How could your favourite show when you were a child become your mental health guide as an adult?
What six principles are vital de be an emotionally healthy educator?
Should seeking out community be a part of every teacher’s professional development?
Dana Winters, Executive Director of Educator’s Neighborhood, answers all these questions and so many more. This organisation that has taken the ideology of Fred Rogers – yes – the Fred Rogers who was for many of us one of our best friends growing up – and turned it into a stunning tool to help – not children directly, but the grownups who protect, influence and create learning environments for children – educators. These could be teachers, principals, parents, the school cooks, the receptionist of the school – anyone who affects our students. The focus is on the mental health of these stakeholders and Dana and her team are the incredibly fortunate guardians of Fred Rogers’ archives, so the program is based not only on his shows, but on his writings, speeches and so much more.
You’ll hear Dana’s succinct explanations of a what is actually an expansively healing initiative that is empowering thousands of educators to reframe their challenges and become stronger advocates for themselves and by extension for their students.
In this chat, we mention two other guests on Doorways to Learning with Donna: Stephanie Bacon (S1 E4) and Rain Elizabeth Stickney (S1 E 30). We encourage you to listen to the gorgeous information they share.
Find Dana and Educator’s Neighborhood at: www.fredrogersinstitute.org
Dana’s bio:
Dana Winters, Ph.D., is the Rita McGinley, Executive Director of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Saint Vincent College. Her extensive field research from interviewing prisoners to shadowing crossing guards, from observing Head Start teachers and developing coaches in early childhood systems has informed the co-development of the Simple Interactions approach to support children, families, and their helpers. Dr. Winters describes and affirms the essential and relational practices of professionals across early education and intervention, out of school time learning, healthcare, family engagement, and more. She is an experienced applied researcher who has served as co-principal investigator and program evaluator for consecutive NSF-funded early childhood research and intervention projects in the areas of early literacy, social emotional development, and early mathematical learning. She leads numerous foundation and government project grants to improve early childhood systems and family engagement practices. Dr. Winters serves as a UNESCO Faculty Fellow in Children and Youth Studies, collaborating with faculty around the world in the advancement of empathy development and adult-child relationships across developmental settings. She received her Ph.D. in administrative and policy studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Most importantly, Dr. Winters is known as “Mama” to two wonderful daughters, Clare (13) and Anna (9).
Music: Ziv Grinberg, It’s Fun Being a Cat
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