Goal: Build knowledge about child development. Specifically brain development and the effects of stress, substances, trauma etc.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

On July 26, 2019, I participated in a Seeds of Empathy professional development workshop for early learning centres in Ottawa. The workshop covered the Seeds of Empathy program, as well as the role of temperament in supporting children's development.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

Participating in this workshop exposed me to the nine different temperament traits everyone has to different degrees of intensity: activity level, sensitivity, regularity, approach and withdrawal, adaptability, mood, intensity, persistence, and distractibility. By reviewing the different temperament traits I was able to recognize how these temperament traits are exposed through behaviours, how they are viewed in early learning environments, and how to foster and support each temperament trait. During the workshop, I reflected on my own temperament and concluded on how my temperament responds to other temperament traits. This has become a constant reflection while working with children and colleagues and I have determined how my temperament influences my responses and reactions to groups of children and colleagues. For example, I have a high activity level and I have a difficult time getting children with a low activity level to engage in my planned learning experiences. I will continue reflecting on my temperament and the temperament of my colleagues and the groups of children I work with to determine how I can support each child's learning and development through their temperament level, especially as a supply educator as I am often with different children and must quickly determine how to support engagement in the moment.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

After reading this book, I understand more about how crucial the relationship is between parents and children. One thing I find very insightful is when the author recognizes children are fiercely loyal to their parents. Reading this novel allowed me to reflect on everyone's privilege in life and how some children are born with an advantage to succeed academically, socially, and in life. Reading this novel also allowed me to reflect on how educators can support children and families who do not have the advantage other families have based on their socioeconomic status, past experiences, literacy levels etc. Reading this novel also allowed me to further reflect on the role of temperament in early childhood education which I was introduced to in the Seeds of Empathy workshop and how I respond to different temperaments.

Moving forward in my practice, I plan to apply what I have learned about the relationship between children and their parents by focusing on how I build relationships with families and encourage familial interactions with children. As a school-age supply educator, I may be in a position to share knowledge about the importance of 'family time' Mary Gordon recognizes when we live in such a technologically advanced society because there is no 'empathy button' on our phones that will teach empathy and care for others.

I was also fascinated by how the Roots of Empathy program uses creative avenues such as drawing to create a platform that encourages children to share their feelings and emotions to practice emotional literacy which is crucial to social development and building healthy relationships with peers. In the future, I will use this knowledge and understanding to plan open-ended creative art experiences as a platform for emotional development.

Looking far into the future, if I plan to work in centre-based child care after completing my studies or in a school setting, I am very interested in pursuing the Roots of Empathy program and seeing how it supports children's development first hand and this may be a personal learning goal to explore in the future.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

On September 30, 2019 I read and reflected on a blog post about trauma informed teaching practices by Heidi Allum who is a teacher that also experienced childhood trauma. In her blog post, the author tells educators what she knows from a personal perspective about having students who are facing trauma in their home life, such as abuse, neglect, parental mental illness, and parental alcoholism.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

This blog post was an interesting piece to reflect on because the author looks at strategies of trauma-informed practice as good starting points but ineffective long-term. The author also challenged my perspective on the concept of making children feel 'loved' in the environment. This blog post stresses the need to see children as the people they are and not their trauma's because the individual will address their trauma and their emotions surrounding it when they are ready and it is not for the educator or professional to push children to address their trauma or their emotions too soon.

In my practice, I have changed my view of the child to include viewing children for who they are as individuals. In my practice, I will practice empathy and active listening with children who I know are experiencing trauma to listen to what their needs are in the moment and I will be flexible with my schedule to allow these children to escape their trauma through the child care environment. I will view children as capable, competent, rich in potential, and unique individuals. I will ensure there is adequate creative and imaginative opportunity and appropriate time for children to explore their own identities separate from their trauma and I will be flexible to allow for more time for children to create when they need to escape and explore who they are. I will also ensure there is opportunity for children to explore new avenues for creativity and social development when children need changing environments.

I will continuously practice and exercise my active listening with children to practice identifying what children need at particular times on particular days to meet every child's needs to reduce stress.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

On October 4, 2019, I attended a speaker series titled: Trauma, Violence and its Effect on Children in our Community. The speaker series was hosted by Crime Prevention Ottawa and included Kelly Raymond, the Executive Director of CAS Ottawa, Dr. Elisa Romano from the Ottawa University School of Psychology, Shannon Black who holds a Masters' in Social Work, and Rick Goodwin who is a trained service professional in men's mental health. The speakers discussed what trauma is, what trauma looks like in young children, the importance of ensuring access to mental health services for children and their parents/caregivers, the unique trauma experienced by Racialized Children and Youth (Specifically Black and Indigenous Children and Youth), and the role of distinctive services to address the natural trauma of boyhood/manhood.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

After attending the speaker series I am more aware of what trauma looks like as children's behaviours and how to approach trauma with appropriate, sensitive, and empathetic practices. I am knowledgeable about the unique, inter-generational trauma experienced by black and indigenous communities as a result of oppression and neglect in history and to anticipate certain behaviours as a result of epigenetics and biological stressors. I understand this type of inter-generational trauma can be approached through empathy (listening to children, hearing children's needs, asking children about their emotions and helping to identify them) and encouragement, and to be cautious of resiliency in racialized trauma which may be viewed as simply enduring pain and suffering rather than overcoming stressors.

After attending the speaker series I have a greater understanding for the trauma boys may experience in their childhood through the "rituals" of boyhood that lead to toxic masculinity and in my practice I will be aware of traditional viewpoints that may arise among groups of boys, such as negative attitudes towards homosexuality and positive attitudes about lacking emotion. By cultivating a safe environment with ground rules that are based on the foundation of respect, I can support children's healthy development in my professional practice.

I also understand trauma may include more situations than abuse and neglect, such as serious accidents, life threatening illnesses, and bullying. All trauma experiences can have adverse effects on brain development and by understanding that traumatic experiences can prevent healthy brain architecture in the early years, I can take steps in my practice to reduce stress in early learning environments and provide adequate cognitive supports for children who have experienced trauma in their early years. In my practice, I will implement Dr. Romano's seven suggestions for supporting children's healthy development whether they have or have not experienced trauma:

• Partake in consistent, predictable, dependable behaviours
• Place a focus on relationships and healthy attachment
• Help the child with self regulation (problem solve, stay in close proximity, etc.)
• Set the child up for success
• Help children build connections with others
• Support the mental health of the child and their family
• Understanding my own reactions

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

On November 5, 2019, I attended a Community of Practice hosted by the Early Childhood Professional Learning Community in Ottawa. The conversation took play at Algonquin College and was facilitated my Stephanie Ray. Attendants discussed Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, how to support mental health in the early years, and shared resources from the Ottawa Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative of Ottawa while discussing attachment, self-regulation, resiliency, temperament, sense of agency and brain development.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

The Community of Practice I attended reminded me of the importance of relationships in my work with children, families, and colleagues and how secure, supportive, responsive relationships support healthy brain development, resiliency, self-regulation, and sense of agency in infants and children up to the age of 6 which are central parts of children's mental health. I received a lot from the activity of writing what we know about infant mental health and the beginning of the community of practice and sharing ideas because it provided me with opportunities to think critically about considerations I did not originally think of such as safe environments, parental/family mental health, and temperament which can change the way we build relationships with certain children and families. I was also able to think critically about children's actions and behaviours and challenge my frame of thinking to ask if attention seeking behaviours could be signs that infants and young children need support to develop resiliency,

Through the Community of Practice, I learned more resources to look into that will support my learning about child development and how mental health, insecure relationships and adverse experiences hinder development, as well as what I can do as a professional to reduce barriers to children's learning and growth.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

On November 27th, 2019 I attended a workshop hosted by Algonquin College with Dr. Jean Clinton on supporting children's mental health in the early years. The workshop covered infant and early childhood mental health and educators in licensed child care centres from across the city participated.

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

During the workshop I learned more about the importance of social and emotional development in infancy and the early years on children's current and future mental health. During the workshop, we considered the need to focus on mental health and social/emotional well-being for indigenous children and families who are at a greater risk of poor mental health. We also challenged the term "special needs" and considered the special rights children with exceptionalities have which must be upheld by educators and families to protect their well-being.

I was particularly moved by Dr. Clinton's question, "Are you a carpenter type of educator, or a gardener type of educator?" I consider myself to be more of a gardener and strive to create an environment that is conducive to children's various needs and allows them to thrive and grow, however I was shocked by how many people in my small group believe it is necessary to be a carpenter which uses tools to create children into something. personally, I believe a carpenter educators is someone who uses to same tools for every child to mold them into a final design, however I prefer to allow children to grow into their own person and consider their individual temperaments and experiences when planning curriculum and the learning environment because not every child responds the same way to the same strategies, therefore it is necessary to be flexible as an educator and create environments that meet children's needs while providing necessary boundaries and structure. This may be an area of opportunity for me to act as a leader in the future and share my opinion/ideas with other educators on being a gardener to further our understanding on child development theories and evidence-based research that is pushing for change in our field.

In the future, I would like to consider learning more about mental health in the early years and will consider looking up Dr. Clinton's resources, as well as the books she shared with us during the workshop to continue to expand my knowledge on social/emotional development.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

From September to December of 2019 I participated in a Global Citizenship course as part of the Bachelor's of Early Learning and Community Development program at Algonquin College.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

Taking global citizenship as my elective was important to me because education often discusses the need for 21st century learning and includes the need to teach children to be global citizens. Global citizenship is recognized as a core value of the Ottawa Catholic School Board where I currently supply. By taking this course I learned it is first necessary for me to be a global citizen before I can teach children to be global citizens and it is possible to model global citizenship in my actions, thoughts, reflections, and discussions. My definition of a global citizen includes a person who considers how their actions influence people in their immediate setting, their community, their nation, and the global community, as well as how their actions are influenced by their immediate environment, their community, their nation, and the global community. Global citizens are understanding of how their actions affect climate change on a local and global scale and are understanding of how climate change affects their personal lives.

In the future when working with children, I will describe and model global citizenship by actively sharing and reflecting on how my actions have larger consequences. For example, in a kindergarten room I can describe how my actions of recycling affect our community and our world. This is important, especially with school-age children, to support their own development of global citizenship and to encourage active reflection on their part in the world.

In the future, I am interested in learning how global citizenship is specifically defined by the school board in my area and what global citizenship resources are available to educators with the Ottawa Catholic School Board.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

On December 29, 2019, I watched a recorded webinar from Early Childhood Investigations titled, "What Fred Rogers would say about 'The Difference we Make' - How Simple, Everyday Interactions in Early Childhood are Critical." This webinar was presented by Dr. Dana Winters and Dr. Junlei Li to empower educators about the importance of interactions for social, emotional, and cognitive development, and educate educators about what constitutes high quality interactions. The use of traditional theories and methods presented by Mr. Rogers were challenged and questioned to help us understand how what we do has impacted children and families for decades.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

While engaging with this webinar, I was particularly interested in how the presenters referred to people directly involved in a child's life as "helpers." The term, "helpers" is used because adults in children life are literally helping children to grow, however a helper does not only include caregivers, child care providers, and relatives. I was moved by the story that considered a crossing guard a "helper" in children's social learning and sense of belonging in the community because one child expressed, "What am I supposed to do if you're not there to wish me a good morning?" This makes me proud to be a helper and in my practice as a supply educator and a student, I will strive to build relationships with other "helpers" in children's lives to create a connected community where children are safe and feel a sense of belonging outside the learning environment.

Another part of the webinar that also interested me was the idea that it is better to have deep and simple interactions than shallow complex interactions because deep, simple interactions contribute to children's social learning in a cultural context without confusion. Deep and simple interactions can create a strong foundation for the developing brain unlike complex and low quality interactions which are outside of the child's zone of proximal development. For example, the webinar showed a video of an educator playing with an infant child and making car noises which was a simple but rich example of serve and return interactions which are necessary in the early years for social, cognitive, and language development. I will consider the role of deep and simple interactions in my work as a supply educator with the children to avoid complex interactions with children and contribute to their learning and development in meaningful ways.

To extend my learning, I am interested in learning more about how simple, everyday interactions have been valued throughout the history of early childhood education and how it has evolved and is still evolving to form our current understanding of attachment and serve and return. To apply what I have learned I will also model simple and rich interactions with colleagues, aspiring educators, and families to share how to create rich environments for children's learning.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

From September to December of 2019, I participated in a course at Algonquin College titled, "Special Studies in Early Learning" as part of the Bachelor's of Early Learning and Community Development program. The goal of this course was to teach students to challenge dominant discourses and look at learning theories and curriculum philosophies through a critical lens, as well as begin an independent research study that could contribute to our general understanding of the early childhood education profession.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

Engaging in the Special Studies course with my peers and colleagues allowed me to think critically about common practices I see in the profession and come up with alternative best practices in the field that could be justified by evidence based research. As I reflect on my practice and on what I observe as a student and a supply educator, I have learned how to think critically about my actions and consider how I can constantly improve and why my improvement methods will encourage, enrich, and empower human interactions with children.

Engaging in the Special Studies course also provided me with an opportunity to determine an area of the profession that I am interested in and begin an independent study project to expand my own knowledge, contribute to our understanding of best practice in the profession, and partner with existing agencies to carry out the research process and push for quality in Early Childhood Education in Ottawa.

As I have started this independent study, an area for future learning includes carrying out my research project on the CPL program for educators in Ottawa and sharing my findings with educators and existing agencies to create CPL activities and opportunities that meet the needs of the Ottawa ECE community.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

On March 23, 2020, I participated in a webinar titled A District Wide Approach to Social and Emotional Learning: A Case Study of Ruler with Marc Brackett.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

Participating in this webinar is insightful for me as I attempt to support the learning of the whole child, and not just cognitive or academic learning. Social/emotional learning is necessary to support mental well-being and mental health which is recognized as a rising problem for children in North America. Unfortunately, a stigma continues to exist that infants and children do not have mental health, however by supporting positive mental health in the early years, there is less need for mental health interventions later in life.

I found it particularly insightful to learn about the need for educators to identify their own emotional state prior to assisting students to regulate, identify and label emotions, and understand the consequences of emotions. The mood meter is a way to identify one's emotions and actively reflect on strategies to move into the green zone. This is something I have printed off and saved on my phone so during my work or break I can identify my energy level and how pleasant I feel, as well as reflect on how this influences the children.

I strive to be an emotion scientist in my practice and not an emotion judge to guide children to identify and express how they feel, understand the consequences of emotions, and label and regulate emotions to function in an optimal learning state. This involves identifying behaviours, listening actively to children, and building relationships that provide a climate where children feel safe expressing themselves.

From a systems level, I strive to implement this mindset into my work as a supply in the school board where I see children's emotions are often pushed to the side and disregarded, which leads to behaviours and lack of focus or concentration. Carrying this chart with me during supply work, introducing to children during circle, and sharing it with consistent teachers, principals, and early childhood educators will allow me to be a leader in sharing information about supporting social/emotional learning and growth.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

From January 2020 to April 2020, I participated in a course titled, "Advanced Principles of Learning Behaviours" with the Bachelor's of Early Learning and Community Development Program at Algonquin College. This course aims to teach students about supporting development and learning with the Advanced Principles of Learning Behaviours method.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

This course did not focus on brain development or trauma-informed practice, however it was necessary to learn how to support advanced learning, particularly through the applied behaviour analysis program. Applied Behaviour Analysis is also widely used with children on the autism spectrum and this course has allowed me to further understand brain development and supporting the development of children with exceptionalities. Although Applied Behaviour Analysis can be controversial and certain aspects must receive ethical consideration, such as punishment, I particularly appreciated how everything in the course returned to the need and effectiveness to reinforce children's desired behaviours while teaching and learning. In my practice, I will be considerate of what types of reinforcement I use to ensure reinforcement is specifically motivating for each individual child and also supports internal motivation.

Description of the Professional Learning Activity

Since March 2020 I have kept up to date with the Brain Architects podcasts produced by the Harvard Centre of the Developing child, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Documentation of Participation

Application of Professional Learning in My Practice

Following the brain architects podcast has been useful to further understand the importance of brain development and the use of metaphors by the Harvard Graduate School of Education is helpful for me as I engage in conversations with peers about development, brain development, emotional learning, and quality interactions. In my practice I will continue to engage in quality interactions with children to support the development of a healthy foundation and provide responsive environments that meet children's physiological, emotional and developmental needs. During this time of COVID-19, I will share resources by the brain architects and refer to them as we prepare to return to our centres and work with children and families after this traumatic change.

Reflection of My Learning

Throughout the year I have received many opportunities to learn about child development and brain development that are separate from my original planned learning activities. For example, I planned to complete the Brain Story certification which I am still completing, and I planned to extend my independent study to focus on social/emotional learning in the kindergarten years, however a separate opportunity arose for me to complete a research study for a community group. Although these unexpected changes influenced how I engaged in my professional learning and the professional learning activities I engaged in, I was able to participate in workshops and do readings that contribute to my knowledge of social/emotional development.

I was able to participate in a roots of empathy workshop and expand that by reading Mary Gordon's book to begin my learning journey focusing on social/emotional development and I continue to refer to the research of the Roots of Empathy program to recognize the importance of social/emotional development to build a healthy foundation for life long learning.

I also received the unexpected opportunity to participate in a workshop hosted by Dr. Jean Clinton which introduced me to the relationship between social/emotional development and mental health. I continue to refer to social and emotional development when considering supporting positive mental health in my work with children and I hope to continue learning about social/emotional development in the early years and mental health in middle childhood, late childhood and adolescence.

I believe I was successful throughout the year in expanding my knowledge about child development, specifically social/emotional development and focusing on social and emotional needs to support life long learning. In my continued learning I will continue to learn about social/emotional development and stay up to date on research and best practice, and I hope to extend my learning about social/emotional development to understand the importance of supporting social and emotional development during COVID-19.

Looking towards my next learning year, I believe it would be beneficial to alter my goal to focus on learning about child brain development as well as trauma informed practice in the wake of COVID-19.