Ginette Blacker – Writer's Self-Regulation Project

Podcast #4

Lisa Corbett Ginette Blacker, Jennifer Rogers, Lisa Corbett, Nicole Bentley January 10, 2019January 10, 2019podcast 0 Comment

A few of us got together yesterday to work on a presentation we are going to be giving to the staff at our school soon. We started our time together by recording a podcast! All of us are noticing such big differences in our work with students. We had no trouble at all talking about it.

A few people have told me they are listening to these podcasts. Thanks! We are uploading them to Soundcloud, and that service is blocked on our school server. If you are having trouble getting it to work, this is probably why. You’ll have to listen at home while you’re doing dishes, or on your phone while you run, or in your car on your way to places.

Transformation of My World

Ginette Blacker Ginette Blacker November 21, 2018 3 Comments

As we conclude another great day of collaboration, I felt it was important to share some of the thoughts, ideas and processes that are happening in my environment. Firstly, I want to share a little about my own personal transformation. Having a deeper understanding of stress behaviour gives me the ability to face situations with a different/better frame of mind. It gives me an opportunity to reframe the behaviour and look at a situation from the student’s lens. I have also become more aware of my own stresses and the tools I use to self-regulate.

In my classroom I have created a chart with emojis depicting a variety of emotions and states of mind. Here the students have an opportunity to place their name above the emoji that best fits their state of mind that day. This gives me an indication of how everyone is doing and I can make sure to check in with those who may not be having a great day.

I have also set up a little area in a quiet corner where students can go and have a minute by themselves. It is slightly covered but I can still see who is there. There is a basket inside with a stress balls, paper, pencils, cars, ponies, play dough. I am in the process of teaching the kids how and when to use this space.

I am hopeful that with some of these new strategies/tools in place I can begin to help some of my students relieve some of their stress while in my care.

Workshop with Lisa Cranston

Ginette Blacker Ginette Blacker October 25, 2018 0 Comment

As I sit here and re-read my notes from our workshop last week I can’t help but feel both overwhelmed and excited about the information that was shared with us. One of the comments I highlighted was “Connect before you Correct.” This quote struck me as a very important tool. There is no way I can begin to help a child out of their stress behaviours if a connection has not been made between us. There needs to be some sort of relationship and trust so that the child can feel safe to become calm and to share. I feel that I have this with many of my students but perhaps not quite as much with those who need me the most. I tend to remain a little guarded around them and I think it’s because I was not aware of the difference between stress behaviour and mis-behaviour. My eyes are definitely open now.

Some of the other items that I noted were:

it’s ok to stop what is happening in the class and take a break if everyone is off task
kids need to have some time in their day/week to play and to explore
you cannot do a good job at co-regulating if you are not regulated yourself

I feel that these points give me permission to slow down and take mu students best interest ahead of my curriculum. Learning cannot happen anyways if we are not in a good place.

What is a TLLP?

Lisa Corbett Charlotte Blair, Erinn Hansman, Ginette Blacker, Jennifer Rogers, Laurie Forth, Lisa Corbett, Nicole Bentley October 15, 2018October 31, 2018Psychology Today 0 Comment

Every year the Ontario Ministry of Education offers grant money to Ontario teachers to study topics that interest them. These are teacher-initiated, teacher-led projects, and could be about a variety of topics.

This year, a group of Sunset Park teachers, along with some administrators and a teacher from another school, will be participating in a TLLP project. We’ll be studying self regulation – learning what it means, what skills are involved with self regulation, and learning how we can help our students develop these skills so they can achieve their highest potential at school, and in life.

Not sure what self-regulation is? According to an October 2011 article in Psychology Today, “Research consistently shows that self-regulation skill is necessary for reliable emotional well being. Behaviorally, self-regulation is the ability to act in your long-term best interest, consistent with your deepest values. (Violation of one’s deepest values causes guilt, shame, and anxiety, which undermine well being.) Emotionally, self-regulation is the ability to calm yourself down when you’re upset and cheer yourself up when you’re down.” You can read the rest of the article here.

The teachers participating in this project will be blogging regularly about their learning. Hopefully if you follow along you will learn a few things too!