And it’s been fascinating because we have clients who are really excited about that because they thought that they wouldn’t be able to move ahead with Tools For Life because we couldn’t offer the live training, etc.
And that makes me feel better because the training gang that we have, I’m not interested in sending them into situations, as you could imagine, where they’re going to find themselves in difficulty. So, it’s a terrific opportunity for us.
So, we now do this: So, when are childcare centers purchase one of our resource kits through our web page, they can go to that web page and they can also purchase a bundle which will give them a two hour introductory training session. So, it’s really important for people to know how to use Tools For Life, otherwise it just sits on a shelf somewhere. And that’s not what we want – we want to ensure that the children are getting the benefit of this resource, as well as the educators because they find a lot of solace in it.
The manual has an introduction that is just really, really beautiful. And when you read the thing through… it’s about 50 pages long but it is just a wonderful introduction, not only to the resource but to what social-emotional learning is and how that can be further enhanced by what you’re doing in your classroom environment.
So, we now do our training online. We just finished training about 180 educators in the city of Hamilton. The city of Hamilton in Ontario has chosen Tools For Life as the social-emotional learning resource for its childcare centers. So, we’ve been training educators, started last September and then in January. And we were supposed to do it in April of this year but the virus got in the way. So, we completed that this past week.
So, the city of Hamilton is doing some really interesting things, supported by an organization there called ASCY – Affiliated Services for Children and Youth – who go into the centers and help with the professional learning with the educators who are in the classrooms and help them along using Tools For Life as the resource.
And in particular with the virus time that’s going in, this is just absolutely essential right now because these children are really traumatized. It’s just a frightening experience, I think, for a lot of the children. And so this provides an interesting opportunity. So, online has proven to be very, very successful for us and we’re very pleased.
That’s great. And before we wrap up, any words of encouragement to the early-childhood educators out there who might be feeling like they need a calming zone right now, amidst all of this?
Well, the way we look at it, these people are heroes. The childhood educators are phenomenal folks who have risen to a challenge in a very, very difficult time. And they have been doing this all along.
And these childcare workers really need to know that they just have to be there to show the children that the children are cared for. These children really need to see anchors in their lives. They may not have these at home because of the virus. There may be all kinds of stressors that are making the family dysfunctional or whatever.
So, the educators in our mind are really heroes. And we are so grateful that these folks will go in and do what they’re doing with children. And I think what we want to say to all of these people is that if you use Tools For Life, it’ll help make your day even better.
And if you’re working with the children that you’re working with, you know that you love them, that you care for them. You wouldn’t be in this profession if you didn’t. And if you are in this profession, you are there because you want to make a difference. And any resource that’s going to help you do that is something you need to be looking at. And so we wish our childhood educators the very best and we truly honor them for what they are contributing.
Yeah, some great words there. Thank you, Allen. We certainly do see them as heroes and that’s what they are indeed. Allen, this has been wonderful. I appreciate everything you’re doing. If our listeners would like to learn more about Tools For Life or get in touch with you or someone on the team there, where can they go to get more information?
The Web page is very simple: it’s www.ToolsForLifeResources.com. And at the bottom of the all the pages you will notice our Facebook and our Twitter where you can join communities of learners who are doing all kinds of fun things. And the web page has a whole blog section which has terrific ideas and opportunities from professional storytellers and lots of great stuff to look at to help get you motivated. So, please visit the web page.
Awesome, thanks for sharing that, Allen. And I can say from knowing Allen for a long time and the work they do at Tools For Life, their concepts and what they offer to childcare and school programs is the real deal. And I love how it’s proactive in addressing a lot of the challenges we might face in the classroom. So, thanks again for joining us, Allen, on the Preschool Podcast. Always great having you as a guest!
Thank you very much, Ron, we appreciate that. Have a great day!
"Kama ilivyoelezwa katika sehemu ya 227, ""Mtazamo wa watoto ni muhimu kwa ajili ya watoto wadogo.""" Allen Croxall, Rais wa Vifaa vya Maisha, anashiriki jinsi timu yake imebadilisha na kuendeleza vifaa vyao vya kuarifiwa kwa majeraha kwa darasa la miaka ya mapema. Kwa kuzingatia dhana za msingi tisa, Rasilimali ya Vifaa vya Maisha ya Miaka ya Mapema hutoa wazazi na walimu na chombo ambacho kinaweza kukutana na watoto wadogo wakati wa maendeleo yao ya kijamii na kihemko. """Mwana huanza kuelewa kuwa ana nguvu ya kuondoka katika hali ambayo inaweza kuwafanya wawe na shida na marafiki zao na kwenda tu na kukaa chini katika eneo hili la utulivu au kona hii ya kupendeza na kupumzika na kisha kurudi kwenye ushirikiano ambao unatokea ndani ya chumba cha kucheza." Allan, karibu na Podcast ya Shule ya Chini! Asanteni sana! Tunafurahi kuwa na Allen nyuma ya Preschool Podcast. Yeye amejiunga nasi kabla kama mgeni na yeye ni kufanya mambo mengi ya ajabu na Vifaa kwa ajili ya Maisha. Yeye ni rais wa Vifaa kwa ajili ya Maisha, makao yake makuu hapa nchini Canada. "Tunafurahi kuwa na Allen Croxall kwenye kipindi hiki kutuambia zaidi juu ya kile ambacho kimekuwa kikiendelea katika ""Vifaa vya Maisha,"" jinsi wanavyohudumia sekta ya miaka ya mapema na jinsi wamebadilisha baadhi ya zana zao za kijamii na kihemko na mafunzo kwa ulimwengu wa COVID-19 tunaoishi sasa." Ni vizuri kuwa na wewe nyuma, Allen. Hebu kuanza kujifunza kidogo zaidi kuhusu wewe. Kwa wasikilizaji ambao labda hawakuweza kujiunga nasi kwa podcast yako ya mwisho, labda unaweza kuwaambia watu kidogo juu ya wewe ni nani na kwa nini ulianzisha Vifaa vya Maisha. Ni vizuri sana, bila shaka. Mimi ni mwalimu wa zamani na profesa wa chuo kikuu na daima nimekuwa na nia sana katika nini kinaendelea katika akili za watoto katika madarasa yetu. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Mimi ni mshiriki wa shirika lisilo la faida, ambalo limekuwa likifanya kazi kwa miaka mingi katika eneo hili la Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, ambalo limeunda rasilimali ambayo inaweza kutumika ndani ya darasa kufanya kazi na kujifunza kijamii-hisia.""" Shirika hilo limekuwa likijishughulisha sana na tabia za watoto. Miaka kadhaa baadaye, mamlaka yao ilibadilika. Kwa hivyo, tuliweza kusonga mbele na Vifaa vya Maisha na kuileta zaidi katika sekta ya elimu, ambayo ndio tumefanya. Vifaa vya Maisha ni rasilimali ya ajabu ya kuruhusu walimu na watoto katika mazingira ya darasa kuanza kuelewa hisia zao ni kuhusu na jinsi wanavyoshughulika na hisia zao, jinsi wanavyofahamu hisia zao na hisia za wengine, na kama matokeo ya hilo, kujifunza hatua nyingi, nyingi ili waweze, kwa kutumia mikakati tunayowapa na zana maalum tunazowapa, kuanza kujenga hisia ya upinzani na kuongeza na kuboresha mahusiano wanayo na wao wenyewe, na watoto karibu nao na hata ndani ya familia. "Kutoka kwa utafiti wa ""Vifaa vya Maisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha"" na ""Utafiti wa Kuimarisha.""" Na kama matokeo ya kazi tumekuwa kufanya, rasilimali zetu sasa kukimbia kutoka umri wa miaka miwili na nusu <unk> ambayo ni rasilimali yetu ya miaka ya mapema <unk> hadi mwisho wa darasa la nane. Tuna bidhaa za nyumbani na za madarasa ya uzazi ambayo vituo vyetu vingi vya utunzaji wa watoto vinapata kwa sababu sasa wanatoa huduma kwa wazazi zaidi ya kile kinachotokea kwa watoto katika vyumba vyao vya kucheza. Ni baridi sana. Na ninaelewa kwamba hivi karibuni umekuwa ukifanya kazi zaidi na zaidi na programu za miaka ya mapema, wakati, aina ya kurudi kwa siku za mapema za Vifaa vya Maisha, ilikuwa zaidi ya aina ya watoto wa umri wa shule. Tuambie zaidi kuhusu uzoefu wako na uzoefu wako wa kufanya kazi na programu za utunzaji wa watoto katika miaka ya hivi karibuni ya Vifaa vya Maisha. Naam, ni hadithi ndogo ya kuvutia kwa sababu ni aina ya hadithi ya bahati. "Mmoja wa wasimamizi wa elimu ya mapema ya watoto katika Chuo cha Fanshawe, Janet Foster, aliwasiliana nasi mnamo Desemba 2018 na kusema angependa kununua moja ya seti zetu za chekechea, seti za chekechea za siku nzima ambazo tulikuwa nazo wakati huo. """ "Alichukua hatua ya kuwasiliana na mimi na kuniuliza, ""Je, tunaweza kukutana Januari 3?""" Kwa hiyo, mimi na mwenzangu Victor tukaenda kwenye mkutano huo. Janet alikuwa na maoni mazuri juu ya kile alichokiona katika rasilimali hiyo, lakini alifikiri inaweza kuandikwa vizuri zaidi, nadhani, na kuundwa kwa watoto ambao walikuwa na umri wa miaka miwili na nusu hadi nne. "Mwanamke huyo na mwenzake, Jan Blaxall, ambaye pia ni profesa wa zamani wa elimu ya mapema ya watoto na mwandishi wa hati ya ELECT, waliamua kwamba wangependa kuandika upya programu hiyo ili iwe na maana zaidi kwa utunzaji wa watoto.""" Tulifurahi sana kwa sababu ya tumaini hilo. Kwa hiyo, wamekuwa wataalamu wetu wa utunzaji wa watoto na wao ni waalimu wetu, wakifanya kazi na vituo vya utunzaji wa watoto, nk. Na ni mbinu tofauti sana. Ni kabisa kulingana na hati, Jinsi gani Inafanyika Kujifunza? Wizara ya Elimu ya Ontario "Hii inahusu nguzo nne za ""kujiunga,"" ""kujihusisha,"" ""kujitokeza,"" na ""kuendelea vizuri.""" Na ni kweli aina ya mbinu ya kuvutia kwa sababu nini hutokea ni, ni rasilimali trauma-kuarifiwa. Hii inawawezesha watoto kujifunza jinsi ya kufanya kazi kwa njia ya uumbaji ili waweze kuchunguza hisia zao, hisia za wengine karibu nao na kujifunza hisia fulani ya udhibiti. Ni rasilimali ya ajabu kulingana na hati hii ya utafiti wa upainia. Na ni kujengwa kuzunguka dhana tisa kwamba sisi kutoa kwa ajili ya watoto hawa. Na mimi itabidi tu orodha yao kama kwamba ni sawa na wewe, Ron? Ya kwanza ni, "kujenga utamaduni wa kuwa na uhusiano". Ya pili ni, "mawasiliano na uhusiano". Ya tatu ni, "kujithamini". Ya nne ni, "Hisi zote ni sawa". Dhana ya tano ni, "kufahamisha hisia za wengine". Dhana ya sita ni, "vidokezo vya mwili" jinsi ya kuelewa vidokezo vyako na vya mwili wa wengine. Dhana ya saba ni, "jinsi ya kutulia". Dhana ya nane ni, "maneno ya kirafiki kwa wengine". "Hata hivyo, ""mfano"" wa kuunda mfumo wa kuunda na kuunda mfumo wa kuunda na kuunda ni kwamba tunahitaji kuwafundisha watoto jinsi ya kuunda na kuunda mfumo wa kuunda na kuunda mfumo wa kuunda na kuunda mfumo wa kuunda." Kwa hivyo, kwa watoto hawa tumegundua katika vyumba vya kucheza, haswa, mkazo wao wa kijamii ni wa juu sana katika programu za mchezo. Na unapata kundi la watoto wakikusanyika pamoja na wengi wao wanajiuliza, "Naam, ni nani atakayejumuishwa na ni nani atakayeondolewa, kwa mfano". Na wana wasiwasi kuhusu hilo. Wanahitaji kuelewa mahali wanapopaswa kuwa. Wanahitaji kuelewa ni nani atakayewasimamisha. Na, <unk>Ikiwa mtu anaongoza, ni mimi inatarajiwa kufuata au ambaye sisi kufuata? <unk> Nani kudhibiti rasilimali na toys? Suala kubwa. Kwa hiyo, tunaelewaje jinsi hilo linavyotokea ndani ya chumba cha kucheza? Na hatimaye, migogoro huunda kiwango cha juu cha shida kwa sababu kuna uwezo mdogo wa kujitenga. Na kwa sababu wao ni kuweka pamoja na kundi la watoto wengine, ni kweli ni kujifunza jinsi ya kukabiliana na jinsi ya kufikiri jinsi wewe ni kwenda kutatua masuala. Kwa hiyo, ndiyo sababu tuna dhana hizi tisa ambazo zinasisitiza jinsi mtoto huyu anaweza kuanza kuelewa, kwa njia iliyoimarishwa zaidi, jinsi ya kushughulika na hisia zake. Nadhani walimu wetu wote wa utotoni ambao wanasikiliza labda wanafahamu sana mkazo wa kijamii darasani, kutoka kwa ripoti nyingi za matukio ya kuuma ambazo wamejaza katika madarasa yao ya watoto wachanga. Na wazazi ambao wanapata kupata ripoti hizo. Kwa hiyo, ni kwa nini tunapaswa kuchukua kanuni hizi tisa na kuziweka katika darasa? "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, kuna vifaa vya kuandaa vifaa vya ""Vifaa vya Maisha ya Miaka ya Mapema"" ambayo ni vifaa vya msingi." Kit ina kitabu cha mafunzo kwa ajili ya walimu, ambacho kina kurasa 275 hivi. Kwa hivyo, katika sehemu ya mwisho ya kitabu hiki, tutajifunza jinsi ya kujifunza. "Kama tulivyoona katika makala ya awali, ""Mafunzo ya Utafiti"" ni sehemu ya mwongozo huu, ambayo inatoa rasilimali za msingi kwa ajili ya wanafunzi na wataalamu." Na ndani ya kit hii rasilimali pia kuja mfululizo mzima wa mambo tofauti. Tunatoa parachuti, kwa mfano, ambayo inaweza kutumika katika darasa; mfululizo wa wanasesere; kuna mabango; kuna mpira wa pwani na "nyuso za hisia"; kuna "magurudumu ya hisia". Kuna rasilimali nyingi ambazo zimejumuishwa katika kit ambacho walimu wanaweza kutumia. Moja ya mambo kuhusu Vifaa kwa ajili ya Maisha kwamba ni tofauti na wengine wengi ni kwamba, kwanza ya yote, sisi si prescriptive. Kwa hiyo, huna kuanza juu ya [wazo] moja na kisha kwenda mbili na kwenda tatu, kutoka hatua ya dhana, kama wewe kuanza ambapo haja ni. Na kama wewe kuanza ambapo haja ni, sisi kuuliza mwalimu kuchunguza mwongozo kwamba sisi kutoa na kuangalia kupitia dhana na kuona nini ni zinazotolewa huko. Sisi aina ya kupendekeza ni kama kichocheo - kusoma mara tatu au nne ili kuelewa nini wewe ni kwenda kuwa na kufanya na hilo. Kuchukua maudhui kutoka kwa wazo hilo na kisha kuitumia kwa kile unachofanya kawaida. Kwa hiyo, Vifaa vya Maisha si pale kuchukua nafasi ya kile kinachotokea. Ni huko ili kuongeza kile kinachotokea darasani. Kwa hiyo, ni huko kusaidia kwamba mwalimu kutambua kunaweza kuwa baadhi ya njia nyingine baridi ya kufanya mambo. Na hiyo ndiyo sababu rasilimali ni kujengwa katika muundo kwamba ni. Na ina rasilimali zote tofauti. "Kama tulivyoona hapo juu, moja ya mambo ambayo ni muhimu zaidi, kutoka darasa la kwanza hadi darasa la nane, na sasa pia katika rasilimali yetu ya miaka ya mapema, ni kitu katika miaka ya mapema ambayo tunaita ""Kona ya Kifahari.""" Sehemu ya kupumzika ni sehemu ndogo katika chumba cha kucheza ambapo watoto wanaweza kwenda kupata faraja, kukaa na mwalimu, kukaa na wao wenyewe na tu kuangalia rasilimali, labda kufanya rangi au kupiga Bubbles au chochote. Lakini kona ya starehe na maeneo ya utulivu, kama tunavyoiita katika vifaa vyetu vya umri wa shule, inakuwa nafasi ya mtoto kujitambulisha, <unk>Nimesisitiza<unk>. "Ninahitaji kuamka na kutembea huko kwa sababu ninahitaji kuondoka kutoka kwa hili kwa wakati huu, dakika mbili au tatu, ili mtoto aanze kuelewa wana nguvu ya kuondoka hali ambayo inaweza kuwafanya wawe na shida na marafiki wao na kwenda tu na kukaa chini katika ""Kituo cha Kutulia"" au ""Kona ya Kutulia"" na kupumzika na kisha kurudi kwenye ushirikiano ambao unafanyika ndani ya chumba cha kucheza." Tumegundua hii kuwa yenye ufanisi sana. Na tunaona kwamba walimu... mwanzoni, walimu fulani ni wachache sana katika kufanya hivyo. Lakini mara tu wanapoanza kuona jinsi hii inavyotokea kwa watoto, inakuwa jambo kuu ndani ya mazingira ya darasa ambayo inaruhusu watoto kutulia na kuwa wazi zaidi ndani ya shirika ambalo wanahusika nalo, labda kwenye meza ya mchanga au chochote. Kwa hiyo, tunawaalika pia walimu kuwa na watoto kuwasaidia kuunda kona hii. Baadhi yao wana mapazia ya wazi yanayozunguka, taa ndogo za kipekee za hadithi. Walikuwa na mto, mto, na vitu vingine vya aina mbalimbali. Kwa hiyo, inakuwa mahali pazuri sana kwa mtoto kwenda. Na wakati mwingine wangeenda na rafiki na hiyo inaruhusiwa. Na mwalimu, bila shaka, kuweka jicho juu ya nini kinaendelea katika hali hiyo. Watoto wanakuwa na utulivu na kurudi kwenye kazi yao. Wote wana kazi ya kufanya na wanataka kurudi nayo. Ndiyo, hiyo ina maana sana. Yaelekea hilo laweza kutumiwa kwa watu wazima, pia, katika nyumba zetu! Ni kweli! Katika shule moja huko Mississippi, walimu wa shule ya msingi walianzisha kituo cha kuwalinda walimu. Na ni kweli ya kuvutia <unk> wao kuja ndani na wao kukaa katika kona hii kidogo na wao tu kuwa na mahali ambapo wanaweza tu aina ya kutikisa vichwa vyao na kusema, <unk>Kwa hiyo, nini mimi kufanya sasa? Na jinsi gani ninaweza kupata hii kusonga tena? Na ni kweli, kweli ya kuvutia kwa sababu wao tu kuja katika yao wenyewe wakati wao kuhisi wanahitaji muda na wanaweza kukaa huko na kuanza kufikiri kuhusu nini hatua zao zifuatazo inaweza kuwa. Ni ya ajabu sana. Sote tunahitaji jambo hilo. Ni ya kuvutia kwa sababu ni aina ya kama muundo kwamba inakutia moyo kutulia, kufikiri, kutafakari juu ya mawazo yako na nini wewe ni hisia. Kwa hiyo, ni aina ya kama wewe ni kutumia mindfulness, ambayo kawaida labda wewe bila kama huna kwamba inapatikana kwa urahisi kwa wewe. Kwa hivyo, mimi nasema kwa utani, lakini ni jambo la busara kabisa kwamba utafanya hivyo kwa mwalimu pia. Kila mtu ana wasiwasi, haswa katika 2020. Kwa kuongea na hii, ni nini ambacho unahitaji kufanya tofauti katika Vifaa vya Maisha ili kukabiliana na janga la ulimwengu? Kwa mfano, unajua kwamba kwa kawaida unafanya mazoezi mengi ya kibinafsi. Kwa hivyo, umekuwa ukiona na kufanya nini tofauti mwaka huu? Virusi vimewalazimisha kufikiria upya mbinu zetu. Tuna mfano wa mafunzo ya kazi sana ambayo tunatumia ambayo inahusisha... si aina ya kuhubiri mbele ya watu. Kwa kweli inahusishwa na kufanya mambo. Kwa hiyo, ni mafunzo kweli kwamba ni kupokea na shughuli. Kwa hivyo, kwa njia ya Zoom, tunaweza kufanya mikutano ya video ya mtandaoni kwa urahisi. Na hivyo sisi ni sana, sana radhi kwamba tunaweza kutoa mafunzo yetu sasa online kutumia teknolojia ya Zoom. Na imekuwa ya kuvutia kwa sababu tuna wateja ambao ni kweli msisimko kuhusu kwamba kwa sababu walidhani kwamba wao si kuwa na uwezo wa kusonga mbele na Tools For Life kwa sababu hatukuweza kutoa mafunzo ya kuishi, nk. Na hiyo inanifanya nijisikie vizuri kwa sababu kundi la mafunzo ambalo tuna, sina nia ya kuwapeleka katika hali, kama unavyoweza kufikiria, ambapo watajikuta katika shida. Kwa hiyo, ni fursa kubwa sana kwetu. Kwa hivyo, kwa sababu ya kuwa na huduma ya huduma ya watoto, tunahitaji kuandaa vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa vya vifaa. Kwa hiyo, ni muhimu sana kwa watu kujua jinsi ya kutumia Vifaa vya Maisha, vinginevyo inakaa tu kwenye rafu mahali fulani. Na hiyo si kile tunachotaka - tunataka kuhakikisha kwamba watoto wanapata faida ya rasilimali hii, pamoja na walimu kwa sababu wanapata faraja nyingi ndani yake. Mwongozo huo una utangulizi ambao ni mzuri sana. "Kama wewe kusoma kitu kupitia... ni kuhusu 50 kurasa kwa muda mrefu lakini ni tu utangulizi wa ajabu, si tu kwa rasilimali lakini kwa nini kujifunza kijamii-hisia ni na jinsi ambayo inaweza kuwa zaidi kuimarishwa na nini wewe ni kufanya katika mazingira ya darasa yako. """ Kwa hiyo, sasa tunafanya mafunzo yetu mtandaoni. Kwa sasa, tuna wanafunzi 180 katika shule za msingi za Hamilton. Jiji la Hamilton huko Ontario limechagua Vifaa vya Maisha kama rasilimali ya kujifunza kijamii-hisia kwa vituo vyake vya utunzaji wa watoto. Kwa hiyo, tumekuwa tukifundisha walimu, tukaanza Septemba iliyopita na kisha Januari. Tulipaswa kufanya hivyo mwezi Aprili mwaka huu lakini virusi viliingilia kati. Kwa hiyo, tulikamilisha hilo wiki iliyopita. "Jiji la Hamilton linafanya kazi nzuri sana, ikiungwa mkono na shirika linaloitwa ASCY, ""Huduma za Ushirika kwa Watoto na Vijana,"" ambao huenda kwenye vituo na kusaidia na kujifunza kitaaluma na walimu ambao wako katika madarasa na kuwasaidia pamoja na kutumia Vifaa vya Maisha kama rasilimali." Na hasa na wakati wa virusi unaoingia, hii ni muhimu sana sasa hivi kwa sababu watoto hawa wameumia sana. Ni uzoefu wa kuogopesha tu, nadhani, kwa watoto wengi. Na hivyo hii hutoa fursa ya kuvutia. Hivyo, mtandaoni imethibitika kuwa na mafanikio sana, sana kwa ajili yetu na sisi ni furaha sana. Hiyo ni kubwa. Kabla ya kumaliza, ni maneno gani ya kutia moyo kwa walimu wa mapema wa utotoni ambao wanaweza kuhisi kama wanahitaji eneo la utulivu wakati huu, katikati ya haya yote? Kwa maoni yetu, watu hawa ni mashujaa. Walimu wa watoto ni watu wa ajabu ambao wamekabiliana na changamoto katika wakati mgumu sana. Na wamekuwa wakifanya hivyo wakati wote. Kwa hivyo, kwa kweli, wafanyikazi wa utunzaji wa watoto wanaohusika na huduma ya watoto wanajua kuwa ni muhimu kuwa na uwezo wa kuwaonyesha watoto wao kuwa wanajali. Watoto hawa wanahitaji kuona vitu vinavyoweza kuwasaidia katika maisha yao. Huenda wakawa hawana vitu hivyo nyumbani kwa sababu ya virusi. Kuna aina mbalimbali za matatizo ambayo yanaweza kusababisha familia yako kuwa na matatizo. Kwa hiyo, walimu katika akili zetu ni mashujaa kweli. Na tunashukuru sana kwamba watu hawa wataingia na kufanya kile wanachofanya na watoto. Na nadhani kile tunachotaka kuwaambia watu hawa wote ni kwamba ikiwa utatumia Vifaa vya Maisha, itakusaidia kufanya siku yako iwe bora zaidi. Na kama wewe ni kufanya kazi na watoto kwamba wewe ni kufanya kazi na, unajua kwamba wewe upendo yao, kwamba wewe huduma kwa ajili yao. Wewe si kuwa katika taaluma hii kama wewe si. Kama unafanya kazi hii, unafanya hivyo kwa sababu unataka kufanya tofauti. Na rasilimali yoyote ambayo itakusaidia kufanya hivyo ni kitu unahitaji kuwa kuangalia. Tunawaombea wote wanaopenda elimu ya watoto mema na tunawaheshimu kwa kile wanachochangia. Ndiyo, baadhi ya maneno mazuri huko. Asanteni, Allen. Kwa hakika tunawaona kama mashujaa na ndivyo walivyo. Allen, hii imekuwa ya ajabu. Ninathamini kila kitu unachofanya. Ikiwa wasikilizaji wetu wangependa kujifunza zaidi juu ya Vifaa vya Maisha au kuwasiliana na wewe au mtu yeyote kwenye timu huko, wanaweza kwenda wapi kupata habari zaidi? Ukurasa wa mtandao ni rahisi sana: ni www.ToolsForLifeResources.com. Na chini ya kurasa zote utaona Facebook na Twitter yetu ambapo unaweza kujiunga na jamii za wanafunzi ambao wanafanya kila aina ya mambo ya kufurahisha. Kwa upande mwingine, tovuti hii ina sehemu ya blogi ambayo ina mawazo mazuri na fursa kutoka kwa wasimuliaji wa hadithi wa kitaalamu na vitu vingi vya kushangaza vya kuangalia ili kukusaidia kuhamasisha. Kwa hiyo, tafadhali tembelea ukurasa wa wavuti. Awesome, shukrani kwa kushiriki kwamba, Allen. "Ninaweza kusema kwa kujua Allen kwa muda mrefu na kazi wanayofanya katika ""Vifaa vya Maisha,"" dhana zao na kile wanachotoa kwa utunzaji wa watoto na programu za shule ni mpango halisi." Na napenda jinsi ni proactive katika kushughulikia mengi ya changamoto tunaweza kukabiliana katika darasa. Asante tena kwa kushiriki na sisi katika programu ya Pre-School. Sikuzote ni vizuri kuwa na wewe kama mgeni! Asante sana, Ron, tunathamini hilo. Kuwa na siku nzuri!