Merrily

Focus on the 90% with Darci Lang

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/

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!

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).

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.

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.