Pour yourself a cup a tea and join Diane, Paula and Aviva to think deeply about supportive partnerships in the time of COVID. Historically and culturally, tea has represented a warm hug in a mug, a sense of belonging and an act of kindness. Tea time is a ritual that provides comfort and joy. When we consider the time teachers and children will spend together in this pandemic world, this webinar will provide a forum for dialogic professional learning about building supporting partnerships.
Where there is tea, there is hope. I have been thinking about this concept for a few years now. In 2018, I wrote Building Relationships in Early Learning: One Tea Cup at a Time and described a time when I facilitated a face to face session to a group of over 100 teaching teams including kindergarten teachers and early childhood educators. Now in the time of COVID, face to face workshops are not happening anytime soon. Yet, now in the time of COVID, the message of supportive partnerships to support children, is even more important! Join us for a virtual tea party and an online web workshop that brings together educators from across our province and perhaps from around the world to deeply consider relationships.
A woman is like a tea bag – you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Presenter Bios:
Diane Kashin is a registered early childhood educator and has taught early childhood education at both the degree and the diploma level for the past 30 years. Diane’s doctoral thesis on emergent curriculum was published in 2009 and she has co-written three ECE textbooks including Outdoor and Nature Play in Early Childhood Education (2019). Diane is the past president of the Association for Early Childhood Educators of Ontario and the current coordinator of the York Region Nature Collaborative. Diane’s areas of interest include forest and nature schools, risky play, loose parts, Reggio inspired practice, outdoor play and emergent curriculum. Diane writes a blog to support professional learning in early childhood education: https://tecribresearch.wordpress.com and loves to engage in continuous professional learning face to face and through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Diane presents workshops and keynote addresses in Ontario, across Canada and internationally.
Paula Crockett is a Registered Early Childhood Educator in the province of Ontario. She has worked with children and families in a variety of Early Childhood facilities for 25 years. Paula has worked in programs from Infant to school age, facilitated early childhood courses and workshops at the college level, and supported numerous student educators in community settings. Her passion for teaching always leads her back to the classroom and is currently teaching kindergarten for the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. Her interest for play based learning, emergent curriculum, family engagement, Self-Reg and pedagogical documentation is shared with her fabulous teaching partner Aviva Dunsiger. Aviva and Paula have been learning together in their classrooms for the past four years, where they explore, challenge and reflect on their practice together.
Aviva Dunsiger is a qualified teacher in the province of Ontario. She’s taught for the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board for the past 18 years. While Aviva’s taught every grade from kindergarten to grade 6 in some capacity, she’s particularly passionate about the early years and has spent most of her time in a kindergarten classroom. Her interests include play-based learning, Self-Reg (she contributes a monthly blog post to The MEHRIT Centre Blog and is the Co-Reg Community Moderator), parent engagement, and pedagogical documentation. She’s thrilled to have spent the past four years exploring these topics, and more, with her teaching partner, Paula Crockett.
Honestly, if you’re given the choice between Armageddon or tea, you don’t say ‘what kind of tea?’
– Neil Gaiman
Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.
– Chaim Potok
This webinar is available upon request. Please email inquiries to diane.kashin@gmail.com
Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research 