Fostering Children’s Relationships with Nature (3 hours)
Description: In this workshop we will explore the importance of fostering children's relationships with nature by looking at how this relates to the development of the whole child and how it can better be incorporated into our daily practices. Participants will reflect on what they are currently doing in their classrooms to support this relationship as well as the contradictions and limitations. Together, we will look at how to better incorporate ideas/practices that support these relationships into a specific area of our classrooms and discuss how the ideas guiding the creation of this space might impact other parts of the environment and our pedagogical approach more broadly. Educators will expand their understanding of what it means to foster children’s relationship with nature and feel more confident supporting this relationship regardless of their physical setting. As part of this workshop we will make time to go out and explore the outside environment ourselves, collecting materials, creating, and reflecting on how our own relationships to nature impact our practices.
The Scream!!! Digging deeper into how we understand and respond to children’s screams (2 Hours)
Description: “Use your words” Young children’s screams are often misunderstood, dismissed, quited, or even disciplined. In this workshop we will explore our own feelings about children’s screams and how these feelings impact how we respond to screams in the early learning setting. We will discuss the different ways screams are used by children, why they are important for educators to listen closely too, and how we can better respond to children’s screams. Educators will learn to see screams as overflowing with meaning and requiring of more thoughtful engagement.
Taylor Hansen has worked with young people in a variety of capacities and contexts for over 17 years, from being an Early Childhood Educator in Halifax to co-creating pedagogy with public school educators in the Republic of Georgia. She has always prioritized being open to new experiences in the service of young people in order to broaden her perspective and improve her practice. She currently is the NS Research Coordinator for the BRIGHT Coaching program study at the IWK, runs an early learning program focused on child-directed creative projects inspired by the natural world, and teaches in the Department of Child and Youth Study at MSVU. At its core her personal practice is about building relationships and she believes that it is in the context of relationships that we are able to understand one another and better meet the needs of young people.
November 12, 2020
9:00 AM
Jack Blanchard Hall-- 7 Pond St, Charlottetown, PE C1A 2N9