Stephen Hurley, voicEd Radio, and Michelle Schurter, Millennial Strategist, are hoping to change the way we talk about Early Years education. By taking an upstream—downstream approach, Merrily puts early years educators in conversation with thought leaders in the field (upstream), and encourages those outside the early years to think about how the learning in these earliest stages of life is critical for all citizens today and tomorrow (downstream).
Join Stephen and Michelle as they paddle merrily upstream and down with delightful guests diving deep into early years conversations.
As Early Learning professionals, we 'live out loud' the 4 foundations found in How Does Learning Happen?: Belonging, Well-being, Expression and Engagement.
Who better to help us lean in to the notion of Well-Being for 'ourselves', than Darci Lang, who is a motivational speaker on the topic of Focusing on the 90%.
Darci Lang is an engaging, entertaining, and powerful speaker whose message about ‘Focusing on the 90%’ is clear, insightful and, most of all, important. For 29 years, Darci has been sharing tough love with empathy, creating perspective shifts and having an impact on hundreds of businesses in diverse industries.
She helps to transform cultures, employee engagement and in turn, boosts morale and profitability and her connection to her audience is astounding. In the last year, Darci has been visiting many child care and early learning communities across Ontario - sharing her message of Focusing on the 90% and integrating this connection with our four foundations of well-being, belonging, expression and engagement.
Learn more about Darci and her work at https://darcilang.com/
3 Jun 2023
Unicorn Crossing with Justin Smith and Justin Langlois
in this episode we explore early years from the perspective of two dads who both happened to share the same first name.
Justin Langlois is a dad, stepdad, a bilingual Registered Early Childhood Educator, and a certified Self Reg Champion through The Mehrit Centre. An RECE for nearly 10 years, Justin can be found wearing a super-hero cape while engaging with children at the EarlyON Centre in Tilbury, Ontario.
Justin Smith is the father of 2 boys aged 2 and 7. Justin’s career journey started off in the corporate world in sales and strategy planning positions. He moved to category planning positions creating planograms and advising Walmart on assortment and pricing decisions. Justin has worked for Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, McCain Foods and Maple Leaf Foods.
Justin is also a Certified Personal Trainer, from the American Council on Exercise (ACE). He was very close to opening a fitness franchise called F45 in early 2020 and was days away from signing a 10 year lease when the pandemic hit and most industries were hit hard, especially gyms!
An interesting conversation on so many levels. Enjoy this unique conversation and don't forget to watch (and listen) for the Unicorns crossing!
3 Jun 2023
Tinkering, trades and the early years with Tim Carson and Shaun Moore
How often do you get a chance to hear two people from the trades talk about the importance of the early years. Have a listen as Tim Carson and Shaun Moore celebrate the importance of 'loose parts' play spaces in the early years as a way of unleashing your inner tradesperson!
Shaun Moore is a dad, a Registered Early Childhood Educator, a Child and Youth care graduate, and is currently working toward his Forest Practitioner certificate. Currently Shaun works at an Early On Centre in southwestern Ontario.
Shaun worked in residential construction before entering the ECE field as a single parent. The challenges and triumphs working through behaviours and learning experiences with his own children set the stage as inspiration to this amazing career change.
Tim Carson is a Red Seal Endorsed Plumber, Gas Class A gasfitter, and as a Masters degree in Leadership.
Tim grew up in a Trades Family (both his Dad and Mom were in the skilled trades). Tim says he managed to avoid getting into trades for his early twenties but then says he saw the light. He started his apprenticeship at 29, worked in the commercial/institutional plumbing/heating world before having the privilege of transitioning into education at BCIT where he taught for 13 years. Tim now works with BCcampus managing projects that aim at providing resources for apprentices and trades faculty at little to no cost (Open Educational Resources).
3 Jun 2023
Chasing superhero capes with Justin Langlois and Shaun Moore
In this episode, we head upstream with Justin Langlois, RECE, and Shaun Moore, RECE, two male early childhood educators (part of the 1-5% of male ECEs in Canada).
Observe, wait and listen (OWL) as Justin and Shaun chat about a career centered on making dreams come true and chasing Superhero capes!
Justin Langlois is a dad, stepdad, a bilingual Registered Early Childhood Educator, and a certified Self Reg Champion through The Mehrit Centre. An RECE for nearly 10 years, Justin can be found wearing a super-hero cape while engaging with children at the EarlyON Centre in Tilbury, Ontario.
Shaun Moore is a dad, a Registered Early Childhood Educator, a Child and Youth care graduate, and is currently working toward his Forest Practitioner certificate. Currently Shaun works at an Early On Centre in southwestern Ontario.
Shaun worked in residential construction before entering the ECE field as a single parent. The challenges and triumphs working through behaviours and learning experiences with his own children set the stage as inspiration to this amazing career change.
3 Jun 2023
HDLH? as a Teacher Tool with Vicki Davis and Jessica Holder
In this episode, we are joined by Jessica Holder, RECE, and Vicki Davis, RECE, to take us further into How Does Learning Happen?, and its use as a powerful tool for early childhood educators.
Not only do the HDLH? foundations (well-being, expression, belonging and engagement) guide and fuel the way we create conditions for early learning, but they also offer professional educators some powerful tools for thinking about what happens in those environments.
Vicki Davis is a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE) She started her ECE journey as an apprentice with The Family Centre, in Wallaceburg, after her big move from London in 2008. Vicki is currently balancing 3 jobs: working as an Early Childhood Educator, raising a family, and managing a kitchen reno!
Jessica Holder, is also an RECE, holds a BSc, and is a Forest School Practitioner. She is the Pedagogical Leader at Discovery Child Care Centre and co-founder of Discovery Professional Learning (https://www.discoveryprofessionallearning.com/) where she works collaboratively with educators all across Canada to reflect on their pedagogical choices and to grow the programs they co-construct with children and families.
The values that drive her work are co-construction, intersectionality, democracy, emergence, and curiosity. She is passionate about supporting educators' well-being and believes in creating contexts for educators to sense their value to children, society, and our future.
3 Jun 2023
The ? behind How Does Learning Happen? with Dani Williams-Long and Jim Grieve
What do you get when you connect a leader responsible for introducing major shifts in thinking about early childhood education to the province of Ontario, with an insightful, high-energy RECE who works everyday to bring those shifts to life in an early childhood classroom? You get magic!
Dani Williams-Long is a Registered Early Childhood Educator and a Toddler Educator at the Ingersoll Children’s Center, Oxford Community Child Care. Dani graduated from Georgian College with her ECE in 2007 with Honours, and she is currently attending Conestoga College to become a Resource Consultant.
For the past 15 years, Dani has been working with families and children from infancy to school age across many capacities; day camps, extended day school age care, licensed home childcare and center-based childcare. Within these roles, Dani has supported individual children’s developmental needs on a one-to-one capacity alongside other professionals and families within the childcare space. She has run a successful play based licenced home childcare, worked to facilitate group-based care and high-quality programming, collaborated with families to increase connections and engagement and most recently has begun to work in a leadership capacity to mentor and inspire colleagues.
Jim Grieve served as Assistant Deputy Minister of Early Years for the Ontario Ministry of Education from 2009-2015. He was responsible for the introduction of full-day kindergarten, as well as other child care and family support programs. Following an exemplary career as a teacher and in educational leadership, Jim served as Director of Education for Ottawa-Carleton before heading up Peel District School Board, Canada's second largest school board. Jim is currently the CEO of the Retired Teachers of Ontario, an organization of 82,000 retirees from the educator community including staff from every role in the early years, K-12 and post-secondary systems.
3 Jun 2023
Downstream on Loose Parts with Ariella Lukach
What on earth does an Innovation Park have to do with Early Learning environments? Back up a minute! What is an Innovation Park? And how does the concept and practice of "Loose Parts" connect both innovation parks and early learning environments?
Ariella Lukach is a leader in the growth and development of ecosystems, communities, organizations, and individuals. She is passionate about building collaborative communities with a shared vision and targets, whether between people in an organization or between multiple organizations. Ariella's work prioritizes people, impact, feasibility, actionability, and sustainability.
Ariella designs strategies to build diverse, inclusive, and sustainable plans. She fleshes out concepts and transforms them into feasible plans using evidence-based strategies, tactics, and best practices. Passionate about creating meaningful impact, she is guided by moving beyond activities and outputs to focus on impacts and results. With a firm belief in the power of collaboration and place-making, Ariella helps envision what is possible beyond an individual organization and location.
3 Jun 2023
Upstream on Loose Parts with Miriam Beloglovsky and Heather Graham
On this episode, we're diving into a topic that will be familiar to many from the early years community: Loose Parts. And to help bring this idea to life, we are joined Miriam Beloglovsky, author and speaker on Loose Parts, and Heather Graham, RECE. What do we mean by Loose Parts, and how does the approach and thinking come to life in an early years environment?
Heather Graham is a Registered Early Childhood Educator, working at Growing Together Family Resource Centre at the May Court location in Chatham, Ontario. She has been working in child care for 10 years, having spent the last 5 years in the toddler room which she loves. Heather currently manages a Pinterest page for their child care centre focused on ‘loose parts’, with a mission to grow ‘shares and likes’ among child care educators and parents across her community and beyond.
Dr. Miriam Beloglovsky is a professor of early childhood education at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, California. She is a strong advocate for children, youth, and families and, in particular, for the value of play across all of those contexts. Miriam is the coauthor of the popular award-winning Loose Parts series, Early Learning Theories Made Visible. Loose Parts for Children with Diversibilites.
For more information on the work of Dr. Beloglovsky, visit https://www.miriambeloglovsky.com/
3 Jun 2023
Up Close with Dr. Jean Clinton
A ‘frickin’ legend among ECE’s in child care centres across towns, urban hubs and faraway places, Dr.Clinton has shared her passion for children, attachment, early brain development, and the impact of just one smiling face on the development of an early mind, body and soul.
But just what is it that draws Dr.Clinton to children? What has fueled her profession throughout the years? What are her proudest moments? And what life lessons can she share in a way she has never shared before?
Dr. Clinton is renowned nationally and internationally as an advocate for children’s issues. Her special interest lies in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness play therein. Jean champions the development of a national, comprehensive child well-being strategy, including a system of early learning and care for all young children and their families. She is equally committed to ensuring that children’s and youths’ needs and voices are heard and respected.
Learn more about Dr. Jean's work at https://drjeanclinton.com/
3 Jun 2023
Merrily Series Introduction
Meet your hosts, Stephen Hurley and Michelle Schurter!
In this first episode, join us to find out who we are, and this series is all about
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